Tis a pity you can't scratch and sniff home page photo: the fragrance
of lemon would fill your homestead and make visions of the old
lemonade stand dance before your eyes.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/organichomesteadinggardening/
(C) Jon Wood
June 20th 2007
Tis the season to gather and dry or preserve lemon balm and other
herbs for winters use in medicines, flavor extracts, salves, candles,
soaps, lotions, even dream pillows made for gifts as well as your own
use.
So far, we've gathered and have in hanging baskets to dry, 7 pickings
of lemon balm and other mints and herbs. The cabin smells of wood
smoke, bacon frying, biscuits in the oven, and herbs hanging from the
ceiling drying for use later on.
Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)
An excellent honeybee plant, and an herb with subtle power.
Lemon balm holds the same healing powers as honey and royal jelly.
"Grandmother" knows this and it is an herb of much value among
those who still practice the healing arts of native american
medicines. Amish and Mennonites know much as well, as do the
Chinese who grow and use plants for medicines, tonics, poltices,
and aroma-therapy.
A bee plant, it feeds many tiny winged critters as well, and
coaxs worms among its roots to help cure the ills of the soil.
If you'll gather leaves of it and rub inside a beehive in which you
are getting ready to house a honeybee swarm, they will feel more at
home than stuffing them in an old wooden box. And sometimes, you can
entice swarms of bees into your empty nuc or deep super by rubbing it
inside and out with lemon balm juice.
It's a very aggressive plant in frailable soil, as are most mints,
but their roots also pull pollutants from soil, bring it into their
bodies, and work another form of magic changing the pollutats into
elements fit to feed future generations of their sister plants as
their own bodies die and fortify mother earth with their ashes.
You can better control its growth by planting just ONE plant into a
tire to keep its roots in check. Lemon balm spreads quicker by its
just barely beneath the surface roots, and tis easier to get it going
at your homestead from a slip taken from others who grow it.
Planting it out by seed: it needs to be started as early as possible
because it grows slowly at first until it gets going: then, it'll
chase you around your garden.
Jon |
