stamping herbs and more

This year is the first year I planted some herbs. Other than smelling and touching them as well as harvesting them for eating, we stamped them. Of course, brewing tea out of them is my favorite. I even gave up caffeine and replace it with herbal "coffee" (it is much better for you).

Here is some of our stamp work. J always knew which plant is which and I always have to ask her. But through doing the stamping, I found I can now differentiate between them better.


We stamped lemon balm, pineapple sage, mint, orange mint, basil, tomato plant, butterfly plant, and lavender. J gave them each a new name, like she calls lemon balm "Leon" and Mint "minty" etc.


We also used a seed cluster to write her name. On a different occasion, we did few other edibles like apple, onion. We also did it with cone flower and that came out pretty like fireworks. So experiment and have fun. One thing we learned is to use the back of the plant for better results.
This is a mantis from our garden. J took the pictures while Prime let it climb on his arm.

Thank you Lisa! (Herbs)

A big thank you goes to Lisa at 5 Orange Potatoes for the recommendation of "A kid's Herb book for children of all ages" by Lesley Tierra.

This book is such a gem. It is very gentle and filled with many stories, fun activities for kids, recipes, and lots of wonderful and useful information.

We read the first story in the book, "The Magic Garden" this morning. This is a story where children went to visit a magical garden where plants felt sad because people didn't know much about them. The plants/ flowers want people to know not only are they beautiful to look at and give sweet scents but they also have many healing powers. The plants and flowers asks the child to love, use, plant, protect, and ask the plants for help for healing.

This is so true for many of us. I'm totally guilty of this. I hardly know anything about plants and its medicine property even though I drank plenty of herbal medicine as a child and my hubby is very into holistic healing. Maybe because most Chinese herbal medicine are so bitter, I never liked them even though they helped me. But I'm hoping to learn more and plan on checking out an herbal store and try some of the activities in this book. Maybe I will even be able to find a local herbalist. :) What I hope most is for my children to love and respect plants and flowers. I guess that will have to start with me. *sheepish grin*

One thing I learned and will put it to test immediately is a how to keep my footsie warm. :) I'm generally cold and believe I have "an illness with a cold energy." To keep your footsie warm, the book says, "... put on a thin pair of socks. Then sprinkle some cayenne powder into a second pair of thick socks. Pull the second pair on over the first.. If you do this before going outside to play on a cold day, our feet will stay toasty warm! (be sure to wash your hands immediately after putting on the second pair of socks.)"

Thanks, Lisa. You inspire me so much. We have a lot to learn from you!