I have a couple of cute dogs, One is a White Westie named Spencer….like the Little Caesar dog commercials! The other cutie is a 1 year crazy Golden Doodle named Chip. So anyway..I have this really great Old whisky barrel that I plant herbs in. They look so beautiful in it! Well one day good old Chipper kept on going over to it trying to get inside it…..I figured he was chasing the gecko’s we have here in Florida so thought nothing about it…Then the next day he was back at it. I was thinking ….what the heck is he up to??

So the next time he did it I went over to my herb barrel. Guess what was in it??? Bunnies! Little tiny baby bunnies! The mama had jumped up two feet to have her babies in the herb barrel!! OMG they were so cute.  So we had to try to protect them from my darling little chip. I put some rocks around the barrel so he couldn’t dig in it!

A couple of days later I hear this screeching baby sound!  Those little tiny babies were ready to see the world!  Well good ol Chip to the rescue….sort of…One of those babies had jumped out of the barrel and Chip now had him in his mouth! It was utter chaos. I was screaming to my hubby to come help, you see Chippers thinks I always want to play with him and he went running around the yard with the screeching little baby in his mouth! Luckily he didn’t hurt him!  Hubby came to the rescue and just in time! The other 3 bunnies came hopping out of my herb barrel!. So we made sure they made it out of the yard under the fence!

Did ya like my bunny tale?  With Easter coming soon I thought it would be fun to share a couple of recipes I found online

This one I found on the Restaurant Guys Radio Could’t find any pics but sure sounds Delish!

Easter Baked Fresh Ham With Herbs

• 1  14 to 16 lb. fresh, unsalted, uncured ham
• 4  cloves garlic
• 1  bay leaf
• 1  tablespoon crumbled leaf sage
• l/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  It is preferable to have the butcher remove the small blade bone–not necessary, however.

2. Cut garlic into 18 to 20 slivers.  With the tip of knife, make small incisions all over the ham and insert garlic.  Using sharp knife, score the fat side of ham deeply.  Place the bay leaf, sage, and thyme on a flat surface and chop with a heavy knife.  Chop as finely as possible.  Sprinkle the ham all over with the herb mixture, salt and pepper to taste.  Rub the seasonings into the ham all over.  Use a generous but reasonable amount of salt.

3. Place the ham fat side up in a large baking dish about 12″ x 18″ x 2 l/2″.  Place the ham in the oven and bake, basting occasionally, for 2 1/2 hours.

4. Reduce the over heat to 350 degrees F and cover the ham with aluminum foil.  Continue baking about 2 1/2 hours or untilo ham is thoroughly cooked.  When cooked, should have internal temperature of at least 170.

5. When ham is cooked, remove from pan.  Tilt pan and skim fat from gravy.  A judicious amount of water may be added to pan juices and brought to the boil for the sauce.

SAUCE FOR FRESH HAM

1. 2 anchovies–smash it very fine.

2. Very little onion and garlic smash.

3. Take 1 egg and mayonnaise and beat with one hard boiled egg mashed very fine.

4. 1 teaspoon capers and mix all together.

This next  recipe looks delicious and fun! It is a great recipe with step by step instructions!

To get this recipe goto > http://www.skinnytaste.com/2013/03/skinny-easter-egg-cake-balls.html

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter! Enjoy with family and friends! Do you have any bunny tails? Maybe your favorite Easter recipe to share?

Love and Gratitude!

Jan

Wild Bergamot is a very very cool plant! You may have heard the common names for it as Bee Balm, Monarda and Oswego Tea.  It has very pretty with flowers that are purple pink in the center and bubblegum pink petals. The correct name is Monarda fistulosa, there are many types of Bergamont but for this post we are talking about the wild Bergamot variety!

It is a perennial which grows to 4 ft! So when you plant them plan correctly! The leaves have a wonderful thyme or rose geranium scent!  Plant in a dry area, Wild Bergamot is very drought resistant….great for people in hot climates!

You can propagate them by seed or you can divide them in the spring. You can also take stem cuttings in the summer. Easy maintenance plants….just clear dead material from plants in winter and divide plant every 3 years!

Wild Bergamot has been used medicinally by Native Americans. It was used most commonly to cure colds, and was made into a tea. Use the leaves of the Bergamot for the tea, it is best to use fresh leaves picked from the plant!  If you are pregnant of breastfeeding do not use these herbs. Get your water boiling, once it is done, go pick those leaves! Tear them in a few pieces and put them in your cup of boiling water right away! Steep for ten minutes then remove the leaves. If it is to strong you can sweeten with honey.

Bee Balm has also been known for its antiseptic action, It can be made into poultice for skin infections and minor wounds. It’s very easy to do! For fresh herb leaves just rub a little sunflower or veggie oil on the skin, crush the plant and place it directly on the affected area! Put a bandage over it and you have just made a poultice! Pretty cool huh? For dried herbs you can make a decoction by simmering them in a pan of water for about 5 minutes, allow to cool and then squeeze out the liquid and keep the herb to use the same way by crushing it and placing on the affected area! Easy Peasy! 

Because it is a natural source of Thymol which is in modern commercial mouthwash, you can use the cooled tea to gargle with!

So how cool is that! It is a pretty plant, drought resistant and you can use it for a cold, skin infections, and a mouthwash!  Winner winner chicken dinner!

P.S An interesting thing happened while looking for some Medicinal Herbs. I looked at every nursery I could find and got the same answer, they are hard to find! So after giving up on the plants I decided to get seeds to grow, well let me tell you that was no easy task either! To find the very different and unique seeds I wanted I had to search and search many places online! I found them only to find out they were more money that some plants. It was just crazy! Finaly I found a great place I want to share with you. It is a lovely place in Alabama called Sand Mountain Herbs and talk about variety! 

I hope you get to try Wild Bergamot in your garden, it is so fun being self reliant! 

What are you going to try first?

With Love and Gratitude

Jan