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| ROSE FLOWER WATER POUND CAKE http://www.urbanherbal.com/recipes/index-10.htm#rosewater_pound_cake |
Almost 2,000 years ago Ovid lamented, “Alas, there are no herbs to cure love.” This may well have been true, but the addition of herbs certainly enhances many sweet pleasures that are important to a well-lived life.
On a personal level that I have reached an understanding of herbs that reflects my changing relationship with other people-in who we once were, who we are and who we will become. I call herbs the plants of romance. As I’ve come to know herbs, they have twined around my hearts’ qualities and preferences. Herbs grow up close and personal. They are not just flowers, but calendulas, nasturtiums and roses. They are not garnishes, but cinnamon and lemon basil, apple mint and chocolate mint, parsley, lavender and thyme. They are not bulbs, but garlic and chives, dill and fennel. That is why I encourage you to trying your hand at growing savory, reputed to have earned its name from satyrs who found it essential to their amorous activities. Consider too, the advice of Nicholas Culpeper, herbalist of the 17th century, who suggested a garden of mustard, onion and prickly asparagus for sparking an enchanted evening. Even earlier, the Greek physician, Dioscorides in A.D. 40 counseled that a species of sage, Salvia-horminum, “doth revoke to conjunction.” Cumin retained love along with basil and vervain. Partial to roses? Their sweet breath and delicate petals have long been considered the essence of romantic encounters. And small wonder that a secret garden aids and abets our romantic impulses so effectively.
Growing the plants of romance will be different for every individual, a distinction that’s important to recognize. That’s because it’s easy to become limited in our thinking about what is romantic. Many people define romance as hearts and flowers, only pink satin and lace. Others may think only of physical love. A person who dares to try something new, who makes the choice to work at an herb garden that he or she loves, who makes time for little sprigs and blossoms of beauty and grace, I believe speaks my language. I hope that you will discover, as I have ways to use herbs to make your meals more flavorful, your work more enjoyable and your life more pleasurable.
In Hortulus,A.D. 840, Walafrid Strabo wrote, “ And I offer this, that as you read what I gladly dedicate to you, you may know of my labors. And, please, as you read, prune the faults and approve what is good.”
I encourage you to do the same.
William “Bill” Varney, URBANherbal
Did you know that the Rose is the herb of the year for 2012? Here is my link to growing and using Roses:http://www.urbanherbal.com/herb_gardening/rose.html
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