Harvesting Herbs (2)
We use the herbs we grow and harvest at Dry Hollow Farm in a variety of ways: soaps, salves, lotion bars, infused-oils, and dried herbal teas. These herbs include the organically-grown varieties we cultivate from seed and the wild herbs we gather from across our farm property.
The value of organically-produced herbs impacts both culinary and medicinal uses. Here at Dry Hollow Farm, we only use U.S.-grown seeds for our herbs, which we believe encourages our plants to thrive in our soil composition.
Another reason for being selective about seeds for planting is that for many delicate plants such as herbs and greens, the age of the seed matters and the conditions of storage. These tiny seeds dry out quickly. Some of our plants, such as Valerian, do better with fresh seed purchases than attempting to gather seeds and store overwinter. Other seeds require a period of cold (or refrigeration) before they successfully germinate - a process which simulates a plant dropping seeds in the ground at the end of the growing season and awaiting out the cold months before rising temperatures warm the soil once again in the spring.
When we harvest herbs, we do so in the early morning hours before the sun has time to dry out the beneficial oils contained in the leaves.
Most of our herbs are then laid out on wooden drying frames if greenhouse space allows.
In our greenhouses, we cover the wooden slatted tables with old sheets to catch every drying leaf. Sometimes we strip herbs from their stems prior to drying. Sometimes we wait until afterward.
Once the greens are in place, we pull the sheets over top in order to protect them from the rays of the hot sun. Too much light can further remove the helpful, organic oils from the plants.
Once the drying process is complete, we have two choices:
The first choice is to place the dried herbs in containers for selling as dried herbal teas or culinary herbs.
The second choice is to infuse olive oil with the dried herbs in glass quart jars and infuse for several weeks. Usually we place these jars in the sunny parts of the Herb Shack. This is a process we do not hurry, but allow the sun to naturally steep the herb-infused oils.
Several months ago we created a blog describing the challenges of predicting how much hay our animals will eat through the winter. These same powers of prognistication are necessary for predicting how many dried herbs we will need v. how much herb-infused oil.
Dr. Kathryn Bush owns and operates Dry Hollow Farm, a working goat and sheep farm in Huntingdon, Tennessee. Together with her husband, Russell, she creates skincare products from their fresh goat milk, grows organic herbs, welcomes visitors to their two cabins on the farm (available for stays through Airbnb), keeps the farm’s on-site soap shop stocked with their handcrafted products, and enjoys working the farm in company with their Great Pyrenees dogs (who work hard guarding the animals). Check out their natural products featuring farm-grown ingredients here, and sign up for the Dry Hollow Farm newsletter to stay in touch and be the first to hear about farm news, events, and new products.