Flowers and Herbs (and recipes!) for the Kitchen Witch

       

           I mentioned in my other post https://witchy-willow.blogspot.com/2018/05/kitchen-witchery.html about a hanging type of garden to put on your porch or in your windows. It sounds complicated, I know, but it's actually very simple. I'll touch on that in this article as well as herbs and flowers you might want to keep around and a few recipes.

          

First things first, let's get to that hanging garden. All you need are seeds (or plants), empty bottles, strong wire, washers, and some hooks that you can screw into the frame. 

This is what we're going for as a totally finished project. This image was gotten from Pinterest. Let me know if you find the creators of this garden!

          1: Take the empty bottles and make sure they're cleaned out of any residue. Lay them on their side and cut out (I use a wood burner for a dull edge) a rectangle. You're basically making the bottles into planters. Don't cut to wide or you won't be able to put anything in there. 

          2: Now, take the wood burner (or whatever you're using) and make two small holes on either side of the new rectangle.  

          3: Take your wire and poke it through the new holes. Make it long enough to connect other bottles above and below it. Pull the wire through the holes and twist it around a washer on the inside of the bottle. The image below is really what we're going for in terms of the bottle.

Ta da! Please let me know if you find the creator as I found this image on Google Image Search!

          See? It's really simple. Once you have them connected to each other, take the top bottle and twist the wire into a small, strong, loop on the end. Make sure it's twisted enough to not come undone, and then hang it from the hooks you've put into the porch and/or window frame.

          That's it! Like I said, it's really simple. Once it's hung you can fill in your dirt, seeds, plants, etc. You can add as many as you want (just make sure your wire is strong enough to hold) or as few as you want. It's a very simple solution to not having the space for a "real" garden or even not having the space for pots/planters. It's also a good solution for keeping non-animal friendly plants away from your fur babies.
          Now that you've got your garden hung up, obviously you need to get some herbs and flowers in there, right? First things first, I've included the best edible flowers to have around or at least to acquire in the future.


Best Edible Flowers


Borage Blossoms
These blossoms are entirely edible (the root can even be dried and ground into a powder for incense!) and they've been used for ages. They're common in salads because they have a very light, almost cucumber taste. When worn on your person or eaten, they lend you courage and help protect you when you're outdoors.


Hibiscus Flower

To my knowledge, this flower is primarily worn by Hawaiian women to indicate their availability for marriage. It has a history of being used for hair care products, medicine, and even paper! This flower (the petals, for sure) can be boiled into a tea or just worn on your person. It's said to bring about lust, passion, and even love. In fact, Egyptian women are banned from drinking a tea made of this flower because it's said to incite lustful feelings.

Consuming this flower can help create lust, bring love, or bring you passion. You can place a bloom in your drink or boil the leaves for a tea. It's said to have a flavor very much like cranberry. You can even wear a hibiscus flower in your hair for a few hours, give it to the one you love, and if they accept it's said that they love you, too.


Lavender Blooms
Magickal uses include happiness, healing, love, purification, blessings, harmony, gentleness, and a slew of others. It's also used to bring love your way. You can carry flowers in a sachet or hang stalks of lavender in your home. You can make the leaves into a tea or tossing a few sprigs into a dish.


Nasturtium Flowers
This beautiful little flower can be used in a few different ways. You can plant them in your yard to help you find and stay on your spiritual path.
You can make a tea from the leaves and use in a cleansing bath.
For a pepper tasting tea to consume, you can boil the leaves and blooms. Just add two tablespoons of the dried leaves and petals to two cups boiling water. Let it steep for ten minutes, strain it, then drink.
You can also enjoy the magickal benefits from this flower simply by tossing a few petals/blooms into a dish.


Pansies
This is one of my favourite flowers. These beautiful little flowers are used in many different ways. Some use them in charms to help ease a broken heart or spread good cheer. They can also be used in love magick, rain spells, and are said to attract love if worn or carried.
You can put a bloom on top of a drink, or even spread cream cheese on a cracker and place an entire bloom on top. Pansies tend to have a grassy, almost minty sort of flavor. It actually tends to vary based on the color of the bloom.


Roses
And so we've come to the roses. And why wouldn't we? Roses are a lovely universal flower when it comes to magick. Rosewater can be worn for protection. Rose petals petals can be added to charms to ward against the evil eye. The petals can be eaten on salads, in sandwiches, or even made into teas, jams, and jellies. Aside from the magickal properties, they're also high in Vitamin C and can be added to healing teas to help your body fight infection.


Sage Flowers (salvia officinalis)
We all know and love Sage, so it's no wonder it can also be eaten. It's used for purification, protection, wisdom, and is also believe to help alleviate sorrow that comes from the death of a loved one. Sage blossoms are good in salads, floating on top of soups, or being cooked in various meat dishes like split pea soup and vegetarian bean dishes.


Violets
Violets come in many different shades of pastels and bright colors. They have a sweet and floral taste which makes them a perfect addition to everything from salads to iced drinks (or even in ice!). They're particularly beautiful on pastries and cakes.
Magickal properties include love spells (being worn to increase one's luck in love), spells for protection, wishes, peace, and spells for healing. In the language of flowers, violets represent faithfulness.


Picking and Preparing the Flowers
Although these flowers are edible, the sprays they may have on them are not. Be sure to avoid flowers (and any plant meant for consumption) that could have been sprayed with pesticides or chemicals. Always try to gather your edible flowers from a reputable online source or grocery store, unless you grow them yourself and know they're safe.

When you cook with or serve edible flowers, clean them by washing them gently in a large bowl of cold water and letting them air dry on a paper towel. Use them right away or lay them in a container that's lined with a damp paper towel. Make sure the container is airtight and they should be alright for at least a week!




Making Floral Ice

This image is not my own and was found on Pinterest.

Beautiful, right? Making floral ice is a great way to infuse the magickal properties of the flower into whatever drink you're making. This is a perfect and simple thing for a Kitchen Witch who maybe hasn't come out of the pantry yet. It's a beautiful idea and if you haven't come out to certain people yet, it's a perfect way to toss a little magick into the mix.

To get flowers that are suspended in the water rather than only on the bottom, you need to layer it. Pour a little water and add a flower, freeze, and repeat until the ice is filled to the top.

To be updated and continued...