15 Herbs that grow in water, guest blogger

The sky is so blue and there is a gentle breeze, it's warm enough to comfortably work outside, but  there is 5 inches of snow on the ground and more is coming ...... looking at seed catalogs, and filling tiny flower pots with potting soil is just not enough to express my Spring Fever. But this could help.

 

 

 

Healthy Garden Living

Home Uncategorized 15 Kitchen Herbs & Vegetables You Can Regrow in a Mason Jar of Water

Uncategorized

15 Kitchen Herbs & Vegetables You Can Regrow in a Mason Jar of Water

7fxueupdated on February 19, 2026

Herbs That Root in Water — But Prefer Soil Later

These can start in water, but eventually benefit from being potted.

Cilantro

• Roots slowly
• Tends to bolt (flower quickly)
• Move to soil once roots develop

Parsley

• Slow to root
• Stronger and fuller when transplanted to soil

Rosemary

• Can take 4–6 weeks to root
• Prone to rot in standing water
• Change water frequently

Thyme

• More difficult in water
• Roots better in damp soil than submerged

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Vegetables That Regrow from Scraps in Water

These are some of the most satisfying kitchen regrowth experiments.

Green Onion (Scallion)

• The easiest of all
• Stand root end in water
• New growth appears within days
• Harvest repeatedly

Watercress

• Semi-aquatic plant
• Can thrive in water indefinitely
• Loves bright light

Leek

• Regrows from base
• Produces small harvests
• Eventually benefits from soil

Celery

• Regrows leaves from base
• Will not form full stalks without soil

Romaine Lettuce

• Regrows a few leaves from the core
• Growth becomes thin and bitter over time
• Best transferred to soil early

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Starts in Water, Needs Soil for Real Harvest

Ginger

• Fresh rhizome can sprout in water
• Must be potted to develop a usable harvest
• Prefers warm conditions

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Essential Care Tips

• Change water every 2–3 days to prevent rot.
• Use clean jars to reduce bacteria buildup.
• Place in bright, indirect sunlight.
• Remove any yellowing or decaying leaves immediately.
• Avoid submerging leaves — only stems or root bases should sit in water.

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What to Expect (Realistic Results)

Growing in water is excellent for:

• Small, frequent harvests
• Reducing food waste
• Learning propagation basics
• Keeping fresh herbs within reach

However:

• Water-grown plants lack nutrients found in soil.
• Growth may slow over time.
• Large harvests require potting in soil.

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Why It Works

Many herbs naturally root at nodes (small bumps along stems). When placed in water, those nodes activate root growth.

Vegetable bases like onions and leeks already contain stored energy in their root systems — allowing them to regenerate new green shoots quickly.

It’s simple plant biology — not magic.

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Final Thoughts

Regrowing herbs and vegetables in water is:

• Budget-friendly
• Low effort
• Satisfying
• Great for small spaces

With just a mason jar and a bright kitchen window, you can turn scraps into something living and useful.

It won’t replace a full garden.

But it will give you fresh flavor, a touch of greenery, and the quiet joy of watching something grow.

 

George Harrison

 

The Heirloom Gardener - John Forti

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The History Drop 

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1970. George Harrison stands at the gates of Friar Park, staring at what everyone else calls a catastrophe.

The Victorian mansion is rotting. Grass pushes through floorboards inside. The estate's gardens, once the pride of England, have gone feral. Collapsed greenhouses. Buried grottoes. Pathways strangled by decades of neglect.

He's 27 years old. The Beatles just ended. He could go anywhere, do anything. The world is waiting for his next move.

He buys the wreck and decides to dig in the dirt.

Not as a weekend hobby. As a life. He hires ten gardeners and works alongside them, dawn to midnight, covered in soil. His sister-in-law takes one look at the estate and asks what he's thinking. George doesn't try to explain. He just keeps digging.

His son Dhani grows up watching his father work by moonlight, squinting in the shadows because darkness hides the imperfections that would bother him during the day. The music industry keeps calling. They want albums. Tours. More of George Harrison the Beatle.

He wants to plant trees.

Friar Park isn't just a garden. It's an eccentric's fever dream from the 1890s. Caves. Underground tunnels. A four-acre Alpine rock garden with a scale Matterhorn on top. Garden gnomes everywhere. He photographs himself among them for All Things Must Pass, then goes back to pruning.

When a nurseryman mentions slow sales, George buys one of everything in the shop. When someone offers 800 varieties of maples, he takes them all. His wife Olivia remembers him saying, "It's not my garden, Liv." He sees himself as a custodian. The garden doesn't belong to him. He belongs to it.

By 1980, he publishes his autobiography and dedicates it "to gardeners everywhere." He writes that he's simple. Doesn't want the business full-time. He's a gardener. He plants flowers and watches them grow.

Journalists visit and call it un-rock-star-ish. George doesn't flinch. He'd lived through Beatlemania, screamed into stadiums, changed culture. He found it hollow compared to restoring topiary.

After John Lennon's murder, the gates lock forever. George and Olivia keep working. Not for visitors. For the work itself.

He dies in 2001. The gardens are now considered masterpieces of Victorian landscaping. Olivia still tends them at Friar Park. The estate stays private.

George Harrison chose dirt under his fingernails over applause. And in that choice, he found something the stadiums never gave him. Freedom.

 

winter, randomly random images

 

MAPLE SYRUP, sugarhouse, a snowstorm...

THIS HAS BEEN A COLD AND SNOWY WINTER, MUCH LIKE THOSE I REMEMBER FROM CHILDHOOD.  ANOTHER CHILDHOOD  MEMORY WAS THE SUNDAY DRIVE TO BUY MAPLE SYRUP AT A  "SUGARHOUSE", THEY WEREN'T HARD TO FIND, BUT THE DRIVE ON UNTENDED BACKWOODS DIRT ROADS, COULD BE A REAL ADVENTURE.  MAPLE SYRUP, REAL MAPLE SYRUP, NOT THE STUFF FROM 'THE MARKET 

 IS FLAVORLESS, WAS WORTH IT.

A PLATE OF FRESHLY HOMEMADE ENGLISH MUFFINS, KNOWING THAT A MAJOR SNOWFALL WAS IS FORECAST FOR  TO NIGHT, WELL THAT WAS ENOUGH, OFF WE WENT TO FIND A "SUGARHOUSE".  IF THERE WERE ANY STILL IN THIS AREA. 

SUNSET COMES AT  ALMOST 6pm NOW, A GOOD THING BECAUSE THAT IS WHEN WE SPOTTED THE BILLOWING CLOUDS OF STEAM CAME FROM A BUILDING THAT LOOKED LIKE IT WAS  AN OLD TYME MOTORCYCLE GARAGE, WHICH WAS ONCE. THE SUGERER EXPLAINED THAT IT WAS FOR A VERY LONG TIME AGO, BUILT IN THE 1920'S! 

FIXING IT UP AND MAKING SYRUP  P WAS HIS DREAM FOR THE SMALL FARM IT WAS BUILT ON.   WE BOUGHT SOME  MAPLES SUGAR, AND SOME  REALLY STICKY MAPLE CANDY, AND A FINE  MASON JAR FILLED TO THE TOP WITH DARK MAPLE  SYRUP.  BY THE TIME  THE SUN HAD SET AND NIGHT WAS TAKING OVER WE WERE WELL ON OUR WAY HOME, WHEN THE FIRST FLAKES BEGAN TO DRIFT DOWN. 

A SNOW FLAKE HERE AND A  SNOWFLAKE HERE SPARKLED IN THEN HEADLIGHTS. IT WAS GOOD TO GET HOME, GOOD TO FEEL THE WARMTH OF THE OLD COAL STOVE AND GOOD TO ENJOY A FRESH English MUFFIN, WITH FRESH MAPLE SYRUP AND SOME NEW MEMORIES.

SWEET DREAMS!

  

barredwoodsmaple.com

The Old Sugarhouse

4–5 minutesthe stories from 

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The old sugarhouse still sits peacefully in the woods, its joints creaking with the wind, its wood slowly decaying as young maple trees grow up around it. The first picture was taken in the 1960's and the second picture was taken last week.

The sugarhouse was built by Harvey’s father, Wilfrid. He bought the land it sits on in 1941. The property was a very old farm with various outbuildings that were in disrepair. The sugarhouse was built shortly after Wilfrid purchased the land with lumber that was salvaged from the old buildings.

Wilfrid started out with buckets, a wood fired arch, and no electricity.  He gathered the sap with two sturdy work horses that followed voice commands.  Several local workers helped Wilfrid with sugaring, but two men, Richard “Keiser” Elkins & Cat Lumbra were his main help.  Keiser & Cat were known as tough, hard-working men. Anyone trying to keep up with them for the day had their work cut out for them.  Keiser was the person who would issue the commands to the work horses during gathering times.

Boiling was an art and a science during this time (as it still is today). The time to draw-off the perfect syrup was gauged by holding up a scoop of hot syrup and having it drip off the scoop. When the syrup was ready it would fall off the scoop in sheets just the right way.  It took a lot of experience to judge this exact moment.  

Wilfrid married Bea in 1945. Bea joined in helping with the maple business. Bea would cook meals for the men and help with cleaning the sap filters. The sap filters were washed in the cold brook next to the sugar house to remove any niter and then they were finished washing with an old wringer washer to complete the job. Niter is a suspension of minerals and other solids that precipitate out of the sap during the boiling process.

The family time in the sugar house was the best time. Boiling eggs and hot dogs in the sap, serving hearty hot meals after a long day gathering sap, family visiting from New York & Canada, and cousins playing hide & seek in the woods. Springtime in northern Vermont was a celebration of the end of the very long, cold winter and the promise of warm sunny days to come.

Wilfred was an early adopter of sugaring technology. In the mid 1960’s the Chaffee’s began using plastic bags for collecting sap instead of buckets. These bags were hung on the spout that was attached to the tree and were pear shaped. They had a narrow neck and bulb shaped bottom. There was a problem with these bags. When the sap would freeze in the bags you couldn’t get the sap out through the narrow neck.  Latter that decade the Chaffees added tubing, electricity, a vacuum system, and an oil burning arch.  In 1965 Wilfrid was honored by being named Sugar Maker of the Year.  The sugarhouse was last used in the early 1970's. Today Harvey and Lisa have their house on this hallowed property.

A lot has changed in sugaring in the last 80 years since this sugarhouse was built, but a lot has stayed the same. The thrill of that first run of sap, the sweet smell of steam filling the sugarhouse, the taste of syrup fresh off the evaporator, the first daffodil sprouts poking their heads through the spring snow, and finally the sound of spring peepers in the pond, signaling the end of sugaring is getting near.  Sugaring still connects us with the rhythm of the seasons.  We think Wilfrid and Bea would be proud knowing we at Barred Woods are carrying on the sugaring tradition.  

 

A few words about Grandma's Kitchen and a recipe from shop class

  One day I asked AI to make an image of my grandparents house, as i have none.  My  readers night have noted these are the images that are part of my last years Thanksgiving post. While not exactly like the house or the kitchen, they are strikingly close.  So my idea was made to use them in posts for recipes.  And some recipes will be new-er like this one which a friend's son brought home from shop class, shop class???

 

 

 

Shop class Star crunch cookies! 

 

1 c. semi-sweet chocolate  chips

 1/2c caramel ships

4c mini marshmallows

4Tbsp butter

#c. Rice Crispies {any brand}

 

-line a  baking sheet with a silicone mat of parchment paper

 

-in a microwave safe bowl, microwave in 30 second intervals until they can be stirred into a smooth consistency

 

-add marshmallows to bowl of melted chips and butter stir well and microwave for about 45 sec, you may need to  microwave them for longer, stir  until smooth

 

-stir in rice crispiest, mix until well combined, then allow to cool for a few minutes

 

-use a small scoop  sprayed with no-stick spray, also spray your hands, scoop  up some of the mixture and roll it into a ball, flatten into a patty shape and place on mat or parchment paper to cool and harden.

 

-respray your hand{s} and/or scoop when needed 

 

enjoy!!!!

 

  

 

 

 

haiku~~wonder or wander~

 

 

silver dollar snowflakes

my first night in a new town

wonder or wander  

how many faces do you see????

 This is one of those photos  one usually deletes, it does not show the image i was trying to capture of large, seriously large, icicles on the side of a road-cut.  That happens when one presses the shutter button on an cheap,old, digital camera while riding in a car that is traveling at 55mph, in a rainstorm and AFTER seeing the giant icicles.

But...big but....when i was previewing the images  i got, deciding which ones stay and which ones go, a voice over my shoulder remarked, "how many faces are in the picture?"  "Faces? what?"  So, i looked and it didn't take much to find a large Aztec warrior, in the center of the photo. after that i needed a guide, and my guide found 3 more.  Poor me i found no more.

 

 

 

 

Pareidolia is a phenomenon wherein people perceive likenesses on random images—such as faces, animals, or objects on clouds and rock formations. 

 

 Try as i might, I have never been very good at seeing those faces  or spotting those shapes everyone else sees.  Pareidolia  is believed to be a survival skill our early ancestors developed.   

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