Friday, May 02, 2008

Why are volunteer gardeners always exhausted in the spring?

Not gardening ... no, Meetings and Classes and Committees and Events...

Now that the Genesee County Herb Society's 2008 Spring Herb Symposium is history, I should give a few impressions. I'd first like to report that we did make money to support our projects, and we did successfully fulfill our stated mission of educating the public about herbs. The comments on the evaluations and other feedback have been very gratifying. I was too busy to get many photos, but I have a few.



Our speaker, Donna Frawley is a personable and knowledgeable lady, and she gave us a fine day of educational entertainment. Her first talk, our keynote presentation, was about Cooking With Herbs, and it was one of those fast paced, multi-dish shows like you see on a cooking show.

She prepared a multitude of dishes all made with herbs, and the samples were delish! Nothing says comfort food to me like a homemade minestrone soup, and Donna supplied the guests with all of the recipes so we wouldn't get lost in the rapid preparation.
After our workshops and lunch, Donna was back with Herbal Breads, again with recipes and samples. I hope no one was on a diet!



Donna was a home economist and professional baker so she had some good stories to tell while she did her demonstrations. She is on the board of the International Herb Association and she has owned a home based business, Frawley's Fine Herbary, for 25 years specializing in herbal blends and other herb related foods, and published her own cookbooks and now has a dvd.

I sat next to Donna at lunch and she told me she has been writing a column for the Midland Daily newspaper for several years, now. So I looked it up to post a link here.

The entry plant sales by His and Herbs of Montrose.


I'd write about my workshop, "Dry Herbal Seasonings - Better Than Store Bought" but I'm giving the same presentation to the Herb Society in a few months and I wouldn't want them to read it all here. My class was very enthusiastic to say the least, and we may have some prospective members show up for the May meeting!

2 comments:

Jane O' said...

Will you let us in on the dried herbal seasonings after your talk? I have one recipe but I don't like it very much. It's for a steak rub,

Betsy said...

Hi Jane Marie,
Sure, I'll write about herbal seasonings, but there's no magic recipe. Basically, you know what you like, right? So experiment! Look for ingredients on labels of your favorite commercial blends, look for recipes in magazines, books and online. Taste what you grow. And then 'do it'.
Harvest and use the herbs growing in your garden, or herbs you buy from your local farmer's market.
I think most people are just not used to trying things for themselves and they don't trust their own opinions. Is it the television "expert" culture? Pre-packaged food? Lack of time?
Break the mold.