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Create Harmony
This is a podcast about setting an intentional rhythm, savoring life’s blessings and learning how to use our imagination as a way of listening to God. If you want to learn more about how to bring stillness and gratitude into your life you’ll probably find a lot here that you love. To find out more about what's going on in the Create Harmony world, check out www.mycreateharmony.com.
Create Harmony
Growing Joy
Dive into the aromatic world of herb gardening with this sensory-rich exploration of cultivating your own little patch of culinary magic. What started as a scaled-back garden plan turned into a discovery of how these versatile plants engage nearly all our senses—sight, smell, touch, and taste—creating an immersive connection to nature right on your windowsill or backyard.
From kitchen staples like thyme, basil, and rosemary to the visual appeal of purple-tinged sage and bright lime-green mammoth basil, this episode unpacks the diverse personalities of common herbs and their uses. Learn about the anti-inflammatory properties of rosemary, how mint aids digestion, why aloe vera deserves a spot in your home, and which sneaky herbs (looking at you, mint and lemon balm) will take over your garden if given the chance. Whether you're creating a caprese salad with fresh basil, cucumber-dill salad for summer gatherings, or infusing water with grapefruit mint, these versatile plants enhance everyday cooking while providing genuine health benefits.
Beyond cooking, discover how herbs can transform your wellbeing—chamomile for sleep and anxiety, echinacea for immune support, turmeric and ginger for inflammation and digestion. With practical tips on selecting vibrant leaves, proper storage techniques, and the perfect timing for adding herbs to dishes, you'll be equipped to start your own herb garden adventure. As we embrace the philosophy to "eat more plants," herbs offer an accessible gateway to bringing more plant-based goodness into your life while engaging all your senses in the process. Ready to rub some sage between your fingers and experience the multi-sensory joy of herbs? Your garden awaits!
To learn more, go to mycreateharmony.com
Welcome back to Create Harmony. So this is a place where we celebrate those everyday joys, and in the hustle and bustle of daily life, it's easy to overlook these small but significant sources of happiness. By cultivating mindfulness and practicing gratitude, we train our brains to become more attuned to the joy that surrounds us all the time, whether that's a spontaneous hug from a loved one or the satisfaction of checking a task off your list, or maybe just the beauty of nature in full bloom. These moments are precious gifts that remind us of the richness of life. Gifts that remind us of the richness of life. So together, let's embrace the magic of those everyday joys and let them fill our hearts with warmth and contentment.
Speaker 2:So this is episode 124, and I am your host, sally Burlington. So today we're going to talk about herbs. So I told you a few weeks ago that you know I'm really into gardening. So if you've listened for a while, you know I'm really into gardening this time of year and I usually grow a lot of fruits and veggies and that kind of thing in the summer. But this year we're only doing an herb garden because we still have issues in our backyard to work out for our raised bed area. So it's just herbs, and the great thing about herbs the reason we're going to talk about them today is that they are easy to grow and they provide a lot of pleasure on several different levels. It's a real sensory experience to grow herbs. You can enjoy them from almost every one of your senses. You can look at them and they're beautiful, so you use your sight, you can smell them. They have lots of different fragrances, they have different textures that you can touch and, of course, you can eat them, so you get to taste. It's a multi sensory experience and I love that. The only sense that's not included is hearing, and I guess maybe if you went out and listened to your herbs, maybe you would hear something. But anyway, all of the other senses are included and so that's really great.
Speaker 2:So what I've got? I've got two planters with herbs in them, and what I'm growing this year is a mix of all sorts of things. So I've got some thyme. Thyme's a real earthy flavor. It's really good to add to roasted veggies or maybe a little chicken. My husband especially likes it when I saute some fresh squash and sprinkle the fresh thyme over it. He loves that flavor.
Speaker 2:I'm also growing two kinds of mint. Mint has a clean, fresh, bright flavor. It really helps with digestion. And I've got just regular spearmint. And then I've got a pot of what's called grapefruit mint and it's got a little bit of a citrusy vibe with the mint flavor. So you can make infused water, you can add this to your tea, you can make a mojito, you could add it to fruit salads or all sorts of things. Sometimes you can add it to different culture dishes, like Mediterranean dishes have a lot of mint in them. So those are the ways that you might use mint. I'm growing rosemary so I have a rosemary that I use a lot on roasted potatoes or on chicken. Rosemary is very anti-inflammatory and it can improve your cognitive function, so that's a benefit.
Speaker 2:Basil I've got two types of basil. We are big basil lovers around here and basil is probably one of the most accessible herbs. People often gravitate towards it. You have your caprese salads and dishes. That's tomato, mozzarella, basil, a little balsamic. But, like I said, I've got two kinds. I've got just your regular, straight out basil and then I've got this thing called mammoth basil and it's like this bright lime green. It has these very curly leaves. I've never grown that one before, so I'm not sure where that's going to go, but I just thought it was pretty. It provided a bright sensory experience for my eyes. So I'm growing that one too.
Speaker 2:So I've got some sage. I chose a sage that's sort of a purpley color. It's got a little bit of a purple undertones. Sage is really good in sausages or turkey. It's more of a savory herb and goes with more of your autumnal flavors. I'll be honest, I don't really use a lot of sage, but I like to grow it because I like the way it looks. It's a different looking herb. It has a different color. It's sort of a blue, green, sagey color I guess, and mine has tones of purple to it. So I like how that adds some dimension to the look of the garden.
Speaker 2:I'm growing chives, so that has an onion-like flavor and I use chives on a lot of things. I add that to dressings and to salads and it really brightens up a salad of all kinds. You can really mix chives with lots of different kinds of vegetables and it'll give it a little bit of a just an edge, a little spice. So I've got two kinds of oregano as well. I've got just regular Greek oregano, which is just your standard oregano type as well as a really lime green oregano, and I don't remember what the variety was. But again, I picked it because I liked the difference. I like the visual of having that bright, bright green. It has a tiny little leaf and it just provided something different.
Speaker 2:In the garden I'm growing some parsley that has a real grassy flavor. You can make tabbouleh. You can add that again to fish or chicken or vegetables. Parsley was really good on a salad. To it it adds a little dimension. I think it has a little bit of an earthy flavor as well. So maybe that's something that you like to add into your. Put a little in your smoothie maybe, and just get that grassy flavor in there.
Speaker 2:I've got some dill and I don't have a lot of luck growing dill. When I grow dill it's great when it starts out, but then somewhere along the line it either gets too dry or too hot and I'm not sure if maybe it just we live in a pretty hot place so I'm not sure if it just doesn't thrive there. But I just enjoy it while it lasts. It's great on fish. It's great with a cucumber salad type thing. It has a very fresh taste, kind of a cooling effect, the dill. So I always add a little bit of that in there and I like the leafiness, I like what it looks like when it's in there, because it's kind of airy, feathery, leafy look and a different color. So I always add that one in.
Speaker 2:I'm growing some lavender. We like to make lavender lemonade around here, but you can also add that one to tea, you could add it to your bath, you could add it to, you know, some little sachets to put it in your unmentionables drawer. I mean, lavender is just very soothing and calming and we particularly like it around here. So I've got a bigger section of lavender in my herb garden. And then I also have something new for me this year is a curry plant, and this was something that I stumbled upon when I went to the garden center. I'm not super familiar with it so I can't tell you what I'm going to use it for, but I liked it as kind of a pale blue green color. It's a real different kind of look and it also has sort of a feathery effect like the dill does, except the color is lighter and it does smell like curry. The scent is really subtle. You have to kind of crush the leaves in order to get the scent. But there is the feeling of curry there, so maybe I'll get creative and come up with some delicious curry dishes.
Speaker 2:And then, lastly, I always love growing lemon balm. Lemon balm is so fresh and bright. I don't typically use it in recipes because I think it's kind of bitter to eat. There are like recipes for lemon balm tea. I haven't tried that yet, but maybe this year will be the year I like to cut it and bring it in as just something, an aromatic thing, in your house. Just put it in a little bud vase and put it in a room and it smells. It's very, very lemony. You crush the leaves and you can really smell this clean, bright lemon smell and it's it's really a pretty fresh looking herb. So those are some of the things that I am growing.
Speaker 2:There are also other types of things that you could grow and combine with the the idea of herbs. That would give you a more multi-sensory experience and also be healing and refreshing to your body. We are growing some aloe vera, so that's another thing you can do. Aloe vera is known for you to heal, you know, if you get sunburn or any kind of burn wound. It's good for skin conditions, very anti-inflammatory, it reduces pain and swelling and it also can be antibacterial. So we have three little different types of aloe in a pot and we are ready, because, you know, this year we got a pool, so hopefully we won't experience sunburn, but if we do, we can just break off a piece of that aloe and get it ready to soothe our skin.
Speaker 2:Another very soothing and calming herb is chamomile. You can use it in tea. It kind of helps with sleep or anxiety. It can also soothe your gastrointestinal system. So if you have a lot of indigestion or cramps, just get a little chamomile. That's a really good healing herb. Another is echinacea. Echinacea is very powerful for the immune system. It has a pretty flower too. It has sort of like a daisy-like flower. So I have not grown that one, but that might be a good idea for you if you're thinking of something you want to grow that could be healing and multisensory.
Speaker 2:Ginger is a good idea to grow. You could. It of course, prevents nausea and motion sickness and that kind of thing. Ginger's got a lot of zing and that's really good in a lot of different you know. You can put it in a smoothie, put it in your dressings, put it in your salads. Everybody loves a little zing of ginger.
Speaker 2:A last idea is turmeric. So turmeric is very anti-inflammatory and antioxidant, so you can use that for chronic inflammation. It's also very preventative from cancer to heart disease, to Alzheimer's, so you can use that for chronic inflammation. It's also very preventative from cancer to heart disease, to Alzheimer's. So it's a great idea to grow some turmeric as well.
Speaker 2:So we make a lot of salads around here or we try to use a lot of vegetables. Eat more plants is one of our mantras. It doesn't always go exactly like that, but the more I say eat more plants, I feel like it helps me lean in. So here's some things you can do with herbs to incorporate into your salads. So I said earlier that we make a lot of caprese salad. It's like that's an Italian classic. You get fresh basil leaves, put ripe tomatoes, creamy mozzarella. It's best to use fresh mozzarella because that's the right flavor and consistency for your best caprese salad. I make what I call chopped caprese. So you use cherry tomatoes and you chop it up. I use red onions in there and a little balsamic and salt and pepper and a little bit of olive oil, and it's just delicious and can be made, you know, throughout the summer season.
Speaker 2:If you want to use your dill, I mentioned that you could make a cucumber dill salad. You slice the cucumbers really, really thin, put in a little dill, some red onion, maybe a dressing that has some Greek yogurt, some lemon juice, might want to add a dash of garlic, and that is just a very cool, fresh, delightful way to use that dill. So simple and it's very, very healthy for you. How about if you made a watermelon mint salad? Watermelon and mint really pair together. Well, I think it's best if you pop in a little feta cheese that adds the saltiness, and you know watermelon and salt are good together. You might want to drizzle a little bit of lime juice on the top and that makes a perfect side dish very, very healthy. Use up that mint.
Speaker 2:I usually end up having more herbs. The reason I'm making these suggestions is that sometimes I have more herbs than I can use and sometimes I even have to just cut them and bring them in for you know, in a little bud vase, like I said, so that you can smell them, because I have all of these herbs, and herbs do best when they get trimmed back. You might use your parsley to make tabbouleh. You make that with bulgur wheat and you put parsley. You can put some mint, maybe tomatoes, cucumbers, green onions. You put a little olive oil and lemon juice on there. That is a delicious side dish for any kind of Mediterranean meal.
Speaker 2:And then, lastly, I didn't mention cilantro. I, I love cilantro. I don't have a lot of luck growing it because it does not tolerate really really hot temperatures and we get too hot here. But I could eat cilantro on anything, you could put it on anything, and I would like it. Now there are people who, when they put cilantro in their mouth, what they taste is soap. So if that's you, you don't really want to add any cilantro into your life. But cilantro is really good with lots of different, with taco night, with salads. I looked up a salad that you can put sliced grilled beef, mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, red onions and fresh cilantro, and then you make a dressing that has a little bit of lime juice, a little sugar, a little chili and that's really tangy and it gives a spicy little kick and complements the herbs so so well.
Speaker 2:So if you are going to try to use herbs, you are either going to buy them from the grocery store, or you're going to get them from a friend or grow them yourself. You want to look for the most bright, vibrant leaves. They want to have a very strong aroma, strong aroma. You need to store them by keeping them wrapped in a damp paper towel and store them in a plastic bag in the refrigerator and they'll stay good for maybe a week or so in there.
Speaker 2:I have a special kind of scissors that I use to chop my herbs and they're like I mean, they're called herb scissors and it's like you have four blades in a row so that when you cut each time, it cuts them quickly rather than having to chop, chop, chop. You're able to just make four cuts at one swipe of the scissors and I love that because it's just quicker and it makes it more diced on top of whatever you're going to put on your whatever you're going to eat. It's good to add the herbs right before you eat, like right at the end. If you're going to brighten up a dish with a little bit of herbs, just sprinkle a little on top, like right, right on your salad, right on your chicken, whatever. Sometimes, if you try to cook them for too long, it really sort of dilutes the flavor. So you'll you'll get the most zing for your, for your time, if you wait till the end and then sprinkle them on top. So those are some ways to incorporate herbs into your life.
Speaker 2:One last thing we're going to circle back to the conversation about mint and lemon balm. There are some herbs that if you plant them in your herb garden, they're going to be the dominant feature and they're going to take over. They're going to really grow and everything else you're growing is maybe not going to thrive because they're going to spread. Those. For me, and the ones I listed, are mint and lemon balm. Both of my types of mint are like that. They're sort of invasive, so I have to put those in a separate pot so they have their own little land, if you will, and they can grow and thrive in that pot, but they don't overcome everything else. So if you decide that you're going to try your hand at growing some herbs this year, just keep that in mind, that there are some that want to take over.
Speaker 2:So for our closing today, we are going to shift our focus on to some good things about spring. So this is from a book called how to Be a Wildflower by Katie Daisy, and here is her list of good things for this season. Season Number one pink skies. Number two forest waterfalls, roadside poppies, bats swooping at dusk, barn kittens, night swimming, iced coffee from a drinking jar, sparklers, a summertime romance rubbing sage between your fingers, fireflies emerging from the grass in twilight, dewy grass and bare feet, fresh basil and the perfect peach. So thanks so much for joining us today as we went through the benefits of herbs and how to enjoy them, how to incorporate them more into your springtime life, and good luck finding ways to incorporate those herbs into your life. Hopefully you'll test out some new types of herbs in the ways that you eat and maybe you'll take on the mantra of eat more plants. Hope you'll join us next week as we journey along. And until next time, peace you.
