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Bee Balm – A Beautiful Garden Herb Called Oswego Tea

Bee balm is a perennial herb, Monarda didyma, that is native to North America. It’s a member of the mint family, Lamiaceae. Bee balm is a plant that grows best in damp habitats, adjacent to rivers and back waters, near springs and ponds. It is naturally found in wetland areas, thickets and fields.

Stiff, square stems grow three to five feet tall. The large, opposite leaves are a few inches long and oval to lance-shaped with a long-pointed tip. The terminal flowers are arranged in a composite flower head. The tubular flowers appear to have two lips with one tube pointing upward and the other pointing down. Long stamens protrude beyond the brightly colored blossoms. The odd crimson and scarlet flowers attract butterflies and hummingbirds. The bracts that lie just beneath the flower heads are maroon or reddish.

The natural blooming period is late spring through summer. When cultivating bee balm in a garden, it can be forced to bloom twice a year. When the first leaf begins to turn yellow after the blooming is complete, cut the plants down to just a few inches tall. The plants will grow again to bloom in the fall.

Bee balm is cultivated in herb gardens for a source of herbal tea leaves and as a very attractive flowering plant. It can be a very successful garden plant when planted in full sun. It’s popularly planted to attract butterflies and hummingbirds.

Bee balm is also known as Oswego Tea. During the colonial period in early America colonists became angry at having to pay high tariffs and high taxes. The Boston Tea Party was an event where English tea was dumped overboard in the Boston harbor as colonists rebelled against excessive tariffs on imported goods. Native Americans, in the region that was to become New York State, made an herbal tea with bee balm. Although the herbal tea was used by Native Americans for treating coughs, colds, fevers, stomach-ache and other maladies, the colonists adopted it as a replacement for English tea.

Bee balm is also called ‘Sonoran oregano’ because the dried leaves can be substituted for oregano in cooking. The crushed leaves have a peppery flavor that is great for stews, bean dishes, pasta and pizza sauce. Native American tribes of the Southwest, such as the Pueblo and Zuni, use fresh leaves in salads in the spring and summer and dried leaves as a spice in the winter.…

What’s That You’re Drinking?

Choosing the right beverage to consume every day can mean the difference between health and illness. It sounds so dramatic but it’s true; healthy beverage choice is important. Put down that soda and pay pop is not good for you, for a number of reasons. First of all, anything that has either diet sweetener or high fructose corn syrup needs to go. Nobody loses weight by drinking diet sodas and yes, there have been studies done about that. Second, artificial sweeteners are bad for you, especially the top two: aspartame and sucralose. Beyond that, the other ingredients in sodas are chemicals used in floor polish (makes the bubbles pretty) and other nasty things. As if that weren’t enough to horrify most unsuspecting consumers, there is the problem of bone leaching that occurs due to the high phosphorus content.

Try something that is actually good for you, like iced green tea. No, not the sweetened, chemicalized …stuff they sell at the store. Get yourself some green tea bags and make some at home. If you must use a sweetener, use stevia or raw honey, but try to go without as soon as you can. Try iced herbal teas as well and add a sprig of peppermint to spice it up a bit. Of course, you could just buy the peppermint tea bags. Peppermint is wonderful for those who have a lax lower esophageal sphincter (the valve between stomach and esophagus). The condition known as GERD (Gastro-Esophageal Reflux Disease) is often helped by peppermint. No, that doesn’t mean that eating peppermint patties is a good idea. Boy, I really have to keep my eyes on you guys, don’t I?

If you have to do something to fool yourself into thinking that what you are drinking is ‘special’ then freeze some fruit into your ice cubes so you have something pretty to look at while you’re swirling the ice around in your tea. Even easier is the idea of putting some lemon or lime slices in your water glass, which is very healthy. You can also put a splash of fruit juice into your water, but that means about a tablespoon, not half the glass. The problem with fruit juice is that it too has too many additives and it is very high in sugar. One glass of orange juice has LOTS or oranges in it-way more than anyone should consume at any one time. Not only that; high fructose corn syrup has made it into juice now because it’s much cheaper than sugar. When you realize that people have turned themselves into diabetics in less than two months by swilling drinks with corn syrup in them, you might realize that this is a serious problem.

Drinking lots of coffee isn’t a good idea either. Choose something to drink that is both healthy and non-dangerous if you imbibe a whole lot of it. Of course, even water is dangerous if you drink gallons of it (it dilutes the blood) but most of us couldn’t drink that much water. Ah…I just heard my father’s voice in my head: “Water! Hell no-it pollutes the pipes!” Dad was joking of course and the joke was in reference to having a martini or water. Just find something to drink that you like, is healthy for you, and hydrates the body properly. We are, according to a Star Trek episode, “big ugly-looking bags of mostly water.”

A�2010 Dr.Valerie Olmsted All Rights Reserved…