Drying bay leaves

It seems funny to be writing a post sharing drying bay leaves on the day when we have finally got some proper rain here, but it’s a good as time as any. And by proper rain, I mean that is actually collecting in the trugs and watering cans I’ve left out specifically to catch the drops. Up until today, we’ve had some drizzle and light showers, but nothing that even covers the bottom of the smallest garden trug. Like many areas, the rain is much needed so hearing it about 3am this morning it was good to know that the forecast had finally come true. One spell of rain won’t fix the current issues, or the drought, but it is a most welcome start. Ironically, our hosepipe ban came into place yesterday…

But anyway on a much sunnier day last month I took my pruning shears to our two bay trees. They used to be in a similar spot in the garden, but somehow had got split up with one finding itself under more tree cover than the other. As a result this one was much leggier, and the leaves less dense - and it was in need of a good trim.

And there were too many leaves to just compost. The less-nibbled and better leaves were saved and washed so they could be dried, and with a needle and some offcuts of embroidery thread I had a mindful morning threading leaves into the very simplest of garlands ready for drying.

Previously when I’ve done this the weather has been less than constant, but this year with heatwave following heatwave, I confidently hung each mini ring over the willow spokes on our fence. It was only when I stepped back that I realised together they had created a festooned effect.

And yes, that’s a lot of bay leaves. My plan is to share the small garlands with family and friends, though I need to get better at remembering to take a bunch or two with me when we go visiting!

They’ve dried really well - as you’d expect with the weather we’ve been having, but I didn’t want them to get too dry. So they’ve been brought inside and have hung briefly on the dresser before being stored in air tight containers. So now I’ll have to redouble my efforts to remember to distribute them!

Uses for bay leaves

As well as using dried bay leaves in stews, sauces and stocks to add earthy flavours, I also use bay leaves:

• when boiling or steaming vegetables or fish,

• in bags of flour to deter mites, and

• on the barbecue with new potatoes, alternating potatoes and bay leaves.

I’m sure there’s many other uses for this versatile plant, let me know if you have a favourite way of using bay leaves and if you dry herbs from your garden.

Post Comment Love 19-21 August

Welcome to this week’s #PoCoLo - a friendly linky which I co-host with Suzanne, where you can link any blog post published in the last week. We know you’ll find some great posts to read, and maybe some new-to-you blogs too, so do pop over and visit some of the posts linked and share some of that love. If you were here last week it was great to have you along, if you’re new here this week we’re pleased you’re here.

It’s been one of those weeks - another doctor’s appointment for my troublesome toe resulting in more antibiotics, but not penicillin based ones as I’m reacting to those in a way I shouldn’t, and our coffee machine broke. Never rains, but it pours hey? A new one is on order and should be with us early next week. To be fair it’s had quite a good workout since and during the pandemic and in use every day.

I’m hopeful that my toe is on the way to being fixed now, it’s much less red and the swelling seems to be going down - it’s been playing up since 21 July, so it will be good to have a normal toe back.

Talking of rain - we’ve still had very little here, and I’m disappointed that none of the forecast thunderstorms arrived. We’ve a hosepipe ban starting on Wednesday, and like much of the country more rain is definitely needed.

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Deliberation lies ahead

If you’ve been here for a while then you’ll know that I’m a fan of scrappy patchwork quilts, and may even know that I had a grand plan to make my own using fabrics from my stash. As it turned out, progress has been slow - it’s been on the go since 2017, but as the saying goes you can’t rush a good thing! Or that’s my excuse anyway.

Over the Christmas break of 20/21 I picked it up again, the delay had been cutting the cream fabric which surrounds the coloured blocks, and once that was done I’ve been plodding through making up the blocks. The pattern says twenty blocks, but I’ve decided to make more i) for practice, ii) because I’d already sewn more when I realised and mostly because iii) so I can make sure the quilt fits a double sized bed.

This week I finally met the target of my forty blocks. Some are better than others, but overall even though I say it myself, they’re pretty good.

So having reached the target, I’ve stepped out of my chain sewing comfort zone and I’ve trimmed all the blocks so the final cream piece can be added on all four sides.

The next few stages are ones which create some offcuts. Hating waste I contemplated what I could do with them, but as I have no need for even more new projects they have gone into the bin.

Now I’m ready to square off the blocks. I’ve practised this next step on my wonkiest blocks, with the ones where the seams were not quite aligned. And I’ve surprised myself - this was my first sewing project for a long time, and since I started putting the blocks together I temporarily broke off to sew masks for both MOH and I during the early stages of Covid.

I’ve got fifteen blocks that are trimmed, so that leaves 25 to go - and then the deliberation and procrastination can start as I’ll need to decide on the layout for the quilt top, and exactly how many blocks I’ll use and the subsequent adjustments needed for the rest of the pattern.

With any luck, and a good wind behind me, I could actually have a quilt top in the not too distant future!