ON DRAGONS, LEMON BALM AND A GUY NAMED JIM
by Robin Wheeler, Owner, Edible Landscapes

“The majority of scientists believe that global warming is a reality and that human activities, especially food production and distribution, are a primary cause.” Rod MacRae and Phil Beard in Eco Farm and Garden, Summer 2000.

Whew! I love it when the dragons are just handed to me like that, ready for slaying. Of course, I am one of the lucky ones, and I have enough room around me to grow enough food to keep at least one small truck off the road per year. That’s what my city friends tell me, anyways. Me, I just think they’re not using their imagination. Whenever I get lazy, and think it’s not “worth” growing a new food group in my garden, I think of my imaginary friend, Jim, who works in oil exploration up north. Jim keeps me honest, because every time I say “Nah, I’ll just pick up a box of herb tea at the store.” Jim sees another truck racing down the highway that will need feeding for many a year, and he stays employed.

Frankly, herb tea, in all its innocuous guises, is a perfect example of how we can all reduce just one more gallon of fossil fuel use, one more dollar in Jim’s pocket, and one less exploratory gash in the tundra. Most of the herb teas in my local health food store aren’t even organically grown, never mind grown in BC. Why aren’t I supporting a local sustainable farmer? Better yet, why don’t I clean out a patch the size of my bathtub in the yard and plant peppermint, lemon balm and Bergamot? They make a great tea blend in any combination, dry easily and keep their flavour. I can get young plants from friends, buy them at the Farmer’s Market, or, if completely hard pressed, buy them at a nursery, if I can stand walking past the rows of herbicides, that is. I hate supporting that industry too, even with my innocent purchases. Boy, does that make me cranky!

At any rate, having purchased my young plants in the most planet friendly way I can, I take them home and place them in their newly cleared patch of semi shaded yard, and I water them well for a month to get them established. On a clear day in late summer, I can start cutting back a good third of the stems and hanging them to dry. By the time I have stripped the dry leaves off those branches into paper bags or jars, it’s time to cut another batch for drying. By October, I can just allow the “tea garden” to die down naturally, and I can protect it with a thick layer of leaves from the garden. By next spring, it will all be back, and I will be just finishing the last cup from my tea mix. I won’t need to even feed this garden, if I use a good mulch in the winter. There are a lot of plants that make great tea, and none of them ever need to go for a ride in a truck. That’s one tiny dragon down, 1147 to go. But tea plants are just one item that I can cram into a tiny area of my garden. Just think of the possibilities. But don’t tell Jim. He’s already got his eye on a new SUV.

Robin Wheeler is the owner of Edible Landscaping and author of the Gardening Book Gardening for the Faint of Heart. She lives in Roberts Creek, BC and really has a tea garden. No dragons, though.