I've been away from my own home for so long this year and I missed making food from what I can grow on our small piece of land or buy fresh at the local markets.

When i came back, my herb garden was definitely in need of some attention. Some of my herbs had been crowded out by weeds, some had gotten spindly for lack of pruning, but others had absolutely exploded. With these, it was the perfect opportunity to harvest a little crop and dry the herbs for future use. There were other bundles of herbs I had hung to dry before I left and they were now finished and ready to use.

I simply cut off trimmings of my herbs, wash them thoroughly, tie the ends together with a rubber band, and hang them at the top of one of our cabinets, where it is cool and they get good air circulation. When they are dry and brittle, I take the leaves off the stems, crush them into smaller pieces, and place them in containers until I need them in a recipe.

It's always a lovely feeling to cook with something I grew and processed myself, and drying herbs is such a simple way to do that.