To be optimally healthy, we are meant to “Eat the Rainbow.” That includes black, blue, crimson, and purple herbs, fruits and vegetables. Learn how to color your diet and your garden from teacher, writer, photographer, and author Pat Crocker at The Power of Black, an HSA member-only webinar at 2 p.m. EST, February 17, 2016.
In addition to talking nutrition, Pat will show how black plants — ranging from trees, to shrubs, to vegetables, to herbs and low-growing ground covers — can be incorporated into existing gardens. She’ll identify black varieties of interesting edibles that can be woven into gardens as ornamentals, medicinals and food.
“I plan to explore black herbs and food plants and offer information about how black plants work as antioxidants and anti-inflammatory agents in the body,” says Pat. “From this, we can understand why black plants, along with other colorful foods, are important.”
She will show how to apply that information with a seasonal “Little Black Salad.”
The Power of Black webinar points out herbs that are on trend. For example, it looks at black-leafed and black-fruiting, ornamental chile peppers as well as several purple/black basils.
“Black olive ornamental chile peppers are stunning when planted alone or with other herbs in containers for a deck or front walkway,” says Pat. “I’ll show how Rodale Gardens used blue savory and green cabbages as a path border. This way of re-thinking the herb and flowering garden gives you color, shape, texture, and different heights, and it is totally edible. How cool is that?”
Pat Crocker is a foodie and culinary herbalist. She has written 18 cookbooks including Kitchen Herbal, The Healing Herbs Cookbook, Preserving, and Coconut 24/7. With more than 1.25 million books in print (one translated into eight languages) she has been honored multiple times by various organizations, including the 2009 Gertrude H. Foster award from the Herb Society of America for Excellence in Herbal Literature. A professional Home Economist (BAA, B.Ed.), specializing in herbs and healthy foods, Pat has been growing, photographing, teaching, and writing about herbs, herb gardens, food, and healthy diets for more than two decades.
Non-members can join HSA and watch past and upcoming monthly webinars. The next presentation will be at 2 p.m. EST on March 7, 2016, will be on the History and Distilling of Herb Essences.
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