Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme
I love fall. It means crisp days, cooler weather, and relaxing in front of the wood stove with good book and a mug of chai tea. There’s something comforting about the idea of the year winding down and getting ready to settle in for the winter.
It also means the garden I’ve enjoyed all summer will soon be a thing of the past, at least for the next few months. I’ll miss the fresh tomatoes, the fresh-picked salad greens, the bright, splashy colors of marigolds, sweet William, and cosmos.
And then there are the herbs! I love every aspect of tending them, not to mention the way their pungent fragrances cling to my hands long after I’m finished.
I’ve long been fascinated by herbs and their many uses. And with every year that passes, I find myself giving them more and more space in my garden. Clumps of sage, thyme, and basil add shades of green to my flower bed, while chamomile and several varieties of mint are sprinkled through the vegetable plot.
During the summer, I get a little spoiled by being able to go out and harvest them whenever I want to add a little zing to a recipe.
Sprigs of rosemary on tonight’s salmon? Snip! There it is!
Would a little basil and thyme help perk up a sauce? Snip, snip!
How about some mint in the iced tea? Another snip and we’re ready to go!
But eventually autumn arrives, and the summer growing season is over. While colder weather may mean saying goodbye to those fresh additions to our meals, it doesn’t mean I can’t continue enjoying their flavor all winter long. A character in one of my historical novels would have hung bunches of herbs to dry from strings stretched across her farmhouse kitchen, but I use a more modern method–a dehydrator.
Early one morning, when the flavors are at their peak, I make another snipping foray into the garden and come back with my arms laden with fragrant stems to line up on the kitchen counter. “Bringing in the sheaves,” my husband calls it. 
