About The Herb Lady, and Herbs 2 U.
      Almost 2 decades ago some of my family had health considerations requiring low fat and low salt meals. If you take the fat and salt from usual and customary cooking you have — no flavor!
      Looking around for ways to enhance the flavor of food, I turned to my growing interest in herbs and edible flowers.  I discovered not only the incredible range of flavor with which I could perfume the kitchen but also the range of color, fragrance, form, and texture available with which to garden.
      Something as simple as a change of herb, or the texture of a flower can add a new look and scent to the garden, and the table.
      Add Good Looks, Good Scents and Good Eats to your garden!

Back to My Grandmother's Kitchen . . .   Do you remember the fragrant warmth of your grandmother's kitchen? Or perhaps it was an aunt or uncle whose kitchen table held the homey comforts of good food, lovingly prepared — it perfumed the air with the gentle dignity of a quieter, wholesome time, no matter how simple the fare.

     We are a technically advanced society, filled with the wizardry of our genius. The race forward into prosperity and success envelops us with haste. Miniature phones, huge vehicles, and interactive video connect us to others, but not with them. Relationships can be created, fostered, and ended, all on the Internet, without once meeting a person face-to-face. Food wrapped in plastic, microwaved into heat (but not warmth), and hastily eaten nourishes us but does not nurture us.
     When and where do we find the quiet, wholesome time to nurture not only our family, but ourselves?
     Back to my grandmother's kitchen.
     My grandmother grew things in her garden and cooked things in her kitchen. My mother and father, happily, were excellent cooks, but it was my grandmother's kitchen that had "soul." All the wonderful memories have coalesced into two major, nurturing traditions:  gardening and cooking.
     I have taken those two wonderful "old fashioned" ideas, added herbs, time-saving tips and "modern" health concerns, and created Herbs 2 U.
     And I am having an herbalicious time!
     The fragrances that surround me when I tour my gardens — brushing against the basil and rosemary, stopping to smell the orange blossoms, treading lightly on my lavender thyme, and picking the flowers of savory — relax, refresh and inspire me.  I take those things from my gardens and bring them into the kitchen, to perfume the air with their aromas, anticipating the warmth and flavor of herb-infused foods, prepared simply and quickly.  And served with quiet dignity.
      Welcome to my gardens and cooking ideas. Here you will find ways to garden in the Desert Southwest; add color, form, texture, fragrance and flavor to your landscaping; bring the bounty into the kitchen, and create tasty, healthy, and fragrant meals. Some are very simple, some low fat/low salt, some meatless, and some are "gourmet" — all will bring an herbalicious time to you and your family.

"Expect the unexpected, and the comfortingly familiar."

Happy gardening and cooking from
Catherine, "The Herb Lady", Crowley

     Catherine, The Herb Lady gardens in her "laboratories" in the far east valley. Her column appears monthly in the online edition of the East Valley Tribune (www.evtrib.com). In addition, her classes on growing, cooking with and using edible herbs and flowers are presented at various Valley locations.

write us at:   info   at   herbs2u   dot   net.