I've done some gardening over the weekend in the form of taking cuttings from my mints and getting them potted up. I used some of the hard plastic drink cups that you get from fast food places.
I cut the cups down by about half, cut a tiny hole in the bottoms, and put my cuttings in them. I also used craft sticks (the ones that look like ice cream sticks) to make my labels so I'd remember which mint is which. When you just cut them, they can be difficult to distinguish from one another, although the chocolate mint is pretty strong and easy to identify. (Now to find a use for the tops of those cups!)
I also used a couple of old whipped topping tubs for other transplants. I'd much rather use these plastic items this way than to add them to my trash. They won't compost so I can't get rid of them that way and reusing them just seems to make sense.
As time goes by, I'll take more mint cuttings and cuttings from other perennial herbs. Some will be given away. Others will be used right here to increase my herb garden. Gardening is one of the best fat burners I've found. I get to bend low, squat, use my arms for digging in the dirt with a small gardening trowel, and walk around just admiring the work I've done.
I dry as much of my herbs as possible so I'll have them throughout the year. For instance, right now I'm sipping a delicious glass of apple mint iced tea as I write this post.
Mint Tea
- 2 regular tea bags
- 2 heaping tablespoons of any dried mint you like
- 1 quart water
Bring it all to a high simmer, then remove from heat for about 3 minutes to let it steep. Pour into a half-gallon pitcher and add water to make the half gallon. Sweeten as desired. Sweetening helps to make the mint flavor bloom in the tea. I use 2/3 cup of sugar in the bottom of the pitcher and pour the hot tea over that.
An icy glass of mint tea is so refreshing! Apple and orange mints are super as iced teas, though any can be used. I really love to use chocolate mint in a hot tea. It's so relaxing at the end of a tiring day.
