Off the Wall and into the Herb Garden

Volunteer in a crack

I had planted these cute little pansies last year in the planter boxes.  It always surprises me when volunteers pop up the next year in bizarre places.

Sage, working up to blooming

Thyme

My herb garden is in its third season.  It is a work in progress.  The Thyme has spread out well.  There are some deadwood I need to get cleaned up. My Sage is doing really well.  I love it when it blooms!

Garlic infused olive oil

I love to upcycle things.  I loved the shape of these bottles.  I used one to infuse garlic in olive oil.  It is getting strained into another bottle.

Straining the oil

I use a coffee filter to strain oils and vinegars.  I am really enjoying the herbs and infusing.

Thyme Vinegar

I had cut too much Thyme for a recipe.  So rather than tossing it, I put it in a bottle with vinegar.  This is the strained vinegar.  Again, a reused bottle (Rose's Lime Juice).  Note the fancy pants label!

I love it when the chives bloom!

The real project of the day.  I had remembered that I saw a blog post about chive blossom vinegar last year.  At the time, my blossoms were past their prime and dried out.  So when I saw my chives getting ready to burst open I did a search for Chive Blossom Vinegar.  There were several different blog posts on several sites.

Rinsed then spun dry

I took heed of one post and soaked my blossoms in water and then rinsed and spun them dry.

Packed into a jar

Vinegar added

Only one of the blogs talked about using hot vinegar.  I decided not to heat my vinegar up.  It is difficult to photograph the liquid in the jar.  I set it on my window sill and we will check back in 2 weeks and see how it turns out!

Brutus

I had received a package on Tuesday containing my brand spanking new Kitchen Aid mixer!  I have wanted one of these big boys forever!  I am going to use him this afternoon to mix up some banana bread.  I am going to have to completely rearrange how my kitchen counters are filled to make space for this guy.

Some weeks you find a lot of inspiration in the studio.  I found none there this week.  I found a lot of inspiration in my herb garden.  I love the various greens and purples that are showing up this week.  I love to brush my hand against the plants, the scent of the herbs is so wonderful and soothing.

This is my Off the Wall post for the week.  Check out what everyone else is up to at Nina-Marie's blog.