OILING UP...

Orchid won in Silent Auction
along with Olbrich Gardens
 Family membership 

Despite grey skies on Saturday inside Western Technical College's Lunda Center it was anything but dreary. You see about 100 gardeners of all abilities gathered at the 2016 Spring into Gardening Conference sponsored by the Bluff Country Master Gardeners. 

Vendors with plants and garden related paraphernalia had set up shop in front of the main conference hall. Gardeners's eyes were hungry for the luscious green plants especially with 30 degree day weather still outside.

Talking about plants and gardening really gets gardeners excited even if we still have a while to wait before we start digging in the soil... Remember we don't move anything outside until AFTER Mother's Day weekend. Sad but true, we can just start seeds inside for now.

Laurie Stiers
Self acclaimed amateur herbalist

Saturday instead of beginning the conference day with our keynote speaker, the attendees first divided into two breakout sessions: Children's Gardens or  Herbs, Oils, and Healing. 

You get to hear about the latter. Herbs have really become very popular even though every culture has used herbal plants fresh, dried / their oils, by infusing/ distilling them since the beginning of time. We are growing plenty of herbs here in the End of the Rainbow Valley that can be preserved/ used in different ways so I am ready to explore this endeavor. 

Our lecturer, nurse trained Laurie Stiers, shared her herbal passion with us. Learning not only how to make oils but also what medicinal properties these herbs have can be a lifelong learning process through experimentation. Oh dear, wait this sounds like something else... but seriously, the efficacy of using your home grown herbs can't be any healthier/more convenient/ cost effective if harvested, processed, stored and used correctly.

Breaking up dried herb leaves

Crunched up dried leaves are added to the water

Of the two processes extracting 'essential' oils seems much more complicated and time consuming as the distillation process requires using either copper/stainless steel/caste iron pots. Ingredients don't differ that much but for distilling  4 cups of the 'scrambled' dried herbs, 8 cups of room temperature distilled water are needed. The concentrated oil will sit on top of the hydrosol (distilled liquid that appears like a strong tea) and must be skimmed/pipetted (is that a word?) off. Then, dependent on the oil's viscosity, the oil may be added to water in small vials, bottles/spritzers. They can be added to soaps/foods/ oils.

Infusing seems to be a simpler, more expedient process of heating the oil, adding the broken up dried herb leaves and placing a cloth to cover the steeping combination. The chocolate mint aroma in the demonstration permeated the room almost immediately. The oil and herb mixture is then strained through a cotton/cheese cloth like fabric. 

Although I am anxious to try out making my own concoctions, there's no rush since the 'garden gods' must have been watching over me... Get this - I WON the silent auction's "Herbs All Around Gift Basket" filled with soaps with names like Juniper Ginger Jasmine, Almond Oat Vanilla and Plain Gardeners. Included also was a bath fizzy along with a small bath bag and aromatherapy dispenser, plain olive oil lip balm, arnica flower oil AND... an hour long massage. 

So tell me, do you think I should use the massage certificate before/ after my daughter's wedding? Just checking.