We aren’t the only ones loving the herbs this week. Check out this picture of a farm member’s cat:

“We walked in the door oooing and ahhhhing over our box of loot and began to unpack in the kitchen. Martin, eyes fully dialated, paced the floor howling. Not meowing. Not chortling. Not caterwalling. Howling. Howling as though he were about to drink the blood of his enemies and take their souls inside his body…” Be careful with that Catmint, friends!!!

Herb Bouquet: The tallest herb in your bunch this week will be the furry leaves of Cat Mint. x This mint has fuzzy grey-green leaves and is the very one your cats go crazy for. You must bruise the leaves to get their attention. But it’s good for you, too, and makes a great relaxing tea. Use it when your mind is racing and it might mellow you out a bit, as it eases nervousness and restlessness. Use to make a tea by covering a few leaves or even the whole stalk in warm water and letting it sit overnight. In the morning, strain off the water and drink. Next in height should be Dill – This unmistakable herb is the bomb on beets, green beans and pickles. Cut the light, super thin, ferny leaves finely with a scissor and add to eggs. Tansy – This large, rough leaf that looks a bit like an underwater fern is an herb that tastes bad, and that’s just it. Don’t eat this, but put a leaf in your fruit bowl or near your bananas and you won’t get fruit flies. Amazing! Thanks to Farm Member Sam for this great tip! Chocolate Mint – This highly aromatic sweet mint is distinguished by red/brown stems. Use this in any recipe where you want a sweet mint, like ours for Mojitos. Or just chew the leaves to freshen breath and settle the stomach. We put some in our lemonade pitcher all summer. Lovage – One of my favorite herbs, you’ll find it’s large celery-like leaves on a skinny hollow stalk. To me it tastes like a combination of celery, nutmeg and curry. This is actually a perennial celery and you can use it to flavor soups, egg salad, whatever else you season with celery. Chop the stalk and use it if you’ll be cooking the dish. x We used sprigs today as garnishes on the Bloody Marys we enjoyed while packing the boxes in the stifling heat and humidity. Perfect to munch on between sips! Finally, we have just one small sprig of Lemon Balm, which looks a lot like a mint but with lighter green leaves. You’ll know it when you smell it, though. Use a few leaves chopped to make your salad dressing zippier or scissor slivers over fresh fruit. Great in tea.

This week you’ve got a separate bunch of Peppermint, Marjoram (Greek Oregano) and Chives from Sam, who had a surplus in her garden and shared them with us. The mint is light green and you’ll know the smell. Add a leaf to every iced tea you drink this week. Or crush with sugar and make syrup to drizzle on ice cream. The oregano is amazing in red pasta sauces or pizza. The chives are great on potatoes, in eggs, over a salad. Use the blossoms as a lovely edible flourish on a salad – simple pull the individual little bulbils off the pink flower and sprinkle.

Thyme – This tiny creeping herb gets it’s own bag because you need a lot of this. I use this extensively all summer long – in salad dressing, on eggs, sauteed with zucchini, with potatoes, on meats and in pasta sauce. I think if you start trying it, you’ll want it on everything, too. Don’t try to pull the leaves off unless you have already dried them. Instead, throw several whole sprigs into what you are cooking. After a few minutes, the leaves will fall off and you can fish out the stems. For something different but delicious – throw some thyme into tea while your brewing it. Or sprinkle over strawberries – fresh thyme is surprisingly good with sweet treats.

Chamomile – You’ve got a little bunch in the box. It looks like tiny flowers without petals and smells like apples. Chamomile is a well-known calming herb you can use to make a comforting tea with honey – you’ll pull off the flowers and basically use one tablespoon of them per cup. Here’s a fun recipe for one pot of tea: put 2 tablespoons chamomile flowers and several thin slices of apple in a tea pot. Pour on two cups of boiling water and mash apples. Steep 5 minutes and strain before drinking with honey to taste.

Tom Thumb Baby Bibb Head Lettuce – We here all think this is the cutest lettuce ever, a tiny perfect green head of spring deliciousness.

Circle M Spring Greens Mix – This pretty blend of early season greens ( and reds! ) is prettied up with edible flowers – pink Bachelors’ Buttons.

Leek Scapes and Babies – These strange pod-looking things are the beginning of last fall’s late leeks going to seed. Used like garlic scapes, these pods and stems are all very spicy-hot like a very strong garlic bulb. Mince finely and add to any recipe that wants garlic or onion flavor. Break open the pods and pull off the little tender seeds to sprinkle over salads and omelets. In a little bag you’ll find some round leek babies. The leeks themselves got too tough to eat when they started to go to seed, but they made these tiny babies next to themselves that you can eat like scallions.

Baby Bok Choy – This delicate Asian cabbage is a wonderful addition to soups and stir fry. You will use the whole plant – stems, leaves and flower, if you’ve got one. Chop the stems first and throw them in to cook a bit longer than the leaves. Try chef Deborah Madison’s recipe with roasted peanuts below.

Chickweed – Who knew a weed could taste so incredible?! Like sweet corn, I think. Our farm herb expert, Nicole, talked us into Chickweed Pesto this spring and we just loved it. You will, too. Just rinse the chickweed and throw into a food processor with two bulbs of our fresh garlic and a tablespoon of lemon juice or balsamic vinegar, then add olive oil until you’ve got the consistency you want. Add salt and parmesan cheese to taste. Amazing over pasta, but great as a dip. You can also just mash it and apply it to skin rashes and irritations. Eaten, this herb helps with circlulation, weight loss and removing toxins from the body. See this link for more info: http://www.healthylivinganswers.com/vitamins/benefits-of-chickweed.html

Fresh Garlic - We apparently missed some garlic when we harvested last summer, and every bulb made a whole family of new plants this spring. We’d let them go except that they are in our melon garden for this year, which we need to mulch with black plastic for heat. So we are so enjoying these fresh, soft little garlics. They won’t keep like cured summer garlic, though, so store in the fridge and use within a few weeks.

Pea Shoots – One of the first sweet treats out of the garden each year, these are little snips from the top of our snap pea vines. Eat them raw in a salad, or chop onto a sandwich. We wish we had more for you, but the heat is really tough on peas and they don’t grow.

Rhubarb – Who can deny the appeal of these gorgeous fragrant stalks. Oh, joy! Since last week when we packed some up for the Madison CSA members, we’ve gotten such a slew of amazing recipes. See below for the Rhubarb Cake served at our Lambs and Lettuces Festival and also an easy refreshing Rhubarb Iced Tea from farm member Mindy. Keep sending me your ideas, folks! LOVE them!