Mint, Tea and Summer Nights
http://www.capitalpress.com/idaho /se-mint-harvest-081911 |
My earliest memory of mint is from when I was 4 and 5 years old. We lived in Bloomington, California in a three bedroom ranch. Along the fence in our back yard were mint plants, and each evening my mother would send me (and probably my older brothers) to go pick some mint for the iced tea. Though I didn’t like tea, I did love the smell of the mint leaves slightly crushed between my fingers. I wonder why I never see mint put in tea now? Maybe it was a California thing and since I now live in the South it’s all about sugar and lemon.
A few years later we moved to Nampa, Idaho. In the summertime we would go for drives in the evening and with the windows down (I don’t think we had air conditioning) I would drink in the scent of the mint crops growing in fields all around. It was a wonderful smell (it was very helpful in killing the smell of the sugar beet processing plant which was NOT pleasant) and when I smell fresh mint now I always think about my childhood summers.
Maybe I’ll grow some mint on the back deck this year.
M is for Mint / A to Z Blogging Challenge
That's so true. Nowadays you rarely find fresh mint tea. Although I've had a few over here in my little corner of the world. Boy, are they tasty!
Never thought about fields of mint, but someone has to grow it.
Hello, Fellow Challenger, from #399 – aka Rockin'Chair Reflections! I love mint, too. But, just remember that it's a fast-growing wide-spreading weed best kept in containers. The underground runners go wide before popping up in the oddest and most unwelcome places! Why not make a mixed mint garden! Imagine those cooling summer drinks!
Laughing at Sharlene's comment because I was about to say exactly the same thing! I planted a pot in my garden once and it almost filled the whole yard!!!!
Love your writing style – gotta love anyone named Sheila.
yep. I pull out lots of mint "weeds" from my garden too!
My sweet mother-in-law read this post and brought over a pot of mint for my back deck! Thank you Sue!
We usually have a surplus of mint in the garden. Mint tea is wonderful!
Ana