Drying Herbs - The Beginning

My oregano plant in my herb garden started to look sick this week despite my constant pruning and watering, so I thought it might be time to dry the oregano to use this winter in my soups and sauces.  To dry the oregano I cut it down to the stems and cooked it at 185 for about 3 hours.  After it cooled, I crumbled the leaves and presto - dried oregano!   Luckily, I have some fresh shoots of oregano coming in so I should have plenty of fresh oregano to get me through the summer.

Oregano!!


My plan is to continue drying all my herbs as they start to wilt with the exception of the cilantro which I do not like dried.  I can not tell you how much I love having an herb garden on my deck - thanks to my friend Patrice for sharing her herbs with me.    I use something from the herb garden every single daily. 

So, the 2012 garden is REALLY starting to produce - it's so fun to be able to go out and start seeing the fruits of our labor.

In this picture you can see the many varieties of heirloom tomatoes that my friend Susan Buchman started from seed and gave to me.  Here I have a speckled roman, a black cherry, a silvery fir tree, and a few regular old cherry tomatoes.  My tomatoes are on steroids this year - they are unbelievable!!

These two monkeys were laying on the garage floor cooling off, waiting for me to come back from the garden.
Gus lost a bottom tooth yesterday!



How's your garden?  Ever tried drying herbs?

Kristin