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Caterpillars on the fennel
What’s scarier than Buggy or the One Red-Eyed Wolf? Green caterpillars with black and white stripes and orange horns! Ok, maybe they aren’t so scary. (Well, they are a little scary if you click on the picture and see the eNORmous image of them.) They are rather amazing. We found 10 of them on… Continue reading
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lemon mint soda
I’m playing around with herbal infusions. Steeping in the kitchen window, near the milk bottles, is peppermint oil. The other day I made two flavors of simple syrup: chocolate mint and lemon balm-peppermint. I poured some chocolate mint syrup on vanilla ice cream and that was pretty yummy. Today I mixed a shot of lemon… Continue reading
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It’s almost honey time
It’s a rainy day and the honeybees are hunkered down in their hives, probably fanning each other like crazy to keep the heat down. Next week we will be on the beach in Cape May, where John will be hunkered down under the umbrella to keep the sun off. But when we get back, it will be… Continue reading
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Creatures in the woods…
Not all creepy things at Maywood are in the cabinets. Some are in the fridge. (In fact, one of my scariest moments recently came today when my mom brought me home quasi-sedated from the hospital and I realized she was going to open the fridge to fix me something to eat! ) But it is in the woods at… Continue reading
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There’s something under the sink…
Maywood Living sounds so country perfect. Herbs and bees and cutesy little country things. Life at Maywood is quirkier than that. Yesterday the “ladies” came to clean. They normally arrive mid-afternoon, but at 8:30 a.m. John and I were still in bed when we heard a cheery “Merry Maids!” downstairs. Ack!!! I told them to… Continue reading
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Thyme in the Kitchen
One of the best things about summer is having time to do nothing in particular, like staging a still-life in the kitchen. This morning, a scorcher already by 8 a.m., I went out to cut some flowers for poor sick newlywed Julie. The garden still looked fresh and happy and the thyme was bushy and perky. … Continue reading
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Oregano, or The Salad That Did Not Make It To Linda’s
Here’s an oxymoron for you…there’s nothing like fresh dried oregano. Oregano is one herb that is better dried than fresh. The other day, after snipping lemon balm for my water jug, I harvested some oregano. It was getting ready to flower, the peak flavor time. I hate to deprive the herbs of their flowers. Some… Continue reading
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Beware Friends Bearing Gifts of Lemon Balm
The heat wave has hit. When it’s 100 degrees in the country, that’s really hot. Even with air conditioning, I need to stay hydrated. I have a really neat glass apothecary jar with spout that I fill up with water, a big chunk of ice, and a sprig of herbs. It’s so much more inviting… Continue reading
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Hello world!
It is the relaxed, unstructured pace of summer that has me crazy enough to think that I can maintain a blog. I live in a log home in the middle of the woods right by a highway in the Hereford Zone of Baltimore County, Maryland with my husband John, a 17 year old cat Peaches, and a… Continue reading
Slightly Off the Grid 