Gathering In, Hanging On

 

Afloat on a tinfoil rainbow

The first orange mint came into my life at least forty years ago....probably more. I had several herb gardens through several moves and major life changes. It was always a staple, brought along and loved on as a great ingredient in salads, stews, on meats, and in dried herb mixtures.

Then a few years ago chocolate mint joined the now small and restricted garden by the back door. Talk about aggressive! It about took over the place.

Despite rooting cuttings from the orange mint, potting off little side plants of it, and trying to stave off the invasive chocolate mint, by this spring it was entirely gone.

It is not easy to find, I gotta tell you. When we found several plants for sale on a wagon at Barber's down in Schoharie County we latched right on to a pair. They were planted out in one of the best spots in the backyard, surrounded by landscape fabric to stave off invaders, and clipped judiciously for cooking all summer long. Nothing I like better than one fat green leaf of orange mint and one leaf of lush purple sweet basil chopped up on a salad. Lovely flavor.

Anyhow, here comes winter again. Will it make it?  I am doing my best. One batch has already been dried and stashed in the cupboard. A second, larger haul is lying in state on a paper towel on the dining room table. One cutting is almost rooted and yesterday I cut off several runners that were making a break across the landscape fabric toward the driveway and put them in water too.

Guess I will keep clipping a little bit until frost and maybe encourage some of those runners to root in soil as well.

Will it make it? I sure hope so. Another forty years worth would be nice, although I don't expect to be around to count them all. Meanwhile, we will soon have enough stored for this year at least.