Creating Catnip Mousies with Dried Herbs

Reader Contribution by Blythe Pelham
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One of the great joys I have in gardening edibles is preserving them for use during the restful wintertime. Beside the jars of canned goodies (salsa, preserves, butters, and such), the bins of root veggies (potatoes, sweet potatoes, and garlic), the haul in the fridge (carrots and cabbage) and freezer (frozen cilantro and pesto), I dry a variety of herbs.

At the top of the list of dried, must-haves in order to survive the winter, are mint and chamomile for my tea each morning. Also high on the list is sage for those wintertime pork roasts. At the urging of a dear friend, I’ve begun to steep some of my other cooking herbs in my tea. I feel a whole new adventure in next years gardening opening up as I add more herbs to the mix!

Because I want to leave room for instructions below for making a catnip toy, I’ll tell you that my final dried herb for this blog is catnip or catmint (Nepeta Cataria). I’ll admit to having a dickens of a time growing my own. When I tried indoors, the cats nibbled it to death before it grew large enough to dry. Growing it outdoors hasn’t proven any easier since we have a fair amount of wandering neighborhood cats who insist on frequenting our wildlife-friendly garden. I’ll try again, but will have to cage it to keep it safe.

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