The Joy of Garden Giving

Happy December Siskiyou County. To be honest I had a difficult dilemma deciding what to write about for this bi-weekly article edition. It is hard to be inspired about gardening when the days are the shortest and the darkest of the entire year. I don’t know about your corner of Siskiyou County, but my corner has been fogged in for more days than not over the past two weeks. It has been damp, grey, cold, and bleak. It is the kind of weather that does NOT inspire one to want to go outside and work in the garden. Frankly, I have been flat-out avoiding it.

So what does one do with one’s self while staying inside for the entire weekend(s) wearing flannel pajama pants? I have to find something to occupy my time in order to keep from staring out the window and berating myself for not getting outside and dealing with that pile of leaves or the laundry list of other general garden clean up that needs to be done. I have spent my time preparing for the holidays of course!

I have been working on canning and preparing part of my garden harvest to share with friends and family for the holiday season. The joy of sharing garden bounty as gift giving is immeasurable. Homemade gifts make the best gifts. Homegrown homemade gifts are even better. Some gardening gifts begin in the planning stage a full year before when the seeds are ordered.

Even if you are not a canner/preserver, fear not. There are still many gift giving opportunities outside of canning. Dried herbs and spices are spectacular! Have you priced oregano in a store lately? A single garden pot of oregano on your porch can yield dozens of gifts for giving AND taste a million times better than a botte off the store shelf. OR it’s super easy to plant an herbal tea garden and harvest a spectra of herbal tea ingredients and can be blended together to create so many personalized teas. OR maybe an everlasting arrangement of dried flowers is more of your cup of tea?

Spoiler alert if you are on my gifting list…This year I made basil jelly for the first time (recipe credit to Ball Blue Book). It is delicious, if I do say so myself. The first batch I made failed to set-up due to my error of adding the sugar in at the wrong time. But now I also have a super yummy batch of basil simple syrup that I am working on an accompanying fabulous cocktail recipe in which to incorporate it.

#Pivot.
So as we are taking sanctuary in the indoors during this time of year (flannel pants optional); please also take the time to think about your next holiday season in your gardening planning. What do you want to grow next year that will go towards your gifting endeavor? Then consider this in your gardening planning and preparation for the next year.

Here’s to growing all the things,
Shannon