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"If man has no tea in him, he is incapable of understanding truth and beauty." (Japanese Proverb)

While I type this blog I am sitting sipping some cherry tea.  I have an incredible love for tea, even though for years I avoided it.  My cup of tea has inspired me to write a blog (or two or three!) about my love of tea.  For the next couple of Wednesdays look forward to some blogs about types of teas, tea products, and perhaps more! 

For today I plan on sharing some tips I have discovered about the uses of tea.  To read more than I’ve written here, you can check out this website.

1.) A tea bag works well as a compress on swollen, puffy eyes.  Especially chamomile tea.

2.) Chamomile tea is a natural sleep aid.

3.) Tea bags that have cooled can be applied to sunburned areas of skin.

4.) Tea "sachets" made with plain old black tea make a perfect addition to your refrigerator.  They help to keep odours to a minimum!

5.) Chamomile or peppermint tea makes a very soothing footbath.

6.) Tea is excellent to feed your plants!  Give them an occasional drink of tea instead of water, or add wet tea leaves into the soil.

7.) Try marinatng your meat in tea. 

8.) Sprinkle damp tea leaves over the ashes in your fireplace before cleaning it out.  The tea will help to keep the ashes from rising and getting all over the place while you lift them out.

9.) A wet tea bag can soothe shaving cuts.

10.) Apply a cool wet green teabag to the area where a shot was had.  It will help to soothe the pain.

11.) Use warm teabags on your eyes to soothe pinkeye infections.

12.) Place warm teabags on canker sores or blisters to draw out infections.

13.) Wash your face with tea to cure acne.

14.) Cold, wet teabags will soothe beestings and insect bites.

Do you have any tips or tricks for household uses of tea?

We have a dear elderly lady that lives behind us and she has an AMAZING garden!  She even has kiwi trees!  Today while Peter was out checking on our garden she offered to give us a huge bag-full of fresh plums from her plum tree!  They were quite ripe though, so I needed to find a way to preserve them for us throughout the winter, because even though I’d like to, we just can’t eat 200 plums in one sitting! :)  This is what I did to preserve my plums:

1.) Wash all of the plums in cool water.

2.) Lay them out in a single layer to dry.

3.) Create a juice mixture to preserve them in.  You can do 1 of 2 things: 1.) Use plain fruit juice.  There is no preparation for that! or 2.) Mix 1 cup of honey (or maple syrup) for every 3 cups of water.  If you do this mixture, then you need to heat them in a pot until the honey or maple syrup dissolved.  Let it cool to room temperature.

4.) Halve and pit the plums.  Once you have enough for a ziploc freezer bag, mix in 1/4 cup of lemon juice, and stir them around to make sure they all have a covering so that they don’t go brown.  Then spoon them into a ziploc bag with a slotted spoon.  Pour your juice mixture over the plums until they are just covered. 

5.) Seal the bag well, getting rid of all the air.  Lay them flat in the freezer to freeze so that they are easily stackable!

They should stay "fresh" in your freezer for up to 1 year! 

On another note, our garden has been producing great broccoli and I have a recipe set to share tomorrow using it!  We also are enjoying fresh beans and peas in a stir-fry tonight!  Yum! 

How does your garden grow?

One of the best ways to save money is to purchase produce when it’s in season.  This might mean that you only eat seasonal fruits and veggies, or it might mean that you stock up on certain fruits and veggies and can/blanche them to use year round.  Whatever your plan is, here is a list of when produce is in season:

January: Oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, lemons, papayas, cabbages (red, white, green), leeks, broccoli, cauliflower.

February: Oranges, grapefruit, lemons, papaya, broccoli, cauliflower.

March: Pineapples, mangoes, broccoli, lettuce.

April: Pineapples, mangoes, zucchini, rhubarb, artichokes, asparagus, spring peas, broccoli, lettuce.

May: Cherries, pineapples, apricots, okra, zucchini, rhubarb, artichokes, asparagus, spring peas, broccoli, lettuce.

June: Watermelon, strawberries, cantaloupe, cherries, blueberries, peaches, apricots, corn, lettuce.

July: Watermelon, strawberries, cantaloupe, blueberries, peaches, apricots, kiwi, raspberries, plums, cucumbers, tomatoes, summer squash, corn, green beans, lettuce.

August: Watermelon, strawberries, cantaloupe, blueberries, peaches, apricots, kiwi, raspberries, plums, cucumbers, corn, eggplant, tomatoes, summer squash, green beans, lettuce.

September: Grapes, pomegranates, eggplants, pumpkins, tomatoes, spinach, lettuce.

October: Cranberries, apples, pomegranates, grapes, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, winter squash, broccoli, spinach, lettuce.

November: Cranberries, oranges, tangerines, pears, pomegranates, pumpkins, winter squash, sweet potatoes, broccoli, mushrooms, spinach

December: Pears, oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, papayas, pomegranates, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower.

Year-Round: Bananas, celery, potatoes. 

We had a good crop come in from our peas this summer in our garden.  Because of this I was on the hunt to find a good way to preserve them for this coming year!  This is what I did:

1.) Gathered all the peas from the garden and began hulling them.

2.) I stored them in the fridge until I had the opportunity to blanche them.

3.) I rinsed them off in a colander while I set water on the stove to boil.

4.) Immersed the peas in the boiling water for 90 seconds - just enough to blanche them.

5.) Immediately put them into ice water to cool. 

6.) Spread them out on a cookie sheet to dry and then put them in a freezer zip-loc bag.

Now they’re ready to be eaten whenever we choose in the next coming months!  From what I understand they should be fine in our freezer for about 9 months.  Beyond that they won’t make us sick, just wouldn’t taste as good.

So there you go!  What are you gathering from your garden these days?

Our spinach was completely taking over our garden, and so we figured it was about time to bring in a lot of it and freeze it for the fall!  I looked up on line to find out how to freeze spinach, and found these directions.  Here are the pictures of my freezing expedition:

 After I got the water boiling, I submerged my spinach into the water for 2 minutes.  Then I took it out and placed it in a strainer and pushed out the extra water.  Then I placed it on a tea towel and squished out the water, forming a ball that looks like this:

 Once the water was fully squeezed out, I lightly loosened the ball of spinach so that it was a little less "ball-like" in my ziploc bag!  I want to be able to grab a bit of it for recipes, etc.

Have you frozen spinach before?  What has been your experience?  How does your garden grow?

Our spinach, which we planted from seed, is growing up a storm!!  There is so much of it, and the leaves are HUGE!  We enjoyed our first pick the other night as we ate a delicious spinach salad alongside our meal.  And, I even covered it in my delicious blackberry vinaigrette dressing. :)  Here is a picture of me rinsing our spinach:

Everything in our garden has sprouted at this point except for our legume beans that our neighbour gave us.  We aren’t totally sure what they are, but she’s a nice elderly lady with an amazing garden, so we went for it! 

How is your garden growing?