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Authors: Susan Wittig Albert
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mice), bay (keep weevils out of flour and grains), soapwort (wash fabric), lemon balm (polish furniture), sorrel (polish copper)
• Insect repellent: catnip, pennyroyal, basil
Read more about Laura’s life:
Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder , by John E. Miller The Little House Books , by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Horseradish, grated and pounded, makes a warming poultice. Eaten, it is a spur to digestion.
—A DICTIONARY OF EVERY-DAY WANTS, BY A. E. YOUMAN,
M.D., 1878
FEBRUARY 8
Auntie Hannah, who had got on to the parsnip wine, sang a song about Bleeding Hearts and Death, & then another in which she said her heart was like a Bird’s Nest; & then everybody laughed again; & then I went to bed.
—DYLAN THOMAS, A CHILD’S CHRISTMAS IN WALES
Bleeding Hearts : About China’s Books
Some of the China Bayles mysteries are related to seasonal events and holidays. Bleeding Hearts , the fourteenth novel in the series, is set in February, around Valentine’s Day. For the signature herbs, I usually try to choose herbs that China can grow in her Texas garden, but the bleeding heart ( Dicentra sp. ), was such a natural for this book that I found ways to use it. The story is about romantic longing, romance gone wrong, and desire that ends in death—in other words, bleeding hearts.
Bleeding heart is a shade-loving perennial herb, native to the Orient and happiest in cool, moist woodlands (not many of those around Pecan Springs!). The plant was said to be related to the Papaveraceae family (which also includes the opium poppy, from which morphine is derived), and has several cousins with such descriptive names as Mary’s heart, golden eardrops, and Dutchman’s breeches. They share a unique blossom shaped like a dangling red, pink, or white heart; in some, the darker inner petals give the appearance of drops of blood.
In William Cook’s The Physiomedical Dispensatory (1869), bleeding heart is described as a useful medicinal herb. Topically, it was employed in a poultice to treat toothache and other pain. Taken internally, it treated headache, menstrual disorders, Parkinson’s disease, and rheumatism. In Chinese medicine, where it is called yan hu suo , it is prescribed as an antidepressant and sedative, and used to treat tremors and lower blood pressure. Dutchman’s-breeches ( Dicentra cucullaria ), was used by Menominee Indians as a love charm. The blossom was thrown by a young man at the girl he fancied; if it hit her, she was bound to fall in love with him. If she hesitated, he chewed the plant’s root and then breathed on her, which was bound to win her over. (The literature doesn’t tell us whether this worked for women as well as men.)
Bleeding Hearts is also the name of a traditional quilt pattern, which is the theme of the first quilt show put on by the Pecan Springs Scrappers (Ruby’s quilt guild). Ruby and I will let you guess how this figures in the plot.
Read more about bleeding heart:
Hedgemaids and Fairy Candles: The Lives and Lore of North American Wildflowers , by Jack Sanders
Bleeding Hearts: A China Bayles Mystery , by Susan Wittig Albert
FEBRUARY 9
Today is the feast day of St. Apollonia, the patron saint of dentists. It is also (somebody had a sense of humor here) National Toothache Day.
Wash your Mouth every Morning with Juice of Limons, mix’d with a little Brandy; and afterwards rub your Teeth with a Sage-Leaf, and wash your Teeth after Meat with Rosemary Water mix’d with Brandy.
—DR. WILLIAM SALMON, 1710
Herbs for the Teeth?
You bet. Here’s Hippocrates’ recipe for good dental hygiene, written in the third century BCE: “Clean teeth with ball of wool dipped in honey and rinse with a teaspoon of dill seed boiled in one-half cup of white wine.”
In the Middle Ages, people cleaned their teeth by chewing the roots of marshmallow, licorice, alfalfa, and horseradish. For infections, they chewed sage and thyme leaves, both of which have antibiotic properties. After the
• Insect repellent: catnip, pennyroyal, basil
Read more about Laura’s life:
Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder , by John E. Miller The Little House Books , by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Horseradish, grated and pounded, makes a warming poultice. Eaten, it is a spur to digestion.
—A DICTIONARY OF EVERY-DAY WANTS, BY A. E. YOUMAN,
M.D., 1878
FEBRUARY 8
Auntie Hannah, who had got on to the parsnip wine, sang a song about Bleeding Hearts and Death, & then another in which she said her heart was like a Bird’s Nest; & then everybody laughed again; & then I went to bed.
—DYLAN THOMAS, A CHILD’S CHRISTMAS IN WALES
Bleeding Hearts : About China’s Books
Some of the China Bayles mysteries are related to seasonal events and holidays. Bleeding Hearts , the fourteenth novel in the series, is set in February, around Valentine’s Day. For the signature herbs, I usually try to choose herbs that China can grow in her Texas garden, but the bleeding heart ( Dicentra sp. ), was such a natural for this book that I found ways to use it. The story is about romantic longing, romance gone wrong, and desire that ends in death—in other words, bleeding hearts.
Bleeding heart is a shade-loving perennial herb, native to the Orient and happiest in cool, moist woodlands (not many of those around Pecan Springs!). The plant was said to be related to the Papaveraceae family (which also includes the opium poppy, from which morphine is derived), and has several cousins with such descriptive names as Mary’s heart, golden eardrops, and Dutchman’s breeches. They share a unique blossom shaped like a dangling red, pink, or white heart; in some, the darker inner petals give the appearance of drops of blood.
In William Cook’s The Physiomedical Dispensatory (1869), bleeding heart is described as a useful medicinal herb. Topically, it was employed in a poultice to treat toothache and other pain. Taken internally, it treated headache, menstrual disorders, Parkinson’s disease, and rheumatism. In Chinese medicine, where it is called yan hu suo , it is prescribed as an antidepressant and sedative, and used to treat tremors and lower blood pressure. Dutchman’s-breeches ( Dicentra cucullaria ), was used by Menominee Indians as a love charm. The blossom was thrown by a young man at the girl he fancied; if it hit her, she was bound to fall in love with him. If she hesitated, he chewed the plant’s root and then breathed on her, which was bound to win her over. (The literature doesn’t tell us whether this worked for women as well as men.)
Bleeding Hearts is also the name of a traditional quilt pattern, which is the theme of the first quilt show put on by the Pecan Springs Scrappers (Ruby’s quilt guild). Ruby and I will let you guess how this figures in the plot.
Read more about bleeding heart:
Hedgemaids and Fairy Candles: The Lives and Lore of North American Wildflowers , by Jack Sanders
Bleeding Hearts: A China Bayles Mystery , by Susan Wittig Albert
FEBRUARY 9
Today is the feast day of St. Apollonia, the patron saint of dentists. It is also (somebody had a sense of humor here) National Toothache Day.
Wash your Mouth every Morning with Juice of Limons, mix’d with a little Brandy; and afterwards rub your Teeth with a Sage-Leaf, and wash your Teeth after Meat with Rosemary Water mix’d with Brandy.
—DR. WILLIAM SALMON, 1710
Herbs for the Teeth?
You bet. Here’s Hippocrates’ recipe for good dental hygiene, written in the third century BCE: “Clean teeth with ball of wool dipped in honey and rinse with a teaspoon of dill seed boiled in one-half cup of white wine.”
In the Middle Ages, people cleaned their teeth by chewing the roots of marshmallow, licorice, alfalfa, and horseradish. For infections, they chewed sage and thyme leaves, both of which have antibiotic properties. After the
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