Harvesting Rosemary

Well, with my three potted rosemary's still lingering between life and death in the guest room, I bite the bullet a couple Sundays ago and cut off all the rest of the plants in the garden. I do still have rosemary in one tub I am going to try to over winter using a cloche and some hoop greenhouse plastic so we will see. According to the Reader's Digest Complete Illustrated Book of Herbs, Rosmarius officinalis is the wild herb most commonly found on sea cliff around the Mediterranean. There are both blue flowered and pink flowered varieties and Rosemary if kept in an appropriate place to over winter can be cut in topiary like shapes and in warmer climates, grows tall enough to use for hedging. Maybe you will notice the recently popular rosemary trees sold at grocery stores this time of year. As I write this blog I find out that two of my rosemary plants have root rot as they are browning at the tips of the leaves. My gardening friend M was right, I am over watering them (sigh) okay, no more water and we'll see if they survive. Fussy things. Maybe next year Andrew will make me a nice cute mini green house with salvaged windows and I can try to overwinter them in the garden. Rosemary is also known as "Mary's Mantle" It is said that when Mary and Joseph were fleeing from Herod's men, she draped her blue cloak over a rosemary bush to try, and the blooms, previously white, were blue when she picked her cloak up. Rosemary has also been posted on doors to prevent faeries from kidnapping infants. Rosemary has a number of culinary uses but also medicinal. It's good for stimulating the nerves (rosemary is known as the herb of remembrance) and can clear one's head and help focus after inhaling it's resinous scent because rosemary increases blood flow to the head. Rosemary is also good for circulation , fatigue and sore muscles, which is why I rely on Elder Forest's rosemary salve for the aches and pains of gardening...or too much yoga with weights and Rosemary salve is especially good for cold nights as it has a warming effect and I've found that it helps me sleep. According to RDigest, rosemary leaves and juniper berries were burned in French hospitals to kill germs. It may have also helped medical staff on less sleep perk up a bit...but that's just a guess of mine.

Here is some rosemary soaking in water with a tiny bit bleach to kill germs. The salad spinner is one of those OXO pump action ones. Very durable and really gets the water out once it's been rinsed thoroughly.

After I have "spun" out most of the water, I line up the rosemary on a clean dish towel and then roll them up for further drying but I am careful not to add any pressure, as that would bruise the leaves and release oil.

And here are the sprigs tied with jute string to dry in a closet.

I'm hoping later this week to have the time to take the rosemary down and strip the leaves away and store in a jar but we'll have to see.