A Gray Gardening Day in May plus the Parris House's Honey Lemon (or Lime) Mint Tea Recipe
Today I put in most of the plantings for the Parris House vegetable and herb garden. As some of you who follow me on social media may recall, around the time I was planning to start my seedlings, our local water utility burst an underground water main directly in front of our home, sending thousands of gallons of water in to the basement. Unfortunately, this is the area where I usually have seedlings set up with grow lights. The basement was a complete wreck and the cleanup and recovery have taken a couple of months, so...this year...no seedlings.
Fortunately, Smedberg's Crystal Spring Farm in Oxford, Maine always has a huge variety of vegetable and herb seedlings, so this year, that was my solution. I am usually picky with my seeds, selecting a lot of heirloom varieties, but this year growing my own plants was off the table and, having used Smedberg's plants at times in the past, I know I will not be disappointed with my harvest.
I got the following in to the garden this morning, even though the weather on this Memorial Day is gray, cold, and frankly miserable: tomatoes (three varieties), bell peppers, banana peppers, swiss chard, kale, eggplant, slicing cucumbers, pickling cucumbers, lavender, basil, thyme, rosemary, and oregano. I have a good sized spearmint plant potted and over near the kitchen door, because let's face it, that's an invasive and if I put that in my raised beds it will party on until it's filled them up. Also, our rhubarb has come up once again and it's really time (maybe past time) to cut some of that and make something delicious with it. There's still work to do, even though it's getting so late in the season. I still plan to add some dye/flowering plants to the herb bed and also to the container area near the house. My husband put up the electric fence for me again this year and our stalwart plastic owl is standing guard as he has for many years (successfully) now. In looking over my plant selections I'm pretty sure my Italian DNA is showing.
Here are a few pics of the fledgling vegetable garden. I assure you that in a month or so, this is going to be lush and just starting to put off some food, that is IF it's ever warm and sunny for more than a day or two at a time this spring. I'm starting to wonder.
I really couldn't resist taking some of the spearmint, even though the plant is relatively young and small. I love mint in my iced tea and I make my iced tea a particular way. The recipe is right here for you, if you'd like to give it a try. Let me put forth the following caveats. I do not like my iced tea very sweet (sorrynotsorry to those of you in the South; I know this is considered an abomination down there). In fact, the only reason this recipe has honey in it is because a) I like the flavor of honey and b) I have bees and am about to extract my first load of honey (it will be called Tovookan's honey and will be for sale - watch for it) in the next few weeks. It wouldn't be ok for me to not use it in my tea, after all. Since I don't have my own yet, the honey shown in the pic is from Beekman 1802, and it's delicious. What I do not like is for sweetness to obliterate the flavor of a really good tea. Second caveat is that I like my tea like I like my coffee - so strong you could stand a spoon in it. Please adjust for your own taste. Third caveat (hello, Canadian friends!) - I am using King Cole tea which my son James dutifully picks up every time he goes to visit his girlfriend in Nova Scotia. This is a very popular Canadian tea that has ruined me for most other everyday teas, but if you can not procure this, just use your favorite. Each King Cole tea bag is made to brew 2 cups, so you just have to double how many you use in your recipe.
1 half gallon Ball canning jar or a half gallon container of your choice (but let's face it, the canning jars are really cute)
3 King Cole Orange Pekoe tea bags OR 6 tea bags of your favorite tea
2-3 tablespoons honey or to taste (go ahead Southern friends, pour that jar upside down and count to 100)
1 lemon, cut in to quarters (lime is also tasty)
1 sprig of fresh mint, cut in to slices and put in to a tea ball
About 4 trays of ice (the Parris House icemaker broke about ten years ago, the repair guy said $600 to fix it - we use trays)
Fill your kettle with hot water and start it on the stove (or plug it in). Meanwhile, put the honey in the bottom of the jar, and cut up your lemon and mint. I don't worry about the lemon seeds, but if they'll bother you, remove them. I put my mint pieces in to a tea ball so that I don't have to fish them out of the tea later. This may compromise the diffusion a little bit and you can certainly just put them in whole. However, do NOT put them in the jar yet.
Once your water is boiling, fill the Ball jar to about a third with it and then stir the honey from the bottom until dissolved. Add your tea bags, fill to about half with the hot water, and steep with the lid on for as long as you like. As I said, I like my tea super strong, so I let it get plenty dark, about 10 or 15 minutes (ok, sometimes longer - yes, I know it can get bitter - yes, I kinda like that). When steeped to your liking, remove the tea bags and add the ice. Notice that I have not yet added the lemon and mint. This is because I do not like the lemon to take on that "cooked" flavor that can happen when you've put the lemons in while the water is still too hot. I also think it alters the freshness of the mint. So I wait until most of the ice has melted and cooled and diluted the tea.
Once the water is not hot enough to alter the freshness of the lemon and mint (about room temperature), add those to the jar. Let these flavor the tea for at least an hour or two. I recommend getting them both out of the jar the same day, though, because I think the lemon starts to take on an odd flavor if left in the jar too long. I store the tea in the fridge so that the flavors stay fresh and so that when I use it it's very cold.
Unfortunately, today is not an iced tea day. Today is a hot tea, hot coffee, or possibly even hot chocolate day here in Maine, replete with wood stove burning to knock the chill off. But...I have to think iced tea days are coming, so try making it this way and let me know what you think.
Happy Memorial Day and happy hooking.
P.S. I have not failed to observe Memorial Day; in fact, I am always deeply reverent of its origins and meaning. If you follow me on Facebook you will have already seen a Memorial Day post I wrote for the Paris Hill Historical Society today. Take a look by clicking HERE. Thank you!
1 half gallon Ball canning jar or a half gallon container of your choice (but let's face it, the canning jars are really cute)
3 King Cole Orange Pekoe tea bags OR 6 tea bags of your favorite tea
2-3 tablespoons honey or to taste (go ahead Southern friends, pour that jar upside down and count to 100)
1 lemon, cut in to quarters (lime is also tasty)
1 sprig of fresh mint, cut in to slices and put in to a tea ball
About 4 trays of ice (the Parris House icemaker broke about ten years ago, the repair guy said $600 to fix it - we use trays)
Fill your kettle with hot water and start it on the stove (or plug it in). Meanwhile, put the honey in the bottom of the jar, and cut up your lemon and mint. I don't worry about the lemon seeds, but if they'll bother you, remove them. I put my mint pieces in to a tea ball so that I don't have to fish them out of the tea later. This may compromise the diffusion a little bit and you can certainly just put them in whole. However, do NOT put them in the jar yet.
Once your water is boiling, fill the Ball jar to about a third with it and then stir the honey from the bottom until dissolved. Add your tea bags, fill to about half with the hot water, and steep with the lid on for as long as you like. As I said, I like my tea super strong, so I let it get plenty dark, about 10 or 15 minutes (ok, sometimes longer - yes, I know it can get bitter - yes, I kinda like that). When steeped to your liking, remove the tea bags and add the ice. Notice that I have not yet added the lemon and mint. This is because I do not like the lemon to take on that "cooked" flavor that can happen when you've put the lemons in while the water is still too hot. I also think it alters the freshness of the mint. So I wait until most of the ice has melted and cooled and diluted the tea.
Once the water is not hot enough to alter the freshness of the lemon and mint (about room temperature), add those to the jar. Let these flavor the tea for at least an hour or two. I recommend getting them both out of the jar the same day, though, because I think the lemon starts to take on an odd flavor if left in the jar too long. I store the tea in the fridge so that the flavors stay fresh and so that when I use it it's very cold.
Unfortunately, today is not an iced tea day. Today is a hot tea, hot coffee, or possibly even hot chocolate day here in Maine, replete with wood stove burning to knock the chill off. But...I have to think iced tea days are coming, so try making it this way and let me know what you think.
Happy Memorial Day and happy hooking.
P.S. I have not failed to observe Memorial Day; in fact, I am always deeply reverent of its origins and meaning. If you follow me on Facebook you will have already seen a Memorial Day post I wrote for the Paris Hill Historical Society today. Take a look by clicking HERE. Thank you!- Parris House Wool Works
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