OCD is a very serious affliction. My friend Wikipedia says, “OCD is an anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts that produce uneasiness, apprehension, fear, or worry, by repetitive behaviors aimed at reducing the associated anxiety, or by a combination of such obsessions and compulsions”.

I say that is a run on sentence. I also say, when it comes to a number of unimportant things, I have OCD. Case and point, the holiday season. My sister yelled at me on the phone the other day, for simply asking her what her plans were with Christmas gifts for our mom, and if she wanted to share in a big gift from the both of us. She called me a psychopath, and reminded me that Christmas was weeks and weeks away and that she didn’t want me to even mention it. She says I, “rush the seasons, you know – like those assholes at Pottery Barn”.

I hung up the phone feeling deflated and a little hungry. Deflated from my loud-mouth banshee of a sister, and hungry because it was lunch time and the ice cream I ate for breakfast did little to curb my appetite. A short time later, while inhaling a spicy tuna roll, my mind wandered back to getting my Christmas gifts under way. I love making gifts for people, and incorporating my plant agenda any chance I get. And food (or things related to food) is always good. So I figured that some good home-made gifts would include herbs… the legal kind.

Here’s what I came up with:

dried herb bottles for stocking stuffers... lavender, thyme, oregano, tarragon

i used metal plant labels as tags... adorbies!

let the herb smushing begin!

mortar and pestle

thyme stems after smushing

dried thyme, not weed.

Most everyone has at least one or two herbs growing in their gardens… this week do a little harvesting and set some bundles out to dry in a cool, some what dark place.

No herbs? No garden?

Steal some from a friend or neighbor or stranger’s house. You’ll be amazed with how much dried herbs you will get from a fresh bunch. Select a few that you know everyone loves (oregano, rosemary, thyme, sage) and bottle them. It will cure any impending holiday OCD that is creeping up on you.

bottles…. herbs…. plant tags…. mortar & pestle…