Walt likes to drink tea. Last year I dried a bucket of mint leaves to support Walt's habit. That ,supplemented with bulk teas and dries tea-herbs from the Natural Food store keep his tea pot full all winter. Today I mixed up a large batch of
Barefoot Garden Flower Garden Tea
* Rose hips
* Rose petals
* Lemon Balm
* Chamomile
* Hibiscus flowers
* Strawberry leaves
* Carnation petals
You can custom blend your own herbal tea to. For the best results, you want your tea to consist of three kinds of ingredients:
Leaves...Strawberry, blackberry, dandelion, Lemon Balm, violet leaves, young birch leaves, white pine needles
.
Flowers ... Consider using a colorful mixture of rose petals, dandelion blossoms, pansies, honeysuckle, clover, and violets for good taste and appearance.
Herbals... Combine chives, thyme, rosemary, marjoram, verbena, oregano,chamomile, dill,lemon balm, basil, marjoram, sage, nasturtium leaves, lemon verbena, and flowers, and mint with flowers such as lemon blossoms and lilac.
Weeds... Chickweed,chicory (flowers and buds),dandelions (flowers and leaves),goldenrod,lamb's quarters,plantain (or white man's footsteps, as the Native Americans called them),purslane,stinging nettle.
Steeping your herb tea
Put a fat handful of the plants you gathered in a big pot or sparkling clean coffee press free of all oils, and pour boiling water over them. Consider using dandelion greens and flowers for about half of the handful (resulting in a slightly bitter taste, but great for digestion; or use blackberry or raspberry leaves in bulk for a sweeter taste). Divide the rest of your tea fairly equally among plants listed in the categories above without any single ingredient dominating.
Use a glass pot; this allows you to see the green beauty of your herbs. Let them steep for a few minutes. Keep them warm on a warmer and enjoy your tea all day long. There is enough flavor left in the plants for at least one additional steeping.
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