Catching up in the Garden

Eighteen days was quite a few to be away from the plants and chickens. There were 30 inches of rain here while I was gone. Luckily everything drained well and there was no flooding or severe leakage.

My Moringa Trees and Lemongrass are looking lush. Strangely the chickens have not rediscovered the Moringa since they grew up after the frost. I guess that just means more fresh greens for me until that happens. The lemongrass is bushing out so nicely. I started all the little bunches from a few stalks each just 3 months ago.




Speaking of chickens, the little peeps turned into awkward teen agers while I was away. I will have to add their pictures later, but the good news is they now spend their days foraging under the oak tree where they are safe from hawks. Buffy started laying eggs of course the day after we left. Her eggs are brown, but not quite as dark as my Rhode Island Red's eggs. Here she is in a picture I took of her today. She is the sweetest of the 5 chickens.


My raised bed is doing well, so I started culivating one more raised bed to plant later this month. In the mean time while I wait for vegetables to come in in my yard we are already harvesting peppers and zucchini at the Fair Share Garden, (tomatoes too if you count the green ones that I fried) for lunch. These are some pictures that I took on Saturday.



The Seminole pumpkin mound is going to be dense and productive:


Speaking of Seminole Pumpkins, I have a fresh batch of pumpkin soap that is back in stock. I've been playing catch up this week taking pictures of new products.


These zucchini rows are going to be awesome in a month or so. We are also growing cukes and Malabar spinach to the left and black eyed peas to toward the back of the zucchini.


The butterfly garden at Fair Share is in full bloom right now. I have been neglecting annuals in my garden for too long. I must add some. They are so great for attracting pollinators.



The herb spiral is really filling in. I need to add some rosemary and a few others that are growing up in flats, Some of the herbs that are doing really well in it at this moment are Lemongrass, Rose Geranium, Mugwort and Holy Basil. I will be giving an herb demonstration with fresh herbs from the spiral at the garden on the morning of Saturday, June 20th. Check back in or email me for details.

Old City Remedies & The Oldest Drug Store

There are plenty of reasons to visit St. Augustine if you are in Florida, but if you are an herb-lover then you won't want to miss "The Oldest Drug Store." For those of you who are not familiar with St. Augustine, it is the oldest city founded by Europeans in North America. St. Augustine's most famous land mark is the Castillo de San Marcos built by the Spanish in 1672. Interestingly the castle never fell, but only changed hands via treaties to French or English. The city of St. Augustine is full of old world charm with narrow alley ways, art galleries, pubs, coffee shops, and restaurants. Last week I discovered a new attraction, "The Old Drugstore", which is a free museum and also houses a modern herbal gift shop, Old City Remedies owned by Myra Schafeffer.

The Old Drugstore sits at the corner of Orange and Cordova Street where it has been since 1739, built by Antonio Gomaas. The Gomaas family sold liquor, tobacco, medicine and Native American remedies until 1872, when the building was purchased by T.W. Speissegger, pharmacist. Speissegger had previously established his pharmacy in St. Augustine in 1872 in a different location. The Oldest Drugstore is now Owned by the Harris Foundation, which preserves and maintains its collection of medications & tools from the 1700's an onward. In the museum collection you will find countless bottles of castor oil, lavender preparations, a suppository mold maker, old time soaps, tincture bottles, and much more. One interesting item which is pictured to the left was tincture of Asafoetida. That was a new one for me. The Physiomedical Dispensatory, by William Cook, M.D., indicates the preparation and usage for tincture of Asafoetida, a member of the family Umbelliferae "Four ounces of asafoetida macerated for two weeks in a quart of alcohol, and then filtered, forms the officinal tincture. It is sometimes used by the stomach in urgent cases, when a very quick action is needed; but is oftener employed by enema. Dose, a fluid drachm or more." Another purgative! It was near the castor oil, so maybe that was a laxative section! Also near the soap.. another coincidence?


Fortunately for modern herbal shoppers, the Oldest Drug Store now is the home for more than a collection of odd purgatives and antiquarian pharmaceutical preparations. Old City Remedies, a modern herbal shop, is housed within the museum. In this lovely little herb shop you will find a collection of beautiful herbs and teas including simples like the antimicrobial, antiviral flower buds of Lonicera japonica (AKA honeysuckle or jin yin hua) and nourishing, anticancer flowers of Trifolium pratens (AKA Red clover), as well as a variety of interesting formulations. On such formula is called "Happy Man," which includes the following organic herbs: Siberian Ginseng, Dandelion root, Nettle, Marshmallow root, Burdock rook, Hawthorn berry, Saw Palmetto, Fennel, Oatsraw, and Stevia. The herbs that I looked closely at were high quality, organic and dried in a way such that the natural colors were retained, for example bright yellow honeysuckle and bright pink clover.
I'm sure I will be returning to the Old Drug Store as often as I have a chance to visit St. Augustine. If you love herbs, then I hope you will have a chance to do the same.