Oregano grows in one of the high tunnels. If you chew a fresh leaf, it tastes entirely different than dried or cooked oregano. It's spicy, with a clean, fresh, minty aftertaste.
The soil in the Big Tunnel is dark brown and fluffy. This comes after several hard-fought years of being worked and amended. In the back corner of the tunnel, there’s a patch of oregano. Swirling my fingers around the plants to smote weeds before they even have a chance to sprout has a hypnotic effect. Sifting the earth, brushing the leaves, and releasing that soothing, oregano aroma almost sinks me in a trance.
Herbs are one of the best things about the farm, or any garden, from backyard havens to windowsill setups. Not only are they food and medicine, they’re an experience wholly removed from the speed of daily life. The aroma of a fresh herb tethers you to the moment, whether standing at the kitchen counter with sprigs of rosemary, or steeping a cup of mint tea.
Catching a whiff of fresh basil returns me to early mornings in a high tunnel, the sun pale yellow through the plastic. Shifting through the bright green plants and pinching the tender stems has a heady effect. It’s beautiful, but powerful, filling the air in the tunnel and testifying to the strength of plants, to help heal, to alter, or even to harm. My time on the farm, and filling my body with fresh herbs and produce, gives me a respect for plants, and an appreciation of their role on the planet and in a human’s daily health.
In an essay, cookbook author Olia Hercules wrote that herbs have a way of “freshening you up from within.” Hercules wrote about how certain cultures eat herbs as if they were vegetables, not just treating them as garnishes.
This idea was new and intriguing. It led me to put big handfuls of fresh herbs in soups and other foods. Yesterday, making a creamy soup, I blended in a heap of fresh oregano. It was the star of the bowl, the flavor smoothly pulling all the other vegetables together. And it created a small, warm pocket of a moment. A gift from the soil to us.
~ Stella