My Secret Garden

I love my little backyard. 

I'm a low-maintenance kind of girl (at least when it comes to gardening) and I love stuff that comes back year after year regardless of the weather and care it gets.  My roses will win no prizes because of this - they sometimes get pruned and that's about all I can manage, but for some reason they keep blooming for me and I'm thankful.  I have tried to get the clematis to climb better than it does, but really I'm just glad it is still there.

For edible stuff we have strawberries, oregano, rosemary, lavender, mint and thyme.  Usually we have tomatoes and basil, but I haven't gotten around to planting those yet this year.

I love having fresh herbs in the garden and they have grown like crazy.  With all this bounty I have to find creative ways to use them.  Coming from the South, of course I love my sweet tea - so I came up with an herbal sweet tea that's a little different.

I use a handful of thyme, a whole bunch of mint and one smallish sprig of rosemary.  Boil up a big pot of water, add the tea bags and throw in the herbs.  Let them steep until the tea is whatever strength you like it (I usually do about 10 minutes).  Remove the tea bags and rosemary sprig (the rosemary seems to make it bitter if you leave it in too long) and let the mint and thyme sit for a while longer (maybe another 10 minutes or so depending on how minty you want it to be or how long before you remember to go back!).

Add honey to taste.  (I have tried regular sugar to sweeten it when I'd run out of honey, but the taste is not nearly as good.)  Cool, add ice and enjoy!