Making Something From Nothing: Oregano

Our herb bed has been going strong for almost 3 years. It was the first garden we put in when we moved to our new home. Now many of the perennial herbs are out of control.

Take our Oregano. It is huge.

If we pull it to the side, you can see small herbs growing underneath with their own root system.

We carefully remove this little guy, and tease apart the roots to reveal it is actually two plants.

Then pot them up in their own special pots and water.

Now we have two to give away. My husband works with a bunch of vegetarian chefs. I don't know if anyone appreciates free, organic herbs more than vegetarian chefs. Viola free gifts! We have found Oregano does really well in this area if you are looking for a fool proof herb to grow. My Aunt can even grow it out in the country, where deer to seem to eat everything else.

If you are looking to dry some of your own Oregano, here is a how we do it. Clip off some stems. You want to do it before you see any flowers. Tie your stems together with string and hang them in a dry place with decent air flow. We usually hang them inside the pantry door. Depending how many leaves fall off, it can make a mess all over your kitchen this way. Our kitchen is always a mess, so this doesn't really phase me. But another better way to do it, is get a paper bag and punch lots of holes in the sides. Then put your tied together herb bouquet in the bag and hang it up. This will allow air flow but will keep the leaves off the floor. Once the herb has dried (leaves are crunchy), pull the leaves off and put them in an air tight container. When we save leaves, we try to keep them whole and then crumble them when we are cooking. Better taste that way. Viola free organic oregano to use all year! We toss any leftover herbs after a year. The taste starts to fade and it is so easy to make a fresh batch there is no reason to hoard it. You can pretty much dry any herb using this technique. If you can call fresh air and waiting a technique.

"I succeeded on sort of chutzpah and charm. No technique at all, didn't know what I was doing, but it worked."- Jeremy Irons