Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme

Ah, those words, if you were a teenager in the 60's, have a certain resonance of Mr Simon and Mr Garfunkel, but more of that in a moment.

I have been a bit saucy this week - I made my Rutlandshire Sauce which is exactly like the other sauce that comes from a bit further North than here, you know the one I mean. I totally forgot to take any photographs for you and I have been umm-ing and ah-ing over whether to divulge the recipe or not. I will think it over for a bit longer and let you know.

The other splendid sauce made this week was my Everyday Brown Sauce. I first made this in the Autumn last year because we had a veg box at that time which had a lot of those space age looking veg - kohl rabi. I didn't want to cook and eat as many as we were receiving, so looked on-line for a recipe to use them up. Turns out they are really popular in Europe, like really popular, and made into all sorts of dishes. I was more interested in the sauce recipe I found as it used a lot of the kohl rabi and another vegetable I had a lot of - turnips. A double whammy. I made the sauce and really loved it - it was H-ighly P-iquant if you take my meaning, very like its popular commercial counterpart.

I thought that I would make some more this week as a customer had asked for some - and I realised I had run out. One problem with that though, or two really, no kohl rabi, or turnips for that matter.  I remembered when I was researching recipes that kohl rabi  is a member of the cabbage family, like a swollen cabbage stalk, so I thought white cabbage would do the job. I had a butternut squash so I used that for the turnip and the sauce turned out really, really tasty. So the original recipe can now be made all year round interchanging the vegetables. I can't emphasise enough how tasty this sauce is and I am sure it would be H-ugely P-opular with you too!

It has been a lovely weekend, weather wise, chez Rosie, if a little windy (gale force!) and I have been out gardening for the first time this year. Now, the first few days of gardening for me, in any year, always involve doing the things that didn't get done at the end of last year. So there has been some tidying up, and some cutting back, especially of the woody herbs. I didn't want to waste them so decided to make a couple of herb wreaths. Who doesn't like a wreath? They are not just for Christmas. In my mind preserving is not just about jams and chutneys and the like. It is about not wasting what we have by using in whatever way possible.

I had cuttings of Rosemary, Sage, Wormwood, Curry Plant and Lemon Thyme - what type of herb you have doesn't matter. Take off any damaged leaves and scraggly bits.

You will need a wreath base - I make mine quite easily at the end of the year when I cut back our honeysuckle. I make the vines into a circle , twisting them as I go - they are still soft and pliable when newly cut. They harden as they dry out and make surprisingly strong wreaths. You can also buy twig wreaths or wire wreath shapes - any will do.

Trim the cuttings to a similar length, but not too short at this stage.

Make a small bunch of one of each type of herb using the woody ones at the back to provide support.

Tie the bunches with string or raffia leaving long tails as shown. Make the bunches until the herbs are used up - you will need 10+ for each wreath, depending on the size of the bunches and the wreath

Tie the bunches onto the wreath, overlapping slightly to hide the string/raffia. Don't cut off the ends yet - tie down the overlapping bunch at the top with these, just one stalk will be enough, it stops the bunch swiveling round or dropping down.

Continue tying on the bunches until the wreath is filled. Add a ribbon hanging loop and you're done. Here are the two I made today -would make a great present if you are going for supper to friends, or as a birthday present

They smell great too!