Acres of Ability

One by one, the herbs that Kyra and I were trying to over-winter in the house grew spindly, then started to dry up, no matter how diligently we cared for them.  At first, I was sad that we had failed.  Then I saw the opportunities that failing opened up to us. Before returning the dormant (I hope) herbs to the back deck, I snipped off stems, 5 – 7 inches long, and tossed them onto a cookie sheet.  Kyra and I bundled the stems into groups of 4 or 5, and tied the bundles with thread.  Depending upon which stems Kyra grabbed from the cookie sheet, a bundle may have only one kind of herb, or it may have any combination of oregano, thyme, rosemary, and mint.  Finally, I tied a loop in the end of the threads, and hung the bundles upside down to dry. We hadn’t failed after all!  A week or so later, we had several varieties of “herb brooms” that were ready to give as gifts, decorate our kitchen, and use in winter stews.  It wasn’t what we’d expected, but our winter herb adventure was

Kyra and I love to garden so much that even the cold, snowy, sun-deprived Iowa winter doesn’t stop us.  We enjoy making our daily rounds to care for our pampered houseplants, as well as the geraniums, Gerbera daisies, and herbs that we’re trying to baby through the winter so they can be re-planted outside next spring.  We also enjoy the results of last year’s garden, brewing our dried herbs for tea, crushing our dried hot peppers into soup, and popping corn in the microwave. Last summer, Kyra and I grew a 4-foot by 8-foot plot of popcorn.  We loved watching the corn grow taller and taller and taller, waving above our heads, and providing a forested hide-away for the cats.  Unfortunately, the plants struggled through the summer drought and beetle infestation, producing skimpy tassels, few ears, and tiny kernels.  We thought our entire crop was lost when a violent wind storm blew through, flattening the entire plot.  Yet later that fall, we were able to glean a few miniature ears of