Winter is a great time to do some research while it’s too cold to do any planting. I’ve mentioned more than once that I love finding webinars to see things from new perspectives or learn a skill. I found and attended three live webinars in January. The first was Homesteading Anywhere from Carolyn Thomas. Next was 5-Minute Gardener from Nicole Burke. And last was Planning Your Herbal Year from John Gallagher and Rosemary Gladstar.
Homesteading Anywhere
Homesteading Family led a five-day long webinar event where Carolyn Thomas discussed her experience in all things homesteading. Day one was about pantry maintenance. Have two weeks of meals ready at all times in case of emergencies or food shortages. Build up from there to be ready for all kinds of emergencies and buy in bulk when you can. She also taught her methods for different food preservation to help her viewers build up their storage.
Day 2 and 3
Day two, Carolyn gave tips on using what’s in that pantry to build economic meals. She suggests eating what’s in season to prevent draining your preserves and cooking what you have now instead of shopping for each meal. That doesn’t just mean what’s in the garden, but also what was preserved from other seasons. On day 3, Carolyn and her husband Josh discuss gardening in smaller spaces with vertical gardens and small plots. Josh taught us how to build an “instant garden” where he demonstrated making Carolyn a salad garden. He scalped the ground with a weed hacker and raked the grass back in to decompose. Then he covered the area in a layer each of kitchen scraps, used coffee, and manure. He sprayed it down with a hose and put damp cardboard over top. Topsoil and compost finished the gardening area before he added rows of lettuce seeds.
Day 4 and 5
The fourth day was a more in-depth lesson on food preservation methods. She explained canning, dehydrating, freeze drying, and fermenting. By the end, I had all kinds of machinery and gadgets in my cart. I’m ready to learn more! Day five was my favorite with lessons on being an at home herbalist. Carolyn introduced a system to keep in your home to make caring for colds and flus easier. First and foremost is to have your remedies ready. Ingredients aren’t finished medicines. Where most of the recipes take around 4 weeks to be ready, getting started sooner is better. She gave a recipe for a Cough Oxymel too.
Cold and Cough Oxymel
- 1 Tbsp Raw Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 Tbsp Raw Honey
- 1 tsp Dried Hyssop and Thyme Mix
Mix all ingredients together and let sit for four weeks.
Strain the herbs out and keep liquid in a LABELED jar with a lid.
Take a teaspoon at a time for dry coughs.
5-Minute Gardener
I was surprised signing up for a webinar titled “5-Minute Gardener” that this event would be several hours long. The webinar was divided into planning your garden, planting, and garden to table. Nicole Burke took volunteers to plan out garden concepts for the coming spring. She assigned “fruits” as one plant per square foot, root vegetables as four, and leafy vegetables or herbs as nine. Then she explained to plant intensively; weeds can’t grow if our plants are in the way. At planting time, you plant in succession. When one plant is done, replace it with a similar type, say a tomato plant with a pepper. Towards the end, Nicole brought out her family and gave loose recipes of meals to make with your harvest. These included a frittata made with eggs, cheese, kale and Swiss chard, a garden greens smoothie, and a tomato soup. On an unrelated note, she was hosting giveaways during the webinar and I actually won two of her books! So, I absolutely recommend spending your down time over the winter looking for webinars.
Planning Your Herbal Year
Learning Herbs hosted a livestream that advertised their new Herb Mentor program. John Gallagher interviewed Rosemary Gladstar, a well-respected herbalist, on which herbs she thinks represent each month of the year. She gave her best answer along with suggestions on how to use each of the herbs. In Spring, thyme, violets, and dandelions. In the summer, chickweed, St. John’s wort, calendula, and comfrey. Regrettably, it’s not in the cards for me to join their program to find out recipes or instructions. But maybe their Materia Medica class is something I can look into soon!