I usually try to harvest most my herbs around the Autumn Equinox. Then I dry them for a few weeks and store in those glass jars you can buy for homemade jams and jellies, label them with name, year and the fact they are from my garden (so I don't mix them up with some of the other herbs I buy and store similarly.)
Here are some of my past experiences and adventures in herbal drying:
In the past I have been fortunate enough to live in a basement, a wonderful atmosphere for drying (dry, dark, fairly cool) , however I was in need something to hang them from, preferably from the ceiling (I have cats who are WAY to interested in anything green for me to keep them down low or in anyway attainable by feline acrobatics.)
One year I made a hanging drying rack with embroidery thread and some wooden skewers meant for kabobs and some chopsticks that my husband had collected from Chinese take out. I hung it from a little hook I screwed into one of the rafters of the basement. It was a square shape frame with a two more in an X across the center, it worked nicely.
This past summer I acquired a wooden clothes drying rack and was able to find place it in a room that is now kept closed off from furry four leggers.
I also know a woman who uses one of those dehydration machines that people keep in the kitchen to make jerky, dried fruit etc.
Anyone else have experiences regarding the drying and storing of herbs? Feel free to share.
Here are some of my past experiences and adventures in herbal drying:
In the past I have been fortunate enough to live in a basement, a wonderful atmosphere for drying (dry, dark, fairly cool) , however I was in need something to hang them from, preferably from the ceiling (I have cats who are WAY to interested in anything green for me to keep them down low or in anyway attainable by feline acrobatics.)
One year I made a hanging drying rack with embroidery thread and some wooden skewers meant for kabobs and some chopsticks that my husband had collected from Chinese take out. I hung it from a little hook I screwed into one of the rafters of the basement. It was a square shape frame with a two more in an X across the center, it worked nicely.
This past summer I acquired a wooden clothes drying rack and was able to find place it in a room that is now kept closed off from furry four leggers.
I also know a woman who uses one of those dehydration machines that people keep in the kitchen to make jerky, dried fruit etc.
Anyone else have experiences regarding the drying and storing of herbs? Feel free to share.
