Birdhouses from Birdhouse Gourds only available in shop while they last. photo by Emily Rozema The 10,000 Year History of the Birdhouse GourdThe birdhouse gourd may look like a squash plant growing in the garden, but it is actually part of a very old relationship between people, plants and birds. Its botanical name is Lagenaria siceraria. You may also know it as a bottle gourd, calabash or hard shelled gourd. And people have been growing and using them for thousands of years. One of Our Oldest Useful PlantsUnlike pumpkins and squash that were mainly grown for food, bottle gourds were valuable because of how they dried. The outer shell becomes remarkably hard and lightweight. Once the inside is cleaned out, the gourd becomes a natural container. Long before plastic bottles, metal buckets or even pottery were common, people could grow their own containers. Bottle gourds have been made into bowls, cups, bottles, dippers, storage containers, fishing floats, musical instruments and eventually birdhouses. Archaeological evidence shows just how old this relationship is. Researchers studying a rock shelter in Honduras found bottle gourd remains dating back roughly 11,000 years. The gourds appear to have been used as watertight containers and possibly for cooking and drinking. That makes the bottle gourd one of the oldest plants humans intentionally used and cultivated for something other than simply eating it. A Plant That Travelled the WorldThe bottle gourd originated in Africa, but somehow managed to spread through tropical areas around the world thousands of years ago. Part of the reason may be its incredible ability to float. Experiments have found that dried gourds can spend months floating in salt water and still contain viable seeds. Genetic research published in 2014 found that ancient American bottle gourds were closely related to African gourds and suggested their ancestors may have floated naturally across the Atlantic before people began cultivating them in the Americas. A gourd falls into the water in Africa, floats across an ocean and eventually helps establish a plant population on another continent. Researchers are still piecing together exactly how bottle gourds travelled around the world, but we know people were using them in the Americas thousands of years before European contact. So When Did a Gourd Become a Birdhouse?That is where the Purple Martin enters the story. Purple Martins are cavity nesting birds. They do not carve out their own nesting holes. Instead, they look for an existing cavity where they can build their nest. Long before Europeans arrived in North America, Indigenous peoples were hanging hollowed gourds that Purple Martins began using as nesting sites. Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Audubon both document this early tradition of providing gourds for the birds. There were practical reasons for wanting the birds nearby. Purple Martins eat flying insects, and their loud alarm calls could also alert people when animals approached. Some historical accounts suggest gourds were intentionally placed around settlements and food storage areas because of this relationship. In eastern North America today, Purple Martins nest almost entirely in human provided housing, including wooden martin houses and artificial or natural gourds. In western parts of their range, they are still more likely to use natural cavities. The Tradition ContinuedEuropean settlers continued the practice of putting up homes for Purple Martins, and martin houses became a familiar sight around farms, inns and country homes. By 1831, naturalist John James Audubon wrote about seeing martin boxes at country taverns. He even joked that the nicer the martin house was, the better the tavern was likely to be. Over time elaborate wooden martin houses became popular, but the simple dried gourd never disappeared. From Garden to BirdhouseThe birdhouse gourds we grow today are the same species that humans have found useful for thousands of years. They grow on enormous vines and produce a green fruit with a rounded bottom and narrower neck. Once mature, the gourd is allowed to dry until its shell becomes hard. This takes the entire winter season. A hole can then be cut into the side, the dried material and seeds removed, and the shell turned into a completely natural birdhouse. There is something pretty amazing about growing a plant in your garden knowing that people were growing variations of the very same plant thousands of years ago. We value the relationship between humans and birds that we get to continue today.  photo of finished Birdhouse Gourd with Turnip the cat and Tomato the cat at Mingle Hill Farm & Apothecary Shop ~ photo by Emily Rozema
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Now Is the Time to Preserve Your Herbs for WinterIf you have herbs in your garden, now is the time to start thinking about winter. Harvest what you think you will need for the colder months and dry it now while the plants are fresh and full of flavour. It is best to harvest in the heat of the afternoon to have the highest amount of beneficial oils. However anytime of day is still good.  📷 by Emily Rozema We try to use our dried herbs within one year of harvest. Dried herbs do not suddenly go bad after a year, but their flavour, aroma and quality diminish over time. This is one of the reasons our Mingle Hill spice blends and loose leaf teas are so potent and flavourful. We grow and harvest our herbs here on the farm and use them within one year.  📷 by Emily Rozema With many grocery store spices, you simply don't know when the plant was actually harvested. In Canada, shelf stable foods that last longer than 90 days generally do not require a best before date. That means the jar may tell you very little about the actual age of the herbs or spices inside. How to Dry Your Own Herbs Drying herbs at home is incredibly simple. Gather your herbs into small bundles and place an elastic around the stems. Take a paperclip, open it up and use it as a little hook to hang the bundle upside down. Hang your herbs in a cool, dry, dark place with good airflow. A spot in your kitchen or large pantry away from a sunny window can work well. Sunlight can break down the colour, aroma and quality of dried herbs, so keeping them away from direct light is important. Most bundles will take around two weeks to fully dry, depending on the herb, humidity and size of the bundle. The most important part is making sure they are completely dry before putting them into a jar. Any moisture left in the plant can encourage mold. If you aren't quite sure they are dry enough, you can finish them in a dehydrator on a low setting. A dehydrator is also a great way to speed up the entire process. Once completely dry, remove the leaves from the stems and store them in a clean glass jar in your spice cupboard, away from heat and sunlight. Then enjoy your own homegrown herbs all winter. Use them individually for cooking, make herbal tea, or start experimenting and create your own custom spice blends.  📷 by Emily Rozema Homegrown dried herbs and homemade spice blends make brilliant Christmas gifts. A little glass jar, a handwritten label and herbs you grew yourself. Simple, useful and actually made by you. There is something pretty satisfying about opening a jar in January and smelling the herbs you grew in your own garden the summer before.  📷 by Emily Rozema
Making Rosemary Hair Water at home is easy and inexpensive. This is a different process than we process on our farm, however for the at home DIY enthusiast this recipe below is a great way to support your hair, create stronger, healthier hair along with assisting in hair growth. At Mingle Hill Farm we harvest our Rosemary at the heat of the day from July to September. We then dry our Rosemary in a warm but very dry dark space to prevent molding and to harness the highest oils in the plant. Once the Rosemary is dried, we then infuse it into our hair oils, crush it into our spice mixes and teas and we steam distill it using our cooper distiller from Austria. Using steam distillation in a copper distiller is the optimal form of extracting the finest oils from a plant. On average, it takes 3 kgs of plant or flower to produce 20mL of oil. During the process of steam distillation, we are also creating a floral water. This is created by the passing of the steam through the plant materials, condensing the vapor and capturing the water soluble compounds from the plant. Our final product; Rosemary Water. Of course this is difficult to produce in the average home, but the next best thing can be made easily on your kitchen stove.  Rosemary Hair Water RecipeIngredients: Fresh Rosemary Water Things you will need: A pot A strainer or cheese cloth A spray bottle Place the fresh rosemary in a pot. Use as much or little as you desire. Fill the pot with double the amount of water. My suggestion would be to use at least 1 cup of rosemary to 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil and then take off the heat. Let cool to room temperature. Strain out the rosemary using cheese cloth or a fine strainer. Pour carefully into a spray bottle. This should be used within 3 month to avoid molds. Enjoy the wonderful smell of Rosemary in your hair and begin feeling the benefits of herbal healing. Works brilliantly as a perfume as well. Enjoy.  |
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