Eileens Edibles

06/12/2026

Thai Peanut Noodles with Pork.

06/10/2026

You light the edge of a single dried leaf, and for just a moment before you blow out the flame, it glows orange like a secret being told. Then comes the smoke—thin, aromatic, purposeful. What happens next isn't mystical. It's molecular.

The compound responsible is linalool, the same one lavender leans on for its reputation. When a bay leaf smolders, linalool vaporizes and drifts into the air you're breathing. Your body recognizes it immediately. Cortisol levels begin to fall. That clenched feeling behind your sternum starts to unwind. It's the same physiological shift you'd get from ten minutes of focused breathwork, except you're just sitting there watching a leaf turn to ash.

The ancient Greeks weren't being flowery when they wove bay laurel into crowns for poets and scholars. They were administering a botanical intervention. Clear mind, steady heart, less noise in the head. They didn't have the language we have now for stress hormones, but they knew what worked. Temples burned bay. Oracles breathed it in. It wasn't ceremony for ceremony's sake.

You can do this in your bedroom half an hour before sleep, or at your kitchen table after a day that left you too wired to settle. One leaf in a ceramic dish. Let it smolder, not flame. The smoke should be steady and soft, not billowing. Keep a window cracked. Let it fill the room like quiet company.

There's a secondary gift that comes with this. Bay leaves also release eugenol and cineole when they burn—compounds that insects find unbearable. Mosquitoes won't cross that invisible line. Neither will moths or roaches. So while you're calming your nervous system, you're also drawing a botanical boundary around your space. No sprays, no plug-ins, no synthetic anything.

If the idea of burning something indoors feels like too much, you can steep two dried leaves in hot water and drink it as tea. Same linalool, same effect, just slower. Or tuck whole dried leaves into a small cloth pouch and slide it under your pillow. The scent alone, even without heat, has a centering quality.

The leaves you'd use are the same ones sitting in your spice drawer right now. The ones you drop into soup or sauce and fish out later. They've been there the whole time, holding this other identity you didn't know to ask about.

What fascinates me most is how something so ordinary—so grocery-store mundane—can double as both flavor and pharmacy. We've turned plants into single-use objects. Bay for cooking. Lavender for sachets. Mint for tea. But these beings are more than their most common roles. They're walking around with entire toolkits we've mostly forgotten how to access.

Your brain doesn't care whether you got calm from a breathing app or a burning leaf. It just knows the cortisol dropped and the nervous system downshifted. The Greeks were dosing their scholars with focus. You can do the same on a Tuesday night when your thoughts won't stop circling.

One leaf. One match. Ten minutes of smoke curling upward like a question finally getting answered. [TWGB1]

06/10/2026

Cold gusty day of 67. Rained this morning. Thought soup days were over. It’s June for cripes sake! Minestrone came together quickly. The English muffins made great garlic toasts. Damn, it better not freeze.

06/09/2026

Haven’t made GF English muffies in a long time.

06/09/2026

Many lemon balm plants in the greenhouse.

This is one of those plants that should be growing on every homestead, in every garden, and in every little corner where you can let it spread and bless the ground. This plant may look simple, but do not let that fool you. Lemon Balm is a powerhouse herb. It is gentle, beautiful, easy to grow, smells like lemon, feeds the bees, comes back strong, and has been used for generations as food, tea, medicine, and comfort for the home.

Lemon Balm has always been known as a calming herb. Traditionally, people have used it for stress, anxious thoughts, nervous tension, restlessness, sadness, irritability, and trouble sleeping. This is one of those plants that reminds the body to slow down, breathe, and stop living in panic mode. Modern studies are now showing what the old people already knew — Lemon Balm has real promise for supporting the nervous system, helping with anxiety, supporting mood, and improving sleep quality. It is not a magic pill, and we never claim any plant cures everything, but Lemon Balm is one of the gentlest herbs we reach for when the body and mind need peace.

One of the big reasons Lemon Balm is so loved is because of compounds like rosmarinic acid, along with other plant oils and antioxidants. These compounds are believed to be part of why Lemon Balm has calming, antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory properties. It has been studied for how it may interact with the body’s calming pathways, which is why so many herbalists use Lemon Balm for overthinking, stress, nervous stomach, tension, and sleep support.

Lemon Balm is also a wonderful digestive herb. Traditionally it has been used for gas, bloating, cramping, sour stomach, nausea, nervous digestion, and that tight stomach feeling that comes when stress hits the gut. This plant is considered carminative, meaning it helps settle gas and discomfort, and antispasmodic, meaning it has been used to calm spasms and cramping. A cup of Lemon Balm tea after a heavy meal or during a stressful day is one of the simplest ways to use it.

Another powerful area with Lemon Balm is its traditional and studied use for cold sores and herpes-family outbreaks. Lemon Balm has been studied for antiviral activity, especially against herpes simplex virus. Traditionally, people have used Lemon Balm salves, oils, creams, and strong teas as a topical wash for cold sores. This is not the same as saying it cures a virus, but it is one of the more well-known herbs for supporting the skin during those kinds of outbreaks.

Lemon Balm has also been studied for cognitive support. Some research has looked at mood, attention, memory, and calm focus. This is one reason Lemon Balm is so special — it does not just knock you out. For many people, it helps bring a calm, clear feeling. That makes it useful during school, stressful work, prayer time, study time, or those days when your mind is running faster than your body can keep up.

As a food plant, Lemon Balm is amazing. The leaves are edible and have a bright lemony flavor without the sharp sourness of a lemon. You can chop fresh leaves into fruit salad, green salad, chicken dishes, fish, rice, sauces, dressings, compound butter, cream cheese, honey, vinegar, and marinades. You can add it to lemonade, sweet tea, herbal tea, kombucha, fermented soda, popsicles, jellies, syrups, cookies, cakes, and fresh summer drinks. It pairs beautifully with berries, mint, ginger, peaches, honey, cucumber, and citrus.

There are so many ways to use Lemon Balm on the farm. You can make fresh tea, dried tea, tincture, glycerite, infused honey, infused vinegar, infused oil, salve, lip balm, syrup, bath tea, steam, poultice, skin wash, and culinary seasoning. Fresh Lemon Balm tea is one of the best ways to enjoy it. Just pick a handful of fresh leaves, pour hot water over them, cover the cup so the oils do not escape, and let it steep. For dried tea, use the dried leaves and keep them stored away from heat, light, and moisture.

Lemon Balm also belongs in the pollinator garden. When it flowers, the bees absolutely love it. In fact, the name “Melissa” is connected with bees. This plant feeds life above the ground and blesses the home at the same time. It can spread, and we like that. On a farm, plants that come back and multiply are not a problem when they are useful. That is called provision.

For harvesting, cut Lemon Balm before it flowers if you want the strongest leaf flavor. You can still use it after flowering, but the leaves are usually best before the plant puts all its energy into bloom. Harvest in the morning after the dew dries. Use it fresh, or dry it quickly in a warm, shaded, airy place. Do not cook it to death or leave it in direct blazing sun while drying, because the lemony oils are delicate. When dried right, it should still smell fresh and lemony.

Lemon Balm is one of those plants that teaches independence. This is the kind of plant you grow once and then keep forever. You can divide it, root cuttings, let it reseed, or simply let the patch get bigger every year. The whole point of plants like this is to teach people they do not have to run to the store for every little thing. Father gave us plants that grow, spread, feed the bees, calm the body, season the food, and fill the apothecary.

Lemon Balm is food, medicine, pollinator plant, tea plant, kitchen herb, calming herb, digestive herb, skin-support herb, and one of the easiest plants to grow on a homestead. This is why we love plants like this at Yahuah’s Farm. They are not just pretty. They are useful. They are not just herbs. They are teachers. They show us how to build a home that is less dependent on the world and more connected to what Father already placed in creation.

Grow Lemon Balm. Drink the tea. Feed the bees. Save the seed. Share the plant. Teach your children. Build the apothecary one living plant at a time.

06/09/2026

Sub in a tub- fat salad night. Homemade creamy Italian dressing.

06/08/2026

My biggest pet peeve. And no I’m not checking myself out!

06/05/2026

My black lace elderberry looking gorgeous and smelling heavenly💕