Self Improvement Site
On The Internet! Take the Self Improvement Tour
On The Internet! Take the Self Improvement Tour
Articles from Francis Rosenfeld | Selfgrowth.com
- Salves and creams - by Submitted on Feb 16, 2015 from Francis RosenfeldThe difference between a cream and a salve is that salves always contain beeswax and they are a lot firmer (think lip balm). A salve is a blend of oil and beeswax in proportion of five to one more or less. Salves are often made with infused oils that extract the medicinal qualities of herbs ...
Views: 1619 - Enjoy radiant skin - by Submitted on Feb 16, 2015 from Francis RosenfeldThree major factors contribute to the health of your skin: good nutrition and general wellbeing, good conditioning and removing dead cells and impurities. Good nutrition and general well-being Food that is good for the whole body will make your complexion glow too, however, hair and skin ...
Views: 1503 - Home apothecary - by Submitted on May 10, 2016 from Francis RosenfeldAs nature's shop closes, the home spice jars are finally put to good use. All the dried mint that hung in bunches in the kitchen all summer, the rose petals from June's bloom, the lavender kernels, the gentle chamomile, the dried aromatic herbs. It is time for scent in the diminished light, ...
Views: 1421 - Flowers for the Summer Solstice - by Submitted on Jun 20, 2017 from Francis RosenfeldThis is so exciting! I have heard so many stories and legends about this flower, but I never actually saw it before. This is Galium Verum, Lady’s Bedstraw, the flower of St. John, a plant so deeply associated with the summer solstice that some even believe it only blooms on the Eve of St. John’s ...
Views: 1204 - French Mallow - by Submitted on Aug 12, 2015 from Francis RosenfeldLet me share a few things about this plant, some learned, some experienced. The learned facts first. French mallow originated in Europe and is as almost as old as written history. Some varieties are used as edible leafy vegetables and feature in traditional dishes from around the shores of ...
Views: 1031 - Planting fruit trees - by Submitted on Feb 24, 2015 from Francis RosenfeldI gingerly stepped out the door and a blast of cold air threw me back in. It's February. So much for my gardening enthusiasm, I guess I can stick to potpourri and fragrant sachets for now but since late winter is a good time for tree planting, let's talk about fruit trees. Children are ...
Views: 949 - How to make zacusca - by Submitted on May 04, 2015 from Francis RosenfeldNot sure what to do with your harvest? This is a traditional recipe from the Balkans that is usually made in large quantities to keep over the winter. The small batch below is for sampling, to test whether you would like to try it on a larger scale. It is served cold as a dip or as a sandwich ...
Views: 881 - Sweetness and Perfume - by Submitted on Dec 19, 2016 from Francis RosenfeldSince the beginning of my gardening journey I wished for a fragrance garden, so I planted the well known scented flowers like sweet peas, lilies, and carnations. The garden surprises you, though, because that heavenly scent, that fragrance that fills the air and seems to originate nowhere ...
Views: 879 - Perennial Paradox - by Submitted on Feb 12, 2018 from Francis RosenfeldGrowing a perennial garden presents one with the weird predicament of having to work around the clock without actually planting anything. In a perennial garden, everything revolves around maintenance. Here are a few challenges. The perennial flower bed can’t be tilled, because most of its ...
Views: 873 - Pumpkin pie recipe - by Submitted on Apr 04, 2016 from Francis RosenfeldPumpkin pie lovers are spoiled beyond reason between the end of November and the end of the year. There are infinite variations of the delicious desert, all nutmeg, clove and cinnamon, vanilla and brown sugar. I'd like to share my grandmother's recipe, which comes in strudel form. It is one ...
Views: 829 - Herb Gardens - by Submitted on Jan 20, 2015 from Francis RosenfeldAs a child I used to watch with fascination as my grandfather's hands gently teased apart leaves and flowers and spread them over paper towels to dry in the hot still air of the attic. That attic looked much like an apothecary's shop with dried hot pepper bunches, hanging herbs, long braids of ...
Views: 816 - How to grow vanilla orchids - by Submitted on Jan 26, 2015 from Francis RosenfeldHave you ever wondered what it takes to bring the sophisticated and aristocratic vanilla bean to you? I thought about it many times and figured if I ever had a greenhouse this would be the first plant I'd like to grow, so I wanted to learn more about it and this is what I found out. Vanilla ...
Views: 791 - August lily - by Submitted on May 26, 2015 from Francis RosenfeldI often mention that the garden has a will of its own and bends the intent of landscape design to seasonal whimsy. Last year it decided to take on a cool look in white and green right at the end of August when flower beds traditionally boast bright oranges, yellows and fiery reds. The ...
Views: 778 - Growing peppercorns - by Submitted on Dec 14, 2015 from Francis RosenfeldYou look at this modest spice and find it hard to believe than all through Antiquity and the Middle Ages it was more valuable than gold. Pepper was the first of the exotic spices to reach the Mediterranean Basin and the search for it opened up travelling routes that became legendary and fired ...
Views: 734 - Bath Salts, Creams and Oils - by Submitted on Nov 16, 2020 from Francis RosenfeldBath salts. The base of a bath salt is an equal mix of sea salt and baking soda. To this one adds other ingredients as one wishes: dried and powdered herbs, powdered resins, powdered milk, clays and muds, food coloring for effects, and of course essential oils. Go easy on peppermint and ...
Views: 730 - Create a garden for children - by Submitted on Feb 02, 2015 from Francis RosenfeldThere are few things that match the joy of watching children take charge of little projects, and gardening projects are no exception. Set aside a little patch of dirt for your kids to plant seeds and watch things grow. Make sure it is reasonably fertile and in full sun, you don't want to make a ...
Views: 730 - Purple sophistication - by Submitted on Jun 01, 2015 from Francis RosenfeldIf you haven't grown eggplant before you probably don't know that the flowers boast the same unusual color as their glossy fruit. Eggplant flowers are the most beautiful of all bushy vegetables, deep lavender with a bright yellow middle. This vegetable is an acquired taste for many people, a ...
Views: 726 - Fruit compote - by Submitted on May 14, 2015 from Francis RosenfeldI don't know how many people grew up with fruit compote as a staple of their diet. My grandparents made it throughout the summer to preserve fruit for the cold months. My grandmother's apricot compote was so good I still dream about it on occasion. Unfortunately, like most of my grandmother's ...
Views: 725 - What to do with green tomatoes - by Submitted on Jan 20, 2016 from Francis RosenfeldEvery year the generous tomato plants bless us with an overabundance of fruit that doesn't have the chance to ripen before the first frost. Tomatoes take their sweet time to figure out how to bear more and more fruit and their best and most abundant yield goes so far into the fall they don't ...
Views: 724 - Bulb Propagation - by Submitted on Feb 20, 2017 from Francis RosenfeldIf you would like to try your hand at serious bulb propagation, a method often used by professional growers, especially for hyacinths, is called scooping, and it is known to produce up to thirty bulblets from a single bulb. Clean and dry a large and healthy hyacinth bulb and scoop out the ...
Views: 703 - How to grow a wildflower meadow - by Submitted on Mar 28, 2016 from Francis RosenfeldSo, you have your heart set on creating a wildflower meadow and those packages of mixed seeds beckon you from the stands, irresistibly. You picture wild flowers and the thought of perpetual, zero maintenance beauty springs to mind. Wild flower meadows are not low maintenance, at least not for ...
Views: 703 - About peonies - by Submitted on Aug 08, 2015 from Francis RosenfeldI didn't move the gorgeous Raspberry Sorbet peonies last fall and now they are spending another year trying to assert their needs in the midst of the rugosa rose thicket. Because of the one-two-three year garden rule and their slow start (they didn't come out of the ground at all during the ...
Views: 700 - 8degF - by Submitted on Jan 02, 2018 from Francis RosenfeldUsually the feast of St. John brings the coldest day of the year, but this time arctic weather was delayed for two weeks. I cozy up indoors with a hot cup of herbal tea and dreamy gardening books as the thermometer indicates 8 degrees Fahrenheit outside. No matter how enthusiastic one is ...
Views: 697 - Working with Herbs - by Submitted on Jun 12, 2017 from Francis RosenfeldWorking with herbs is an art and small details in the practice of harvesting and preserving them makes the difference between success and failure. Harvesting: Always harvest herbs in the morning, right after the dew has dried up but before the heat makes the plants release their volatile ...
Views: 697 - Attar of roses - by Submitted on May 02, 2016 from Francis RosenfeldImagine an open field of roses extending as far as the eyes can see, an eighty mile long garden. Hundreds of thousands of bushels of rose petals get picked, boiled and distilled, and re-distilled, and purified, until out of one thousand pounds of petals five ounces of precious attar of roses are ...
Views: 696 - Winter Pampering - by Submitted on Nov 29, 2016 from Francis RosenfeldI looked far and wide for signs of spring, which is a testimony to my undying optimism, and there is nothing, nothing, I tell you! Not even a little shivering primrose, or a tentative daffodil, just nothing on ice with a side of leafless trees. As it very well should be, what self-respecting ...
Views: 693 - Anise hyssop - by Submitted on Apr 12, 2016 from Francis RosenfeldI was walking through the plant nursery trying to decide what to add to the fall garden when a giant blue hyssop literally grabbed on to my sleeve. Its lavender flowers soaked the surroundings in a wildly intoxicating aroma of anise and licorice as I brushed against them, reminding me why hyssop ...
Views: 692 - Lemon Verbena - by Submitted on Nov 16, 2015 from Francis RosenfeldWhether you grow lemon verbena as a medicinal or an aromatic plant, it gets plenty of uses, from flavoring fish and fruit salads, as a replacement or in addition to lemon zest, to pleasant calming brews. For those who love to exercise, it is particularly effective in reducing muscle and joint ...
Views: 691 - Hepatica - by Submitted on Feb 22, 2016 from Francis RosenfeldHepatica has been considered a medicinal plant in the past, but this is one of the cases where scientific reasoning needs to override lore: the plant belongs to the Ranunculaceae family, just like the buttercup, and contains the same toxic compounds, albeit in much smaller doses. Hepatica is ...
Views: 686 - How to Make Strawberry Preserves - by Submitted on Nov 06, 2017 from Francis RosenfeldINGREDIENTS: (1) bowl of strawberries, (2) pounds of sugar, (3) cups of water, juice from one lemon. Soak the strawberries in ice water for an hour. Change the water a couple of times so that it stays ice cold. Strain them and drain them on a towel. After they are dry, place them in a heavy ...
Views: 686 - Garden in the making - by Submitted on May 21, 2015 from Francis RosenfeldThe new light shade flower beds are quickly coming to life with plants from all over the yard, a constant reminder that a perennial patch is the gift that keeps on giving. My garden of hellebores is actually happening. If there is anything I learned from many trial and error gardening ...
Views: 685 - Garden Sage - by Submitted on Apr 17, 2017 from Francis RosenfeldI had to give the sage a serious hair cut so that the struggling rose could emerge from under it. When plants thrive, they thrive. I’ve had this clump of sage for two years, and it expanded through all the seasons, including winter, only it knows why! I really don’t know what to do with sage, ...
Views: 685 - Gardening with hostas - by Submitted on Apr 13, 2015 from Francis RosenfeldAfter a few years of gardening I realized how much I take hostas for granted. They are ever present in the shade and will grow where no plant has grown before. Their relative worth of thriving in the shade tends to underscore their absolute value as ornamental plants, but hostas can hold their ...
Views: 684 - The basics of home food preservation - by Submitted on Jun 11, 2015 from Francis RosenfeldJust a few rules that will make your food preservation safe and successful: 1.Processing Temperatures. Foods suited for canning are divided into acidic (
Views: 684 - Tuberose fragrance - by Submitted on Oct 26, 2015 from Francis RosenfeldTuberose oil is a staple scent for perfumery, obtained through chemical extraction by means of concretes and absolutes, and it is one of the most expensive natural fragrances available to perfumers. Because of the flower's patrician demeanor and its expensive essence I always thought the ...
Views: 684 - Toad Lilies - by Submitted on Sep 08, 2015 from Francis RosenfeldYou have to get really close to appreciate toad lilies' blossoms which are small but unbelievably detailed. I don't think there is a flower in this part of the world that so closely approximates orchids. They are hardy to zone 5 and bloom in the shade, the last flowers to bloom in the garden ...
Views: 683 - How to prune roses - by Submitted on Jan 12, 2015 from Francis RosenfeldPruning is a simple and necessary part of keeping a rose healthy, strong and blooming. If you prune the rose wrong, you may not get a lot of flowers the following year, or none at all, but there is no wrong way to prune that will kill an established rose. If anything, if you can live with a ...
Views: 681 - A love story - by Submitted on Nov 02, 2015 from Francis RosenfeldPeople ask gardeners all the time why they waste so much time and effort on an activity that at any scale smaller than a farm yields so little benefit? Green thumbs may be blindsided by the question, shrug their shoulders and keep on with the activity they were engaged in, for how can one ...
Views: 680 - Chocolatey Goodness! - by Submitted on Jun 13, 2016 from Francis RosenfeldIt appears that the regular consumption of cocoa increases blood flow to the brain, thus helping it work faster and stalling neuron degeneration. Just in case we needed more reasons to reach for that chocolate bar. We don't normally think about it, but it takes a lot of effort for said sweet ...
Views: 679 - Catmint - by Submitted on Feb 01, 2016 from Francis RosenfeldI got catmint for its pleasant scent, a blend of peppermint and pennyroyal, and its pale lavender flowers, a very refreshing sight on hot summer afternoons. It is one of the coveted perennials that bloom at the end of summer and it requires very little in terms of care. This mint cousin ...
Views: 678 - A divine tree that fulfills wishes - by Submitted on Dec 07, 2015 from Francis RosenfeldI once wondered through a park under a shady canopy of green leaves, heavy with flowers and sweet fruit and flocks of colorful singing birds seeking shelter in the glossy foliage. The park extended for an entire city block and its tree branches reached sixty feet up in the air. Twisted trunks ...
Views: 670 - Solar Eclipse - by Submitted on Jul 16, 2018 from Francis RosenfeldLike so many people, I too stared at the sun for a couple of hours, to watch it turn from a ball of fire into a thin crescent of light. We were not in the total eclipse zone and because of that, sunlight shone through the entire time. I could only see the moon’s shadow through special glasses, ...
Views: 667 - Growing hellebores - by Submitted on Nov 09, 2015 from Francis RosenfeldYou don't know how spoiled you are as a gardener until you grow a hellebore. Up here in the northern states we are not used to seeing flowers in January, maybe some evergreen foliage under a somber sky. Most of the trees are gray and leafless and the usual sights of the garden are tired dried ...
Views: 666 - Chamomile Lawns - by Submitted on Feb 27, 2017 from Francis RosenfeldIf you have a sunny slope that is difficult to mow, in a location with well drained, sandy soil, try a chamomile lawn. The delightful apple scent is a reward in itself, and using chamomile as a groundcover offers some advantages, like low mowing, feeding and watering needs, but the plant is ...
Views: 665 - Charming shade gardens - by Submitted on Jul 06, 2015 from Francis RosenfeldI just finished creating a lovely shade garden which features a very welcome addition, "Stained Glass" hostas. These plants have everything the sun-starved gardener could hope for: beautiful and resilient foliage that weathers heat and drought, dramatic colors and large fragrant flowers worthy ...
Views: 664 - Growing Peonies - by Submitted on Apr 03, 2017 from Francis RosenfeldThe peonies would have bloomed by now, the buds have been ready to burst for more than a week, but it is so unseasonably cold, weird May weather! Temperatures in the fifties, I almost have to question the wisdom of moving the basil outside, it looks miserable. Peonies are the object lesson for ...
Views: 657 - Lady Marmalade - by Submitted on Aug 31, 2015 from Francis RosenfeldSometimes you just need the right lighting to really appreciate colorful foliage, although this little purple beauty won't go unnoticed through the summer when it competes for interest with the daisies and the crane's bills. Another near miss in the battle with the mighty hellebores (I swear, ...
Views: 657 - Why Spring is My Favorite Season - by Submitted on Jan 09, 2017 from Francis RosenfeldSpring didn't come early this year, the daffodils and hyacinths are still struggling with the cold weather. This comes somewhat as a relief, last year's spring arrived unseasonably early and was followed by a damaging summer of drought. Last year around this time the grass was sprinkled with ...
Views: 657 - Bladder Campions - by Submitted on May 15, 2017 from Francis RosenfeldThis is an edible plant, widely used around the Mediterranean Basin to flavor omelets, pasta and risotto. Its young greens make a tasty addition to meals when stewed in a little olive oil, just like chards and spinach. It can be eaten uncooked, but the raw leaves taste bitter because they ...
Views: 654 - Creepy Crawlies - by Submitted on Apr 29, 2015 from Francis RosenfeldHave you noticed how many beautiful ground covers fall into the creepy category: creeping phlox, creeping veronicas, creeping Jenny? These plants usually spread by runners, hence their name, and once adjusted to their location they will keep running indefinitely, growing more substantial with ...
Views: 654