Monday, March 17, 2008

St. Patrick's Mint Syrup


We woke up to a few inches of snow on St. Patrick’s Day today. It should be just what those dormant plants need to get started though. We’ve just desodded a small area for our vegetable garden so as soon as this snow melts I will be planting my peas and lettuce. A few weeks ago I bought a small mint plant from my local nursery so that I could have something green in the house. Now it’s grown to a usable size. Last night we made a mint syrup by first mixing a simple syrup (2 parts sugar, 1 part water) and put about a tablespoon of fresh chopped mint leaves into the syrup after it boiled; leaving them there while it cooled. This made a very nice syrup to use in a drink. We mixed about one part syrup with 3 parts soda water and lots of ice. Its also good with a squirt of lemon juice. This is our St. Patricks Day drink this year; well at least for the morning because I am sure we will have some Irish whiskey come evening!

In honor of St. Patrick’s day here is one of my favorite blessings:


Deep peace of the running waves to you.
Deep peace of the flowing air to you.
Deep peace of the smiling stars to you.
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.

Deep peace of the watching shepherds to you.
Deep peace of the Son of Peace to you.
Old Irish Prayer


May Saints. Brighid, Brendan and Patrick guide you on your way.
Cindy Jones, Sagescript Institute

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