It’s Monday, and I’m drinking fresh herbed tea

It’s Monday and I’m still trying to get back into the swing of things from being out of town this weekend. Every time I come home from being gone, I have an urgent need to rearrange, renovate and reorganize EVERYTHING in my house. This is partly the result of living in an old house.

I love our old house. I really, really love it – all the history it holds, character and knowing all the feet that have walked here before us on these 90-year-old hardwood floors. Then somedays I hate it and I want to change everything about it. And then I change a few things and I love it again. It’s what I call our love/hate relationship.

Today, while having these arguments with my house, I’m enjoying some fresh Holy Basil tea. And it’s the perfect thing I needed.

When Farmer Megan handed me the bunch of fresh Holy Basil herbs on Wednesday I had never heard of it. She said drinking it gives her a bit of a renewed feeling, an awakening, similar to drinking coffee but in a more natural way.

“Just try it,” she said.

She, by the way, is not a coffee drinker. I am a coffee drinker snob. BIG time! But I agree it is giving me a nice renewed feeling and I enjoy the loveliness of tea made from fresh herbs.

It’s not the same as drinking coffee – at all. However last night I gave myself the Mother’s Day present of crawling under the covers in my bed, hiding from the children and falling asleep. That’s right – this night owl who is often up writing this blog until 2:00 or 3:00 AM – went to bed at 7:30 PM last night. Therefore my need for coffee is minimal this morning. And the post I was writing in my head as I drifted off to sleep, “My favorite things of being a mom,” will get typed up later today, I hope.

While taking a break from rearranging and cleaning my kitchen/mudroom/dumping zone for everything that comes through the door area,  I am loving this Holy Basil tea.

Megan also gave me two fresh bunches of chamomile which I took to my mom, and left two mason jars of fresh iced Chamomile tea in her refrigerator for her to enjoy.

To make tea from fresh herbs just simply boil the leaves with water. I used one quart of water per one bundle of herbs that fit in my clinched hand. I added a dollop of honey and a skirt of lemon juice to both the Holy Basil and the Chamomile teas. For Chamomile tea, you cut the flowers off the top and only put those in the water, not the stems.

Here’s the Holy Basil brewing, which I made on Friday before we went of town. And put in my refriderator for later…which was today.