Sometimes, you know, I dream of having my own garden.  Full of beautiful flowers, herbs, vegetables, and fruits.  I want to wear a floppy hat, gardening gloves, and spend time outside, tending it with careful hands.  We currently live in an apartment, so I have yet to start a garden of my own.

Actually so far I have been unsuccessful keeping indoor plants alive.
So, we have room to grow… pun intended?

This past week, while visiting my gem-of-a-Mom, she showed me how to make a swell cup of tea, with fresh ingredients – some of which come from her flower garden.

I love mom-visits.

We talk about important-life-things, or talk about silly-nothing-things.  It doesn’t really matter, we just like to hang out. We have strange pet names for each other, like Honeycomb and Chedda-biscuit… it’s weird, I know.
We sip wine together – maybe that’s where the names come from.   Anyway.. she’s just a crazy fun gal, I call mom:)

When Leah and I were little, she was a stay at home mom.  I loved that, and still thank her for it.
Our memories are full of coloring book times, making meals together, couch times reciting the alphabet or counting from 1-100 to her, over and over because I needed to practice…(sorry mom),  playing hand clapping games, learning new songs, brushing her hair (as though she was our barbie), watching movies, or running through the sprinkler outside while she tended her garden.

Then there were the days we helped her with her garden. It’s amazing the difference when you’re younger – I hated gardening.

I hated the bugs, the weeds, the heat..the bugs.  Ugh.

I vividly remember being chased by a HUGE hornet, while trying to pick corn.  I was only 10 yrs old. It chased me around the house twice, I’m not even kidding.
My dog thought it was a race. My neighbor thought it was funny. And my mom just kept saying “run Glorie, run!”  I never ran so fast in my life.

Did I say I hated gardening?   Yea.

But now, it would be different – as an adult and all.  A garden is something to care for, to nurture, and you get to see the fruit of your labor –  seriously, full of puns today.

So this cup of tea she made –  oh man, it was a cup of tea.
But here’s the cool part – no tea bag or anything.  She simply made her Ginger Lavender Infused Honey, and that’s all she used.

You can use powdered ginger or fresh ginger.  Cut some lavender from your garden, dry it out, and add both of these to the honey:)
You just mix it into a mug of hot water! The taste of ginger and lavender really pops, with nice sweet notes from the honey.

She had a bountiful supply of lavender, and asked me to pick some to take home.
Don’t mind if I do:)


I set them out to dry on my dining table, and will be making my own batch of Ginger Lavender Infused Honey very soon.

Thanks Mom, I love you!

from my Tiny Kitchen,
glorieanna