The Herb Farm

Ever since I have lived on my own, I've managed a small herb farm.

OK, I said small.  I just didn't say how small.  

When cooking up your favorite (or least favorite, I suppose) recipes, nothing beats the addition of fresh herbs.  Think about it:  would you rather use mass produced, pumped-full-of-steroids tomatoes, or juicy, packed-full-of-flavor tomatoes, lovingly grown and tended?  What tastes better?  Walmart cucumbers or farmer's market cucumbers?  

Exactly.

It's no different with herbs.  In past years, I have grown basil, rosemary, oregano, thyme, cilantro, parsley, chives, and sage.  Luckily, a lack of garden space is no excuse not to grow your own herbs, because you can cultivate them all in pots on your very own balcony.

Last year, I overwhelmed myself at harvest time and had herbs coming out my ears.  Dehydrating was simply taking too long to complete before the frost (coupled with the fact that I tried to complete this task simultaneously with apple processing...OOPS!) and I ended up with a big ol' mess.  This year, however, we made the decision to cut back significantly on our "crop" and only worked with thyme, cilantro, chives, rosemary, oregano and basil.  With the chives and cilantro already gone (we ate them all!), our work is much less daunting this season.  The oregano took over most of the pot, so what thyme wasn't choked out has already been cut and dehydrated.  This leaves us with only basil, rosemary and oregano to deal with this fall.  YESSSSSSSSS!!!

Still, there is a sizable amount remaining in the garden farm.  For that reason, I got started about a month and half early, so as to maximize the time and the current good health of the herbs at this point in the season.

For those of you new to herb farms and dehydrating, here is a quick step-by-step!

Step 1.  Choose ONE type of herb in your garden to harvest at a time.
This helps eliminate cross-contaminating, or mixing up your varieties
(unless making an herb blend is your intent).  Using kitchen scissors,
cut the amount you wish to dehydrate.  Make sure you don't cut more than
your dehydrator trays can handle at one time.

Step 2.  Remove all blossoms and dead leaves from cut herbs.
Fill a sink or large bowl with cold water and "swoosh"  your herbs around.
Let them sit for a bit so that the dirt settles at the bottom of the basin.

Step 3.  Place a tea towel either on a baking sheet or under a drying rack.
Arrange the clean sprigs/leaves so that they aren't touching and allow the moisture to
evaporate/drain.  (This isn't dehydrating the herbs yet.  You are just allowing
them to air dry first.  Wet herbs take much longer to dehydrate!)

Step 4.  Once herbs are dry (they may seem somewhat withered - this is OK), 
arrange them in your dehydrator so that no leaves are overlapping. 
Plug in and dehydrate according to machine instructions. 
(I usually put mine on a higher temperature, but that might not be recommended.) 
Check periodically if needed.
(This particular image is from www.untrainedhousewife.com)

Step 5.  Once the herbs are completely dry and "crispy," remove the leaves
from the stems (if you have not already done so), put in your glass jars and label!

Step 6.  Get a handsome, handy, rugged man to build you herb
shelves for your kitchen.  (Sorry buoys and gargoyles, this one's taken!)

Voilà!  There you have it!  THANKS, MOM! :)

From left:  thyme, cocoa bean, oregano, rosemary, nutmeg (whole), basil