Our first herb harvest this summer

I've mentioned recently that we've been studying herbs. Even before knowing exactly what to do with them all (we still don't), we sowed them in our garden. The rest is forced learning. When harvest time came, we learned the "how to harvest and store" step.

Step one: herbs are best harvested in the morning. They are at there most potent at this time.

The kids and I headed down to harvest some herbs after breakfast one morning. There were a bunch! Some (eh, all) of this is still trial and error. I was hoping I didn't over harvest any of it like last year. That ended the plant's growth early = sad! (Note: it doesn't look like I did... I'm grateful to have learned that lesson last year!)

Step two: rinse and prep. Tornado was a big helper in pulling the leaves off the stalks and putting them on the dehydrator screens (only one of several ways I could have done it... I did it differently the second time... and may try something else next time... I could have left them on the stems too, and removed them after dehydrating... that would have been easier I think!)

Step three: dehydrate. I labeled each tray just in case I forgot. Then I set it to work. I don't have a pic of the finished product, but they all looked nice and dry when they were finally done! :)

They now each reside in a sealed glass jar. Someday they will be labeled in a cute way and will have a permanent home (not randomly taking up what little counter space I have.)