Pacing in my cave waiting not so patiently for the owl from my darling editors wondering what hair-brained theme they had come up with this month, I decided to walk amongst the flowers in a field I know of not far from my humble abode. Ambling over to the cave entrance, I lowered into a crouch to prepare for take-off, but just then, my lovely owl careened into my chest with my awaited letter. Popping upright again, I hurried to open the missive. Flowers, they chose flowers, I thought happily. You see I had just gotten rid of my potpourri sachet from last year and needed to make another batch.
Off to the flower field and the forest after all. I knew I wanted the potpourri not only to smell nice but look pretty too. I knew the local forest also had a field not far off full of flowers and wild herbs. I figured I could do my foraging there and probably get everything I needed for the potpourri to make a nice floral-smelling batch. I decided to head to the community field first.
Crouching low with my tail ready and poised for take-off, I sprung into the air and headed northwest to the flowers. Gliding through the warm air, the sun glinting off my tanzanite scales, I floated through the wind streams and frolicked in the sun to my destination.
Upon reaching the edge of the sea of flowers, I descended upon an amazing grouping of roses. What was that divine smell tantalizing my nostrils? Sniffing the cacophony of scents, I located the perfect rose bush. What a beautiful specimen! I had to have it for my recipe. Using my silver nail I retrieved a few flowers and buds from the bush in front of me. The flowers were a gorgeous blush peach in color starting with pink at the base and gradually turning a soft orange at the tip.
Walking about, I spotted a bunch of lavender a few meters off to the right. Following my snout, I descended upon the plant and snatched up a bunch for the potpourri gleefully. Now I needed some herbs, hmmm... What ones should I use? (sniff, sniff) There was a sharp smell among the florals and I knew it would be perfect, I had found rosemary. Gently as not to bruise the herb, I slowly pinched a few sprigs with my sharp pearly white teeth.
Leaping up into the air once more, I passed the tiger lilies and reaching the trees, I landed outside the fruit orchard by the elderflowers. I felt that my foraging just wasn't quite done yet, like the recipe I was creating just wasn't finished yet. "Ohhh I know," I mused to myself as I plucked a couple of sweet-smelling oranges from the nearby tree. Then, ambling over to the elderflowers, I grabbed a handful. Seeing as now my paws were full, I thought now would be a good time to head back to the cave to start preparing the ingredients, in the preparation for creating my special blend.
Upon reaching the cave, I set my items on the counter and began to pull out a few items from the cupboard that I already had ready and prepared from the previous time I had made some potpourri. Tossing open the cabinet, I pulled out cloves and cinnamon. Ambling over to my essential oils, I grabbed my orange and lavender oils to add.
Here is the recipe that I used:
~One cup of dried rose petals
~Half a cup of dried Lavender
~Quarter cup of dried Rosemary
~Quarter cup of dried Elderflower
~Eighth teaspoon of ground cloves
~Eighth teaspoon of cinnamon
~Plus dried rose buds
~Plus Orange sliced thinly and dried
~Lavender essential oil
~Orange essential oil
What you'll need:
~Flowers
~Wand
~Heating spell
~Sheet pan
~Parchment paper
~Scissors
~Essential oils
~Spray bottle
~Citrus fruits (optional)
~Fresh herbs (optional)
~Whole spices (optional)
Directions
1. Gather your flowers to make the potpourri, or even use a flower bouquet. Any flower will work, especially one with a strong scent. Small flowers and large flowers both work well, even ones with small individual petals. It all depends on the type of texture you want. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees/gas mark 1, or get out your wand to ready a heating spell.Thermeum would be a good choice for this.
2. Cover a sheet pan with parchment paper. Cut the heads of the flowers from the stems and place them on the pan, or remove individual petals and place them in a single layer on the parchment paper.
3. To make your potpourri smell nice, you can cut and add thin slices of citrus fruits, or add springs of rosemary, lavender, or thyme to the mix. You can also add whole spices; for example, cinnamon sticks, cloves, or allspice, which are both pretty and wonderfully scented.
4. Add 10-15 drops of your favorite essential oil to one tablespoon of water in a small spray bottle, and spritz the potpourri ingredients. Then use a heating spell, or pop it into the oven.
5. Dry in the oven for at least two hours, or until the flowers are brittle but not burnt. When the potpourri is ready, remove it from the oven and give another spritz of essential oil.
6. Once the mixture has cooled to room temperature, gently mix the potpourri and place it in a bowl or small satchel. To refresh the scent, simply spritz with the oil mixture.
After drying everything and mixing it according to the recipes, I had the perfect blend and had a blast making it. I hope you have just as much fun foraging and making your own blend of potpourri as I did. Till next time, this is Your friendly little dragon signing off.