8 January 2013 “Child’s Flower Book, Growing, Storing, and Using Culinary Herbs and A Victorian Kitchen Garden to Watch & Learn”

All I could find out about this darling little children’s book on flowers was that “The Dumpy Books for Children were a series of small-format books selected by E. V. Lucas and published by British publisher Grant Richards between 1897 and 1904.” I could find no info on the author Eden Coybee, of this volume in the “Dumpy Book” collections.

There are some wonderful illustrations and the story is quite fun to read to a child or for one’s self. The book can be found in the Library under Children’s Books.

The book opens with this little forward:

And goes forward to tell a tale of fairies and their associated flowers. An interesting way to allow children to become interested in flowers and to recognize them in nature.

 

 

 

 

It is rather warm today. After a week of sharp biting cold, today’s warmer breezes hint at Spring. When I went out to feed and water the chickens I noticed my wellies slipped into the ground and made a wonderful ‘myuck’ sound. Always a good sign, in my opinion. It makes my mind wander to Spring and planting and getting my seeds started soon.

This lovely book Culinary Herbs, their cultivation, harvesting, curing and uses is well worth a read.despite its age. I hope you enjoy it and it can be found in the Liibrary under the Gardening books.

I like how they begin: (you can click any image to enlarge)

 

There are useful illustrations such as these with good planting tips. And I like this bit here about we Americans and our ‘one sauce ways’ and how we could learn from our European cousins when it comes to using herbs.

Drying and storing herbs is discussed as well as many propagation methods.

There is much to reccomend it and even if you have no intention of planting out a plot or garden this Spring, you will still enjoy the book simply as an armchair gardener.

And today I will close with this wonderful series from the BBC. It was produced in the 1980s and it really is a wonderful resource. It is the Victorian Kitchen Garden. There is also the Victorian Flower Garden and the Victorian Kitchen. I will share the first one here and the rest can be found on my Channel under History Recreation Shows and Projects. (Follow that link for the next and subsequent episodes.)

Here is the first episode the introduction. The Gardener is Harry Dodson, a wonderful old gardener. He was raised a gardener on the big estates in England. Born in 1919, he only passed away in 2005. Enjoy and have a lovely day.