Drying in the small shed beside this writing hut are bundles of basil and parsley. My teacher warned me to tie only a few stems together else they wouldn’t dry properly. They will be ready to “garble” soon, meaning, to rub/pull the leaves from the stems. Folklore has it, that to sow basil (in French, semer le basilic) means “to rant.” Hmmm. Her bright fragrance is what I crave. And the taste of pesto. Use fresh leaves, freeze them in olive oil in ice cube trays, pop them into bags, and add the balance of ingredients later. Parsley contains iron. Good for the blood. Freshens breath too!

A new rosemary tincture cures on the shelf—the 100-proof vodka pulling the healthful properties from the camphor-laden aromatic leaves. “There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance; pray you, love, remember,” Ophelia begs her brother Laertes. An herb I have only cooked with in the past, stuffed under chicken skin or sprinkled on roast potatoes, my research sheds light on her many medicinal properties; as a memory aid—for one. She’s a brain tonic, in other words. Though much in the world today may tempt dulling, forgetting, or ignoring, this response makes cowards of us all.

Seed garlic cures in the garage, awaiting planting in the next two weeks (while the moon wanes toward new). We save the best bulbs to replant every year, upwards to 1,300 cloves in tidy rows. The green shoots are the first to stick out their tongues from the soil in early spring as if to mock our purposes. We use garlic for flavor and, medicinally, for the heart.

I am working with California Poppy at the moment. Between her and a German lavender medication (where herbal medicine enjoys a more robust following), Lavela WS 1265, Integrative brand, is prescribed mainly to lessen anxiety—which leads to insomnia. . . . I also make lavender syrup for London Fog tea with dried lavender flowers. Imagine drinking flowers! When I find myself in times of trouble, I center down—a practice borrowed from the Quakers—I also reach for my herbals. Stringing words together like a daisy chain also helps, as now. . . .

This morning’s walk in the chilly air with Jeff and Gabe, our Lab, included a wonder in the sky—a near-full, white moon, that shortly set behind the ridge. Meeting the Morning Moon prompted me to take several photographs, herein. How it must have brought comfort to early humans, to see her recurring presence in the sky! Still does. And now, to collect the herb bundles from the shed, surely dried by now.

May peace prevail. Within and without.