GARDEN MAIDEN: Learn how herbs can improve your life

"The spice of life."

For those who have sown the miniscule seeds, then impatiently waited for just the right moment to harvest and explore the storage of fresh herbs from the garden, that's a saying of complete sustenance. It represents tiny dashes of botanicals rich in nutrients and flavor that completely shift not only the overtones of dishes at the table, but topically and internally alter body conditions based on their intense profiles alone.

With the Illinois Herb Association’s 2019 HerbFest coming to Ottawa in August, I am giddy with anticipation of all I'll get to learn from statewide experts sharing their herbalism.

In cooking terms, herbs are defined as plants grown primarily for culinary use of their leaves, either fresh or dried, such as basil and oregano. Commercial terminology separates spices by defining further the seeds, roots and bark of tropical and subtropical plants. Herbal teas are actually often made from spices, such as Chai tea made of cinnamon bark and peppercorns (dried fruits of the Piper nigrum plant) in addition to white (premature), green (young) or black (mature) leaves of the tea plant (Camellia sinensis or Camellia assamica).

Herbs and spices are often intermingled as much by the cook as by the gardener, a welcome merger as passion for taste and texture collide.

My fascination with cultivating herbs began when I heard the term nootropic from a dietician, describing herbs used to enhance cognitive function by increasing neurotransmitter function in the brain. Suggesting lemon balm as a starter, if I wanted to consume it daily, I had to learn to grow it amply.

Within weeks, it lifted my mood and cleared my head so significantly that I was instantly a believer in herbalism. Over the years, as much has gone in my mouth as has been crushed, dried or steeped into salves, tinctures and silken sachets. Constant exploration and ongoing research steers my adventure in mixing herbs, flowers and even fruits to carefully match harvest times with flavor profiles, such as not adding too much harsh peppermint to a calming hops tea blend.

During HerbFest, Dr. Deborah Lee, a holistic health care practitioner and owner of Four Wind Farms in Quincy, will present “Flower Remedies for Emotional Balance and Clearing.” Additionally, Marcy Lautanen-Raleigh, author of Backyard Patch herbal blog, welcomes cooking blend queries and offers guidance in crafting a custom spa treatment to take home.

With nary a single bed prepped during spring flooding, I’m elated discovering voluntary chamomile. Odd, indeed, since chamomile is primarily a cool-weather herb grown for its sweet, apple-like blossoms and equally flavorful fern-like leaves. Plump, daisy-like blooms paired with lemon verbena and a single sprig of lavender brews amazing sun tea. Just a quart of dried Matricaria Recutita, or German chamomile, is enough for a batch of tincture to capture its antispasmodic benefits. Simply soak dried flowers, stems and leaves in a vat of vodka, alcohol or glycerin. Several weeks to months later, you have a custom blend to drop on your tongue for instant relief. Beth Nagel, accredited herbalist and owner of Stone House Herb Co. in rural Shannon, will demonstrate the art of tincturing in her presentation.

Though the sharp floral aroma of lavender is often too much for my nose, I long to sprinkle homegrown tiny lavender buds into a batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies. I envision often a purple overcast lining of perimeter blue-grey shrubs along our north 40, though the wet nature near the creek forbade its reality.

Thankfully, Maggie Smith, of Nettle Creek Lavender Farm in Morris, grows 1,000 plants along with honey bees, chickens and other flowers and vegetables on her four-acre farm. For now, shopping local for fresh sprigs of lavender is nearly as gratifying as growing my own.

Stop and smell the rosemary! Primarily grown by me for instant clarifying aromatherapy, rosemary’s invigorating scent as its pine needle-like leaves rub together has become a daily symbol of remembrance and spiritual clearing, also. Recently enamored with propagation by cuttings, rosemary often finds its way to the vase to put on roots while keeping wild chervil, day lilies and gayfeather company.

Usually a tender perennial, overwintering rosemary successfully may be a matter of choosing hardy varieties such as Hill’s or Alcalde. Additionally, limit watering to bi-weekly as fall approaches and cover your plants with a winter bed of straw for insulation.

Along with rosemary, the fanciful tiered, deep violet, intermittently pommed blooms of whorled clary sage steal the discussion of a fresh farm floral arranging at our table. Another surprising perennial, its otherwise unremarkable leaves will earn their messy keep as the base for my next hormone-balancing salve.

If a cottage garden of cut flower arrangements is next on your garden experience list, come to HerbFest to hear Kira Santiago, from East Peoria, share her growing and use of over 75 varieties of flowers grown on her Civil War-era farm striving to provide a viable alternative to importing cut flowers in the Midwest.

Whether getting started with the basics or advancing your herb growing into rare cultivars and finicky picks, there seems always to be more to learn about growing an herb garden. Attendees of HerbFest can catch the piece by Amy Wertheim, sixth-generation steward of the land and owner of Wertheim’s Garden spice farm in Atlanta, Ill., as she shares her IHA-certified herb garden and discusses the opportunity to certify your garden, too.

For those analytical types wanting to do a little research prior to engaging a courtship with homegrown herbs, here are a few terms to identify chemical traits of plants:

• Emollient — softens and soothes the skin (borage, comfrey, sunflower, avocado)

• Demulcent — soothing action on inflammation, especially of mucous membranes (licorice, comfrey, corn silk)

• Soporific — inducing sleep (catnip, chamomile, hops, clary sage)

• Nervine — calms the nervous system (peony, rose, St. Johns wort)

• Sedative — exerts a soothing, tranquilizing effect on the body (lemon balm, valerian, lavender)

Illinois Herb Association 2019 HerbFest will be 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 24, from at the Reddick Mansion in Ottawa. Early registration is encouraged as seating is limited to the first 45 paid registrants. Attendees have access to all educational classes, a guided tour of the IHA-certified Reddick Mansion herb garden and a map for a self-guided tour of surrounding Ottawa gardens.

Discounted rates for mansion tours, a catered lunch by The Cheese Shop deli and access an exclusive vendor fair also is included. Cost is $35 for IHA members, and $45 for non-members. For event details and vending information, visit facebook.com/IllinoisHerbAssociation To register, contact Charlene Blary at 309-557-2107.

HOLLY KOSTER is a University of Illinois Extension Master Gardener who resides in Grand Ridge. She can be reached by emailing tsloup@shawmedia.com; via Twitter, @gardenmaiden9; or on Facebook, facebook.com/gardenmaiden9.