Visit Us at The Healthy Living Fair
On Saturday, September 26th YUF will be at the The Healthy Living Fair at the Fairlawn Neighbourhood Centre (28 Fairlawn Ave - map) from 10AM - 1PM. Bring your kids and let your friends know about it. We will have some activities for children to learn more about gardening and plant life. For more details and a list of other groups who will be there click here (PDF file)

Warm Up with Some Herbal Tea
By Chris Wong, Your YUF Farmer, adapted from the book Herbal Tea Gardens, by Marietta Marshall Marcin
From your YUF garden: Mint, Cilantro Seeds, Other Herbs
Brewing your own herbal tea can be one of the most pleasurable treats you can have from growing your own herbs. Besides keeping you feeling refreshed and alert, herbs have a variety of medicinal properties as well that can transfer over to you as you create your own herbal tea. Brewing your own herbal tea is a simple process, and something that you will get better at with practice, as you experiment with an almost endless variety of combinations of herbs and brewing methods.

How to Brew Tea:

Herbal teas are brewed by two basic methods - infusion, and decoction. Infusion means steeping and soaking the herbs in boiling water to bring out the oils and flavours over time and decoction means extracting the compounds of the herbs by boiling. Infusion is best used for leaves, petals, and flowers, while decoction is used for seeds, roots, and bark.

Patience is critical in brewing tea, in allowing enough time for the flavourful oils to be released into the water. Unlike traditional tea, herbal tea does not get darker as it gets stronger. Your sense of taste will be the best gauge of how strong your tea is. For a stronger flavor, use more herbs, not more time, for if you leave the herbs to steep too long, it can release tannic acid which isn't so good for your stomach.

Basic Infusion Tea Recipe:

• 1 cup water to 1 tsp dried herbs or 3 tsp fresh herbs
• Steep for at least 5 min, up to 30 minutes to extract more of the herbs' medicinal properties
• Strain and serve
• Do not boil the herbs as the oils (flavors and medicinal properties) will evaporate with it

• 2 cups water to 1 Tbsp seeds or 1 tsp dried roots
• Bring the water to a boil over high heat, add the seeds, reduce the temperature and simmer gently for -5 - 10 minutes for seeds or around 20 minutes for roots.
• Strain and serve

Recipe: Candied Mint Leaves
From your YUF garden: Mint or Basil

1. Fresh mint leaves
2. Egg white, slightly beaten
3. 3 tbsp granulated sugar
4. 1 drop spearmint extract/essence (food-grade); omit if using basil

1. Prepare the mint leaves. Remove the mint leaves from the stems and rub each leaf gently with a finger that has been dipped in the egg white mixture. Lay on a flat, clean working surface.
2. Mix the drop of spearmint extract into the granulated sugar.
3. Sift the sugar and mint extract mixture over the mint leaves.
4. Lay the mint leaves close together on a cake rack covered with wax paper.
5. Leave in a warm but not hot place to dry. When crisp, the candied mint leaves are ready to consume.