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ORGANIC
By
Robert Rodole
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Take A Break With Herbal Tea
Attention, coffee drinkers! If you’re looking for an
excuse to unhook yourself from the caffeine wagon, herbal
teas are worth discovering.
There are herbal teas to suit almost anyone’s palate.
Whether your taste runs to the delicate, subtle tang of
peppermint tea or to the rich, robust flavor in a blend of
several hearty herbs, all you have to do is find out what
suits you best. You’ll find yourself turning away from the
more mundane, caffeine-laden drinks that people ingest
by the gallon.
Besides being more pleasant-tasting than coffee or
regular tea, herb teas provide an extra benefit. They’re
also good for you.
Herbal teas are sometimes called tisanes, which, ac
cording to thp dictionary definition, means a “nourishing
beverage, often having a light medicinal quality.” The
shelves of health food stores-and even some of the
supermarkets today-are filled with an amazing number
of herbal tea varieties. You can buy several different
kind* and learn to enjoy each of the subtle differences
they contain. Or you can try growing the herbs in a small
garden or apartment windowbox. Herbs are potent in
flavor. And they don’t need a lot of room in which to grow.
Consider the vast variety available. There are the
fragrant mints - spearmint, peppermint, applemint,
pineapple mint and catnip.
Then there’s piney rosemary, redolent lavender, spicy
thyme, sage, camomile blossoms and costmary. Most of
these ingredients went into grandmother’s basket to be
hung in the attic until crisp. Then they were bottled in air
tight jars until used, which was often during the icy winter
when they brought remembrances of warm summer.
Dutch School
Natural Foods
LARGEST SELECTION OF
NATURAL FOODS AND VITAMINS
IN CENTRAL PENNA.
RT. 222, AKRON, PENNA.
PH. 859-2339
MARTIN'S MANUFACTURING CO.
Custom
Made
• FREE STALLS
• BARNYARD FENCES
• SILAGE CARTS in stock
• PIPE GATES 6 ft. to 16 ft.
(every 6") in stock
MARTIN’S
MANUFACTURING CU.
DISTRIBUTOR OF CENTRAL TRACTOR PARTS CO.
R.D.3 Myerstown Phone (717) 933-4151
TARE RT. 645 - 3 MILES NORTH OF MYERSTOWN
FOLLOW DIRECTIONAL SIGNS
ROBERT GUTSHALI
(717) 933-4616
Lancaster Pipe &
distributors
Acorn unloaders
bunk feeders
tube feeders
generators
chute hoppers
Self Unloading Silage
Cattle and hog feeders
Automatic roller mills
wm&m
LIVING
—M'
Model 3013,27" impeller
After a heavy Thanksgiving day meal, for example,
grandmother might have served hot mint tea with lemon
slices to aid the digestion. Or, if a cold was on the way,
wintergreen leaves were brewed in an attempt to head it
off.
Another heady tisane consists of equal parts of
Fall Livestock Shows
.The fall months - Sep
tember, October and
November - are the really
big months for livestock
activity at the Com
monwealth’s huge Farm
Show complex at Cameron
and Maclay Streets.
The season begins with the
first of two standardbred
(harness) horse sales
following Labor Day and
continues with the Penn
sylvania All-American Dairy
Show, the National Troting
Pony Association Sale, the
Pennsylvania National
Horse Show late in October,
and the second standardised
sale early in November.
Then comes the really big
show, the 18th Keystone
International Livestock
Exposition, November 10-15,
with nearly 4,000 head of beef
cattle, swine, sheep and
horses entered in com
petition.
More than half the states
in the union will be
represented among the
exhibitors and in previous
years there have also been
prize livestock from Canada
'"and- Mexico. They’ll be
competing for premiums
that run well in excess of
$50,000.
The opening day, Sunday,
November 10, features only
Automobile Service Tips
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the filter. /f/fhac
THAN YOUR SERVICE
pISCARP IT. IF NOT.
KNOCKING FAGANS,
IF-YOU SEE HOLES
CLOGS, D/SCARP
THE FILTER.
limited judging activities but
all the animals will be in
their stalls and pens. The
sponsors of the exposition,
the Pennsylvania Livestock
and Allied Industries
Association in cooperation
with the Pennsylvania
Department of Agriculture,
have designated this eay as
“Family Day” and invite
everyone to the Farm Show.
For this - and all events at
the Keystone International -
there is no admission charge
and plenty of free parking.
Throughout the balance of
the week, judging will be
going on simultaneously for
four separate species.
Horses and beef cattle
classes will each take a half
of the huge Main Arena.
Swine classes will be in the
Small Arena and sheep
judging will take place in a
specially constructed corral
in the main exhibition hall.
Evening events are limited
to horses with three con
secutive nights of open horse
shows: Quarter horses on
Sunday, Arabians on
Monday and Appaloosas on
Tuesday. Thursday and
Friday will bring hundreds
of district qualifiers to the
Pennsylvania State 4-H
Horse Show.
lew Negiey-Miller Silos
silo blowers
conveyors
barn cleaners
calf stalls
free stalls
cow mats
barn fans
Ritchie water fountains
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, Nov. 9,1974 —
rosemary, sage, thyme and Camomile flowers. Mix a
single teaspoon of this mixture into a cup of boiling water,
drink it as warm as you can stand it and you’ll find
yourself refreshed and clearheaded.
Commercial herbal teas are becoming so popular these
days that there may be some scarcity in upcoming
months, says Mo Siegel, the head of Celestial Seasonings,
Inc., of Boulder, Colorado.
“The problem is that people can’t make any money
harvesting it,” he said.
“Right now we’re trying to develop ways for farmers to
easily harvest red raspberry or strawberry leaves.
“Think of how many leaves it takes to make a cup or
pound or ton of herbal tea and you’ll realize the problem
we face. If these problems are not solved and solved
quickly, there are going to be real shortages.”
Already many enthusiasts are supplementing
storebought varieties with herbs they pick themselves.
But no matter which you use, there are several points to
remember about brewing herbal tea. The first, of course,
is to always use properly prepared herbs and spices.
Always use an earthenware or ceramic teapot. Metals
seem to do something drastic to the flavor. Before star
ting, make sure the teapot is clean. Swish it out with
boiling water.
Finally, infuse your herb tea between 10 and IS minutes
before serving to insure full flavor. Too short a time
results in a weak brew that doesn’t give the impact herbal
teas should have.
I started drinking coffee when I went to college, at about
the age of 18. For over 20 years, I drank three to five cups
each and every day. Several years ago, I turned to herbal
teas for pleasure. Since then I’ve found myself relaxed
and able to work just as efficiently without depending
upon coffee.
Invest in good herbal tea the next time you go shopping.
Or, put a comer of your garden in herbs next growing
season. You’ll get hooked-not on caffeine but on taste.
(Editor’s Note: The opinions appearing in “Organic
Living” are those of its author, Robert Hodale, an in
dependent columnist. Rodale’s comments do not
necessarily reflect the thinking of the Lancaster Farming
editor or anyone else on the Lancaster Farming staff.)
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