Preserving Fresh Herbs At Home

Sadly, the time has come to pack up the the last, last, last of the outdoor plants. (If we're being honest, it might even be a week or two too late.) I held off harvesting my herbs as long as possible -- largely out of sentimentality toward my long-gone summer gardening routine. Now that temps are dropping down to single digits, however, the party is officially over.

Here are a few ways to stretch the life of your garden harvest, if you're interested!

INFUSED BUTTER

I've already talked about my foray into homemade infused butter and, so far, it's the most satisfying way I've found to preserve fresh herbs.

(Also: DUH. It's butter!) 

FROZEN

Try freezing your herbs in olive oil. I cut up parsley, sage, rosemary, and chives into tiny pieces, and portioned them out (in an empty ice cube tray) for single use. Pour olive oil overtop until the herbs are covered, then freeze. Once frozen, the oil became opaque and pale yellow. When you're ready to cook, you can pop one cube out at a time, as needed.

DRIED

Dry and store herbs in a clean mason jar (or similar sealable container). Oddly, I've struggled with this method the most! I could have sworn my fresh rosemary had dried out to crispy perfection but, after three days in a glass jar, it started sprouting mould (disgusting). In fairness, I was impatient and should have let the plants air-dry even longer, so the failure is on me lol.

KEEP GOING!

Risk keeping them indoors. Just last week, my chives and parsley sprung back for a third life. I felt too guilty tossing them in the compost bin, so into the house they came. To be honest, I'm not sure how long they'll survive, since my apartment doesn't get loads of sunlight. But you might have better luck!

So, have you called it quits on Gardening Season 2020? Were you able to preserve any of that hard work? I'm definitely curious to hear about it :)

Image credit (top): Popular Science
Image credits: Food Waste Feast (herb butter), Foods Guy (frozen), The Spruce (dried), Country Living (indoors)

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On A Personal Note: September 2020

Hello from the last stretch of September!

Forgive the recent radio silence. Wish I had a better excuse than, "I just didn't feel like writing anything." But there you have it. Frustrated by an unexpected Instagram ban, I found myself a lot less interested in the interwebs altogether. And you know what? Hitting the pause button felt really good.

Here are some highlights from the past few weeks, if you'd like to read :)

Our trip to Tremblant was wonderful. We ate a lot, took long walks with Reggie, relaxed by the lake, streamed a few movies, ATE SOME MORE, shopped at local markets, and generally enjoyed the slower pace of life up north. An aggressive rainstorm literally chased us away from the drive-in theatre lol, so that particular activity stayed on the to do list. We'll try again next visit!

Mom and Son lol (as captured by Josh)

I caught up on my reading list, tearing through Writers & Lovers by Lily King, Songs For The End Of The World by Saleema Nawaz, and The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (same author as my surprisingly favorite book back in May). I'm now on The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead -- this year's Pulitzer Prize winner and something I've been eager to read for a while.

Stayed on top of my ice cream game, obviously.

Took advantage of my on-going furlough to hang out with friends and family. In light of Quebec's ever-climbing number of Covid-19 cases, I'm glad and grateful we had that time together while conditions were still relatively safe. I'm hoping for an in-person Thanksgiving with loved ones -- in all likelihood, we'll be relegated to digital visits for the foreseeable future.

Started closing up the patio garden -- harvesting herbs, figuring out which plants will survive indoors, composting the others (RIP), cleaning out pots and putting everything away for winter. Sure, I complained about the daily maintenance, but I'm bummed to say goodbye to my plant babies. Keeping them alive really helped structure my summer days, and the experience will absolutely stand out as a bright spot in an otherwise irksome 2020.

Day One!

That's all for now, folks. Hoping to get more new posts up before Friday. Stay tuned!

Before signing off... To anyone observing Yom Kippur today, here's wishing you an easy and meaningful fast. (I'll be covertly snacking on Ikea ginger snaps -- my new confectionery obsession -- all day, while Josh works AND fasts. Poor guy.)

See you in October xo

Image credit: The Giving Place

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Five Easy Houseplants

I desperately want to be a Plant Person. I've only ever had the best intentions when bringing home a leafy friend. But if time (and the many shrivelled plant corpses) has revealed anything, it's that I'm actually a gifted houseplant murderer.

Personally, I blame our apartment. The space is very dry and never gets direct sunlight, so it's not the most hospitable environment for growing greenery. But there's another, bigger problem at hand... I'm terribly neglectful and hardly nurturing of my houseplants.

Shockingly, there is a small handful of plants I've managed to keep alive for the long haul (knock on wood). They have a lot of the same qualities: Very low maintenance, not much watering needed, can thrive without tons of sunshine. They're basically indestructible. They also happen to be very pretty :)

I'd like to share five houseplants that have thrived under my spotty care. If you also struggle to raise healthy plants, then you've come to the right place.

Snake Plant

This plant seems perfectly happy sitting by the TV, going weeks without fresh water. I spend more time wondering whether or not it's dead (or fake) than I do actively taking care of it. The plant always looks so strong and colorful. Mine is 6" tall and I plan to buy a 10" sister. That's how much faith I have in this plant's will to live ;)

Philodendron Cordatum

At almost ten years old, this is my oldest surviving plant! It started as cutting from a friend's much larger plant, which I kept in water for months before my mom moved it to a terracotta pot (where it still lives today). Its needs are super straight-forward -- give it tons of water, wait a couple weeks for the leaves to start sagging, then water it again. Like most of my other plants, this one only gets indirect sunlight for half the day, max, which seems to be plenty.

Zanzibar Gem (or ZZ Plant)

One of MANY Ikea plant purchases over the years, but the only one that hasn't perished. In fact, it's grown significantly bigger, and its branches are looking a little haywire. Which hardly bothers me because I'm just thrilled it's alive! I couldn't tell you how to keep it properly watered, though. My system is to forget it exists, remember eventually, then water it in a panic. Seems to do the trick lol.

Lipstick Plant

Mine comes from the flower shop on Mont Royal, just east of Parc Ave. It sits by a window and only gets indirect sunlight for half the day. I wait for the leaves to get a little droopy before watering. Plot twist: I glanced over one day and noticed she'd sprouted red flowers. (That's where the name comes from.) Since then, more blooms have popped up every once in a while. Makes me feel like I'm doing something right ;)

Bunny Ear Cactus

It has NOT been my personal experience that cacti are easy to care for. I've brought home so many, figuring if they can live in the desert, then they could handle my apartment. Incorrect. My Bunny Ear cactus is the reigning champ (meaning: sole survivor). It just hangs out in the front window, gets seldom waterings, and grows pups like crazy. I've also been pricked this plant more times than I'd care to admit, but as long as it keeps growing, all is forgiven.

*

There you have it -- my snapshot of durable, resilient houseplants. Hopefully someone out there will find it helpful!

If you also have experience with these plants, or know of other brainlessly easy ones to care for, I'd love to hear about it.

Good luck and happy gardening :)

Image credit: Hass & Co.

Image credit: Snake Plant, Philodendron, ZZ Plant, Lipstick Plant, Bunny Ear Cactus

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