itchifingers

Sunday, 5 July 2020

5 in 5 - July 2020 - Different ways of using rosemary

Welcome to '5 in 5' where on the 5th

of each month I post 5 photos that I have

taken in 5 minutes.

In May I posted about the communal herb garden that I am creating for the village hall. Because of COVID, plans have been delayed and the herbs have not yet been planted. They have grown tall and I decided that the rosemary would benefit from a trim.

With a handful of sprigs it seemed a shame to waste them. So I did a Google search to find different uses. One idea was to tie small springs into a circle of muslin and put them into a tumble dryer to add a natural fragrance to your laundry. I've not done this yet, but it sounds worth trying.

I did make some rosemary oil. A simple-to-do recipe that just involved adding sprigs into olive oil. I will leave it for a few weeks for the flavour to infuse and then pour the oil into a bottle.

I regularly use rosemary to flavour water. This shows sparking spring water, and tap water works just as well. This sprig kept its flavour all afternoon with regular refills of water. This evening, I added cider to the rosemary. It was a gamble, but one that paid off and I'll be doing that again!

Culinary use.
I will hang one bunch for drying. Leaves from other sprigs will be stripped then chopped and frozen. You can also preserve the leaves in oil.

A recipe for rosemary butter sounds appealing and I am tempted to freeze small portion sizes. They will be perfect for jacket potatoes, steak etc. and it's another simple recipe. You just mix finely chopped leaves into butter!

I love cheese scones and the addition of chopped rosemary sounds delicious. And then there are recipes for savoury rosemary biscuits. I sometimes buy these to go with cheese, so the idea of making my own is appealing. It's a good thing I have my own large rosemary bush in the garden!

Rosemary salt - finely chop the herb leaves and add to salt, leaving it for a week or two for the flavour to develop. Use as a seasoning.

Have you ever tried rosemary tea? This is a lovely infusion, just add few fresh sprigs into boiling water and allow a few minutes to infuse. It makes a refreshing drink and one that I make regularly.

There are recipes for rosemary jam and rosemary wine, and it is also good as a hair conditioner. For me, this versatile herb has grown even more in it's popularity! We have been clearing space this week and demijohns were one thing to go. Luckily I kept back 6 as I would like to make wine again sometime in the future. Rosemary wine might just be one!

Thank you for visiting and I hope that what ever you are doing, you are safe and well. As always I invite you to join in this monthly 5in5 photo challenge. It's very simple, and it offers a new way of looking through the camera lens and adding a spark of new ideas.

So here's how it works:

1. Choose a location.

2. Have your camera ready.

3. Set a mobile timer for 5 minutes.

4. Take as many photos you can until the time is up.

5. Choose 5 photos to download and share by using the link tool

You have until the 25th of the month to add your photos and if you want to know more about 5in5 there are details here.

And one more thing - when you use the link tool, please click on your post title. This will show the web address. Please right click, copy and paste this as your link. This will take readers directly to your '5 in 5' blog page and be easier for them to find.

Friday, 5 June 2020

5 in 5 - June 2020 - SEEDARTLAB

Welcome to '5 in 5' where on the 5th 

of each month I post 5 photos that I have 

taken in 5 minutes.

Recently I joined an online course called SEEDARTLAB. Run by artist and seed enthusiast, Sophie Manns, this course has everything that inspires me:

· Nature

· Mindfullness

· Journalling

· Photography

· Printing

· Sketching

· Creativity

· and inspiration

This introduction course leads into Sophie’s other work, but is self-standing and I have been very inspired and impressed with the content. I can’t wait to complete this and start the next course, but I am reining myself in and taking my time so that I can enjoy and fully appreciate each carefully thought-out stage.

Despite Sophie’s advice to follow the structure, I jumped about a bit. But there was good reason, because a beautiful self seeded nasturtium had inspired me to buy seeds and plant some more. There was one problem - buying seeds during lock down proved challenging. Luckily garden centres were one of the first businesses to reopen as restrictions began to lift, and I didn't want to delay sowing the seeds any longer.

One of our challenges was to take 50 photos of a chosen seed, and I decided that nasturtiums would be ideal. And so, I jumped straight in and took photos from every angle; taking individual seeds, groups, and different formations. I used this as a mindfull practice, looking closely and noticing that there was a lot of variation among the seeds.

These simple flowers give great delight, and you can eat the flowers, leaves and seeds, so they certainly earn their place in my garden. The seeds are now planted into pots and I look forward to seeing their first shoots and enjoying their splash of colour.

As well as taking photos of the nasturtium seeds I went around the garden looking for other seed examples. I made a collage of the photos and created some artistic effects. These will be used in work to follow, and some of my favourite photos are of honesty seeds that I arranged in a spiral (Bottom centre) and foxglove with it's long curling tendral.

Meanwhile I also collected mark making tools and chose natural materials that included sticks and brushes made of grass.

My next task was to create a collection of papers using the mark making tools and ink. I used a variety of different papers including hand made (local seaweed) and tissue paper. I love making marks with ink but am often held back by not knowing what to do with the prints. Part of the enjoyment is the process and surprise, but ever growing piles of paper prints just take space unless I have ideas for using them. Luckily Sophie Manns provides inspiration and I look forward to what comes next.

And another part of the course involves journalling, sketching; and simply playing, to explore ways of using materials and ideas.

I had every intention of making my own journal but while clearing and organising my creative space I discovered a pile of good quality sketchbooks that I had bought for a bargain price when a art supplier cleared its stock. A lovely surprise, that I had forgotten! I used more of my photos to create a college for its cover, and can't wait to get started on this. I have a big stash of mark making, and 100's of photos; because as well as 50+ of nasturtium seeds I took another 50+ of dandelion seeds and many of the honesty. That's in addition to all the other seed photos taken around the garden and on a visit to a local public garden when it reopended this week.

And there is still more, because I have been inspired by seed pod designs and cut some simple shapes out of foam which I glued onto mountboard. These have made lovely stamps that I will use in different ways, and my head is bursting with ideas. I just need time for all that I want to do, but I will continue to be patient and not rush. Clearing my creative space has at least given me somewhere to set up, so that my materials are to hand. That is another work in progress, and far from finished, but this creative course is giving me the motivation and focus to follow it through.

If you are interested in finding out more about SEEDARTLAB Online Introductory Course you can do so here. It's a course I highly recommend and it has come at the perfect time for me.

Thank you for visiting and I hope that what ever you are doing, you are safe and well. As always I invite you to join in this monthly 5in5 photo challenge. It's very simple, and it offers a new way of looking through the camera lens and adding a spark of new ideas.