My 30-to-5 Rule, Herbs, and Other Babble

I think I've worked out a way that I can manage to be productive and still take care of my physical condition. That's what I call my 30-to-5 rule. Basically it means I need about three minutes of rest for every five minutes that I do something. I realize this is probably the opposite of what most people need, but it seems to be working for me. Of course, sometimes I need more than 30 minutes of rest, but at least it is the basic idea of how to cope.

We have really dry weather right now. It's sunny and there is a slight breeze and the air is really dry. So it is just perfect weather for drying herbs. We already dried and put away two large batches of the peppermint that I mostly use for tea. We found a really good and easy way of doing it. We use one of those lingerie bags for delicates in the laundry. That way don't have to worry about how long the stems are and try to tie them into bundles. Instead I just cut them at whatever length they are, shove them in a bag, and then rotate the bag a lot. Right now my bag is filled with the other kind of mint that we have. I am not sure what kind it is. But it looks more like mom's tea mint than the peppermint does. The one I am identifying as peppermint has a very definite reddish tint to both the leaves and the stems. This one has very green leaves and green stems, except the corners of its square stem appeared to have a reddish thread in them.

We have two other herbs drying right now. Those are done by that tie the stems into a bunch method. Unfortunately, I don't know what they are called in English. Instead I will give you their scientific names. The one is called Artemisia dracunculus. The other is Levisticum officinale. The latter we use a lot because it helps make old potatoes taste better.

We are using a lot of mint at the moment. Most days I am making tea on fresh mint. We were reading in DH's herb book about the values of lavender, so today we added a sprig of lavender to my tea as well. It was quite good in my opinion. I also added a sprig of mint to the bottle of cold water DH keeps in the fridge. Makes it just a little bit fresher.

In other news, my back is still improving. Or at least it was. As soon as I wrote that, Shawnee had a little accident on the floor. Her first in ages. I got her outside to finish then cleaned up. But when she came back in, she is so upset and sorry about the accident that she was glued to my feet. I turned around to go get myself a glass of water and tripped over her. I think I need my ice pack again.

I had planned to write more, but hurt too much now to do so.

Overdue Update

Sorry for the extended delay updating this blog. Because it's been so long, I am not going to tell you about the rest of my visit from the Germans. Nor am I going to tell you about DH's military reunion weekend after. You're also going to have to live without the news of my weekend spent lying on my stomach after a gardening-induced backache (two weekends ago). Even though it was really fun, I'm not going to give you a big blurb on the trip to the race track with our friends down the road that have trotting horses. Only Edith would care about 20 chapters of her book that I edited. You also don't need to hear about ride this past Thursday that resulted in the current backache. No, I didn't fall off and no she didn't jump all over the place. It probably just aggravated the backache from the previous week. The weekend spent lying on the floor with my feet up on the sofa is also not very exciting. How much do you really need to know about Monday's trip to the chiropractor?

Instead I'm just going to tell you about today and not worry about all that other stuff.

Despite the continued backache, I am managing to be somewhat productive. Regular icing seems to be helping. So if I've done most of the dishes and spent a short visit with Queenie and Hopi in the pasture. The girls are managing to behave and Shawnee has not become a cliché again, like she did yesterday by chewing on my slipper.

Our garden is definitely coming along. The potatoes are growing like mad. DH planted six rows of peas. The rhubarb is overdue for its third cutting. I have to see about doing that tomorrow so we can take it to his parents after my chiropractor appointment. The giant pumpkins and regular zucchini have been moved out to the garden. The weird yellow squash thingy has come up despite our expectations to the contrary (I overwatered the dirt). The regular American aren't pumpkins are also about ready to be set outside. Today I found another empty meat tray, so I was able to start the thyme seeds that I just bought. For mom, who actually cares about this stuff and might be able to give me more information about them, it is Thymus vulgaris. The thyme I used to have died from the winter. We are hoping that we can start creating a ground cover in our flower bed with herbs. So anyone can recommend species that we appreciate it. So far, we are trying with the mint that we have and then this thyme.

We're having calzone for dinner tonight. I hope will be a right because we are using store-bought dough. It's shortening up the process a lot because I'm not up to more now. It will have fresh tomatoes, fresh oregano, ham strips, and grated cheese. Probably also other spices. Maybe a jar of mushrooms, if I feel like it.

Other than that I mostly just playing my silly horse game.