“Making soap?” Ruby asked curiously. “Isn’t that a lot of work?”
“Not the way I do it,” Hazel said. We followed her into the kitchen, where she went to the stove and picked up a spoon to stir something in saucepan. The whole kitchen smelled of roses.
—“A PENNYROYAL PLOT” IN AN UNTHYMELY DEATH AND
OTHER GARDEN MYSTERIES
Herbal Soaps
You can lather up with soapwort or yucca—or you can make your own sweet-smelling herbal soaps, another easy project for children, and perfect for holiday gift-giving.
HAZEL PENNYROYAL’S EASY HERBAL SOAP
You’ll need:
plastic candy molds or small containers suitable for use as
molds
unscented cooking spray or petroleum jelly
2 four-ounce bars of castile (olive-oil) soap
2 tablespoons water
12 drops rose essential oil
2 tablespoons red or pink rose petals, chopped
How to do it:
Spray molds with cooking spray or grease with petroleum jelly. Grate castile soap into an enamel saucepan. For rose soap, add water and rose oil and heat slowly, stirring. When the soap has melted and the mixture looks like whipped cream, add rose petals. Quickly fill each mold, then rap the mold sharply on a hard surface to eliminate air bubbles. Allow to harden overnight in the molds. Turn out onto a wire rack and air-dry for a few days before wrapping. If the soap seems rough-edged, wet your hands and smooth it; dry thoroughly.
• Other fragrant floral possibilities: violet oil and violets; lilac oil and lilac florets; orange oil and calendula petals; lemon oil and dried lemongrass with lemon zest; mint oil and chopped mint leaves; lavender oil and lavender buds with chopped rosemary leaves. Be creative!
• To make a gentle scrubbing soap, add 1 tablespoon chopped dried luffa, or ½ cup cornmeal or oatmeal (not flakes). Increase liquid slightly, if necessary.
Herbal soaps are fun to make:
The Natural Soap Book: Making Herbal and Vegetable-Based Soaps, by Susan Miller Cavitch
DECEMBER 3
Deck the halls with boughs of holly,
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
’Tis the season to be jolly,
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!
The Hallowed Holly
In ancient cultures, holly was a holy tree, a powerful and protective guardian. The Druids advised people to take it into their dwellings as the dark descended over the land, as a refuge for the spirits of the forest. However, it had to be removed from the house by Imbolc Eve (January 31), for any leaf that was left behind could bring misfortune. It was grown around the home to protect from evil influence, for its evergreen color, its sturdiness, and its slow growth must have made it seem invulnerable. For many, the plant was a symbol of immortality.
Medicinally, holly has been used to reduce fevers and ease coughs and pleurisy. Native Americans burned the leaves and brewed a tea of the ashes for whooping cough. The leaves and bark were used as a poultice to treat sprains. The berries are potentially dangerous—don’t eat them!
Holly makes a lovely wreath—easy, too, if you start with a straw form. Cut six-inch holly sprigs and rinse them off. When they’re dry, construct small bundles, securing the stems with wire twists or floral wire. Pin the bundles to the straw form with florist pins, covering the stems of one bunch with the leaves of another. Add pine cones, holiday ornaments, and a ribbon. Cut extra holly to decorate your mantel or tuck behind mirrors and picture frames. Festive! As you work, remember that holly has created Yuletide magic for eons of human history, and that this favorite herbal tree has always been related to the mysteries of rebirth and rejuvenation.
SOME HOLLY TALES:
• In Wales, bringing holly into the house before Christmas Eve will cause a family quarrel.
• In England, each leaf of holly that is left in the house past Twelfth Night will cause one misfortune.
• In Ireland, if holly is picked on Christmas Day, it will serve as protection against witches and evil spirits.
• In Germany, it is unlucky to step on the berries.
• In France, a severe winter will occur if holly berries are plentiful.
Read more about holly’s magical history:
Tree Wisdom, by Jacqueline Memory Paterson
Christmastide
Comes in like a bride,
With Holly and Ivy clad.
—TRADITIONAL
DECEMBER 4
Today is National Cookie Day, which seems like a good idea, since lots of us are busy baking holiday cookies.
“Deck the halls,” I said in a celebratory tone, and passed Amy the plate of cookies. “Take two.”
Amy complied. “Mmm,” she said, munching appreciatively. “What kind of cookie is this? It’s not like anything I’ve ever tasted.”
“It’s a Norwegian pepper cookie,” I said. “Made with black pepper and cardamom. Designed to wake up your taste buds.”
—A DILLY OF A DEATH: A CHINA BAYLES MYSTERY
Pepper Cookies
Pepper cookies, which are baked for the holiday in almost every home in Scandinavia.
NORWEGIAN PEPPER COOKIES
1 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
2¼ cups flour
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
½ teaspoon cloves
½ teaspoon ginger
Preheat oven to 350°. Cream together the shortening and the sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the egg, vanilla, and baking soda. Sift the flour and spices into the butter mixture. Mix well. (You can use a mixer for this.) Roll into ½-inch balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten with a fork in a cross-hatch pattern. Bake at 350° for about 10 minutes, until edges are lightly brown. Cool on wire racks. Makes about 48.
Chocolate Pepper Cookies: substitute 1 cup cocoa powder for 1 cup of flour.
Cinnamon Pepper Cookies: substitute 1½ teaspoons cinnamon for the cardamom, and sprinkle the cookies with cinnamon before they go into the oven.
Orange Pepper Cookies: substitute orange flavoring extract for the vanilla and add 2 teaspoons grated orange zest.
For more adventures in cookie baking:
The Ultimate Cookie Cookbook, by Barbara Grunes and Virginia Van Vynckt
I never think that the prospect of the garden in December is much better by making all the flowerbeds too tidy. I feel sure that the dead flower stems . . . must be some protection to the plants; and, when the hoar-frosts come, these dead stems, especially where the dead flower-heads remain, put on a wonderful beauty.
—HENRY ELLACOMBE, IN A GLOUCESTERSHIRE GARDEN, 1895
DECEMBER 5
Yesterday was the feast day of St. Barbara, who is traditionally invoked for protection against lightning.
The reason lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place is that the same place isn’t there the second time.
—WILLIE TYLOR
Lightning Protectors
Since Benjamin Franklin invented the lightning rod, most of us feel pretty safe. But before then, people had a few different ideas for protection against lightning. Please notice that some of the holiday greens that you use for decorations also do double-duty as lightning protectors—how very handy.
• Mistletoe (Viscum album) was thought to have been planted in trees by bolts of lightning; hence, mistletoe hung over the doors and windows of a house would protect against lightning.
• Holly (Ilex sp.) and hazel (Corylus avellana) In Norse mythology, holly and hazel also belonged to Thor the Thunderer, and were thought to protect people from his thunderbolts. Holly trees were planted a little distance from homes to attract lightning strikes away from the house. In Christian times, holly taken into the church for Christmas celebration (or hazel for Easter) was carried home and hung up to ward off light
ning the rest of the year.
• Hawthorn (Crataegus oxyacantha) was said to have been used for Christ’s crown of thorns. In Normandy, it was believed that lightning (the work of the devil) could not strike the plant that touched Christ’s brow, so people used it to protect their homes. Hawthorn was sometimes employed in house construction specifically as a lightning protector.
• Houseleeks (Sempervivum tectorum). In Roman mythology, houseleeks (we call this plant hen and chicks) were sacred to Jupiter, and in Norse mythology, to Thor. Both gods were associated with lightning so people reasoned that houseleeks planted on the roof protected the structure against lightning and fire. Charlemagne decreed that these plants should be grown on the roofs of all the structures of his empire. To this day, you’ll see houseleeks growing on roofs in England and Europe.
A natural meanes to preserve your house in safety from thunder and lightening: If the herb housleek or syngreen do grow on the house top, the same house is never stricken with lightening or thunder.
—DIDYMUS MOUNTAIN, 1572
Round and green, hen and chick
Sting of burns allay
Rosy leaves will stick and prick
But keep lightning away.
—TRADITIONAL
DECEMBER 6
Today is St. Nicholas Day.
Nose, nose, jolly red nose,
And who gave thee this jolly red nose?
Nutmeg and ginger, cinnamon and cloves,
And they gave me this jolly red nose.
—FRANCIS BEAUMONT AND JOHN FLETCHER
Gingerbread Tree Decorations
Christmas is still a few weeks away, which makes this a good time to think about baking some gingerbread decorations for the tree—not as much pressure to get things done, and maybe a little more time to enjoy a project that the kids will love. You’ll have to lay down some ground rules about eating their creations, of course, but that’s all part of the fun. Since St. Nicholas Day celebrates the person whose legendary generosity inspired our holiday gift-giving, make several batches of these cookie decorations, so the children can share them with their friends.
GINGERBREAD TREE DECORATIONS
1¼ cup margarine, room temperature
1¼ cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups sifted flour
1¼ teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cloves
3 teaspoons nutmeg
Combine butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract. Cream well until smooth. Sift together dry ingredients. Stir into butter mixture until smooth, adding more flour if necessary to form a firm, slightly sticky dough. Wrap in plastic and chill until cold. Roll out -inch thick and cut into shapes. With a chopstick, make a hole through each shape for hanging. Bake at 350° until brown underneath and slightly pale on top. Makes enough for 7-8 large gingerbread figures. If you want to make more, it’s easier to make separate batches than to double the recipe. Freeze extra dough. Decorate with frosting and colored candies. (You can also use this recipe to make gingerbread houses. Just roll it out a little thicker.)
The term gingerbread originally had nothing to do with bread or cake. The word is an Anglicization of the Old French gingebras, which is derived from the Latin name of the spice, Zingebar.
More Reading:
Gingerbread: 24 Inspirational Houses and Decorative Gifts to Make, Joanna Farrow
DECEMBER 7
With holly and ivy so green and so gay,
We deck up our houses so fresh as the day.
—POOR ROBIN’S ALMANACK, 1695
Outside-In: From Susan’s Journal
This is the day that I begin bringing the out-of-doors inside, in preparation for our family holiday celebrations. Boughs of juniper and cypress from the trees along our creek make lovely wreaths and a swag for the mantle, and we hang the mistletoe, with great ceremony, over the kitchen door. Rosemary is a green and fragrant addition to the centerpiece on the dining room table, while the lighter, fluffier foliage of southernwood softens the arrangement and the brilliant red berries of pyracanthus and our native yaupon holly perk up the darker greenery. I immerse the clipped greens in a tub of warm water, then drain and stash them in a trash bag and put them where they’ll stay cool until I’m ready to use them.
Of course, many of these lovely evergreens have herbal uses, and I remember a few of these as I gather them. Juniper berries are a distinctive ingredient in gin, but they’re also diuretic and antimicrobial, while juniper oil is used to treat rheumatism and soothe sore muscles. It’s a traditional strewing herb, and Queen Elizabeth I burned it in her bedchamber to scent the air. An infusion of the bark was once thought to restore lost youth, but that’s probably wishful thinking. Mistletoe was a sacred as well as a medicinal herb, a protection against sudden calamity (like lightning) and the powers of darkness. Southernwood, in addition to its use as a stimulant, was a folk remedy for baldness. Rosemary’s antiseptic, antioxidant leaves help preserve food while adding flavor, and recent research suggests that rosemary really does help to improve the memory.
So I’ll sit down and enjoy a cup of rosemary tea while I try to remember where I put all the boxes of holiday ornaments. And perhaps a few drops of juniper oil in a warm bath will take out some of the long day’s muscle fatigue and restore a little youth. Baldness won’t be a problem until the end of this busy month, when I’ve torn out all my hair.
To remedy baldness of the head. Take a quantity of Southernwood and put it on kindled coal to burn; and being made into powder, mix it with the oil of radishes and anoint the bald place, and you shall see great experiences.
—EDWARD POTTER’S PHYSICKE BOOK, 1610
This month keep thy body and head from cold: let thy Kitchen be thine Apothecary, warm clothing thy Nurse, merry company thy Keepers, and good hospitality thine Exercise.
—NEVE’S ALMANACK, 1633
DECEMBER 8
Buddhists celebrate this day as Bodhi Day.
On this day in 566 BCE, Siddhartha Gautama, meditating under the Bodhi Tree, is said to have attained enlightenment and became the Sakyamuni Buddha. The Dalai Lama says: “At the heart of Buddhism lies the idea that the potential for awakening and for perfection is present in every human being and it is a matter of personal effort to realize that potential.”
Enlightenments
The Bodhi tree, or Bo tree (Ficus religiosa), is a large fig tree native to India. It has a great many herbal uses, in addition to being revered as the tree under which the Buddha attained enlightenment. The bark was used to reduce blood pressure, the leaves to soothe earache, and the root to ease toothache. The fruits were thought to prevent cardiac difficulties.
We don’t have any Bodhi trees in our neighborhood, but its smaller cousin, Ficus benjamina, lives in a corner of my small writing studio, reminding me of the many and various paths the spirit takes on its journey to self-awareness. Buddhism is culturally eclectic, and at this season, some American Buddhists choose to decorate this tree (as Christians decorate the fir tree) with colored lights to symbolize enlightenment, strings of beads to represent the unity of all things, and three decorated balls to signify the three jewels of Buddhism: the Buddha (both the historical Buddha and the Buddha in each of us); the Dharma, or teachings; and the Sangha, or spiritual community shared by all who practice the Dharma. They may celebrate the day with tea, cakes, meditation, and readings.
THE SYMBOLIC FIG:
• It has been said that the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil described in the book of Genesis may have been a fig tree.
• In the Book of Jeremiah, rotten figs symbolize corruption and destruction.
• In the New Testament, Jesus rebukes an unfruitful fig tree.
• The fig is one of the two sacred trees in Islam.
• Because the fig flower is hidden inside the fruit, the fig was sometimes regarded as a flowerless tree. In Buddhist and Hindu texts, “
seeking flowers in a fig tree” indicates a pointless or impossible task.
DECEMBER 9
“Bocconcini?” I asked, looking at the menu Janet had made up for the Friends of the Library luncheon. “What’s that?”
“Mozzarella balls,” Janet explained. “Marinated in olive oil and basil vinegar, with red pepper flakes.” She looked smug. “One of the gourmet tricks I learned in cooking school.”
“Maybe it’s a little too gourmet for the Friends of the Library?” I suggested tentatively.
“We have to raise their standards,” Janet replied. “Otherwise, I’d be flippin’ burgers and fryin’ up onion rings, like Lila Jennings, over at the Diner.” She frowned. “I hope I don’t have any trouble finding those little balls in Pecan Springs.”
—“THE KHAT WHO BECAME A HERO,” IN
China Bayles' Book of Days Page 48