Sage: A Multifunctional Herb.

Sage

A multifunctional herb

It is the 10th of January 2013. The snow here in Michigan hasn't been that heavy this year, in fact, these last 3 days have been in the forties. I go out on the back porch which overlooks my little rustic fenced in piece of earth. I look out to it, there is still snow there, but wait, what's this, there is something sticking out of the snow...

Sage, {also known as Salvia officinalis to, uhh, scientists? Wizards?) is a very hardy perennial. I actually found out it was a perennial the year after I planted it next to my oregano. It came back! This year I only harvested about half of the plant, I left some stalks with leaves, and look, there they are, still green. Well, I wouldn't call it green. Lavender? Lilac? Anyways, point is, there are still leaves there. Sage is a very hardy plant. Hold on, I'll be right back...

Alright, after some research, I found this out about the plant: Sage is native to the Mediterranian. It was used heavily in the Old World during the Middle Ages, for many medicinal purposes, one being part of a solution used to help with the Black Plague. In modern times it has even been used to help with Alzheimer's. It was used used to banish evil spirits. In fact, modern spiritualists still use it to banish evil spirits, they burn bundles of it around access points to a new home, a practice called "smudging".

So, with all this in mind, I am thinking about expanding my sage crop this year. Instead of my one plant, which a few spiritualist friend of mine always want, maybe I will have a whole section dedicated to this multifunctional plant. Maybe turn it into a cash crop. I could FINALLY sell it to those spiritualist friends. Maybe sell some to the local butcher, they could use it to make sausages. Perhaps, there are some holistic neighbors I don't know about, a little stand at the end of my quarter mile driveway will introduce me to some of the locals.

Who knows, maybe some day, my sage will be found next to a fellow Scots-Irishman's product. You know, goes by the name McCormick. Yeah, right. Hey, it is good to dream. Just like having the novel on the shelf between Dean R. Koontz and Stephen King. Alright, if it was alphabetical it would be after both of them, but you know what I am saying.

Well, I am signing off the Sage Page for now. I will be back to edit, add, whatever later.

----1/12/13----

Well, another day of unseasonably warm weather here in Michigan. 54 degrees. All the snow has melted. I even took a walk out to the garden area and looked at my lonely sage plant. Still there with its purplish leaves, drooping and slightly withered. How hardy!

The main reason I am adding to this page today, is because recently I posted a link to a seed company on Facebook, one that also sells tobacco seeds. I made the comment how I was thinking about making a cash crop of sage and perhaps grow tobacco. Well, I had three comments under it. One was a friend from high school who said she would by 'thieves oil' from me. Another comment was from a friend in the Upper Pen who said sage would be a big seller up that way because the Native American Indians do a lot of ceremonies using herbs (now that I think about it, maybe she was talking about the tobacco?). The last comment was from an ex-coworker telling me he would buy tobacco seeds if I got some.

So, now I have some more researching to do. I briefly looked up 'thieves oil'. It is actually called 'four thieves vinegar'. I guess it is a very potent anti-bacterial substance. I will further my research and post more here. Maybe, think of a way of identifying each item I post, for instance, this would be a 'medicinal' recipe. I will also research a new age act involving sage called smudging. I will find a way to identify this under 'religion'. Also, in one of my garden shows, there is a way of cooking sage leaves, I guess they are really bitter eaten fresh, but if deep fried in oil, it takes this away and gives them a nutty flavor, an item like this I would identify as 'culinary'.

Alright, signing off the sage page again. I will be back soon with loads of info!