✶ Mint Pink Lemonade ✶
A fun potion to craft :)
And no, it’s not just adding Hibiscus (although that sure is pretty too). The following is an alchemical reaction that is so fun to make. And it solved a mystery I’ve pondered for nearly a decade!
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Okay, so those of you who have been reading here awhile, or know me in real life, know that most of my stories have Plants as the main characters. This tale is no different. It begins way back in 2016…
It was just this time of year when it happened. I was presenting a 2-day herbal workshop for a group of Montessori students from Juneau, Alaska. We had gathered Spruce tips for tea from 7 Pastures, Dandelion blossoms for making Beverley Gray’s Dandelion Petal Cake (amazingly good) and Mint and Violas from my community garden bed.
We had access to the school’s kitchen and while we waited for the cake to bake, I decided to make another batch of tea. We still had some of the Spruce tips leftover and I thought to add the Mint and the extra lemon juice we had originally squeezed for the cake. The resulting blend turned an incredibly beautiful PINK!
Like, pink lemonade pink. I was perplexed, that had never happened to me before and I was stoked, not only was it pretty, it tasted good and obviously created an interesting chemical reaction.
After that workshop, I tried to recreate the results. With no avail. I thought it must have been the perfect proportion of percentages of each ingredient, and I kicked myself for not writing down the ingredient quantities. No mixture of Spruce tips, fresh lemon juice and Mint re-created that beautiful color, and trust me, I tried.
Fast forward to Spring of 2025.
I had asked my son to harvest Violas, it’s one of the flowers that I like my kiddos to pick as they bloom profusely right at the time everything needs transplanting, weeding, fertilizing, seeding, and also harvesting. I can put my kids on this task that takes them into the garden while helping me too. Well, on this day, he was harvesting too soon after I had watered for the morning. I didn’t realize he’d begun until after he collected a good heaping couple of cupfuls. They were too damp to dry properly, so I made a batch of tea using Mint and all those Violas—far more Violas than I would normally add, mind you.
The resulting tisane (a tea made with fresh herbs/flowers) was GORGEOUS. It was an emerald blue-green hue that I’d never seen before with any of my tea blends. I so enjoyed how that mistake, led to a delightful discovery, Emerald Tea!
Now, it gets hot here in Idaho this time of year. We’ve already hit the high 80’s and truthfully, I’m still not used to this kind of high elevation heat after living sea-level coastal for so long. I thought I’d make some Mint tea to help cool and Lemon Balm to calm before going to work. Since the Violas were still abundant, I thought I’d snag a small handful of them as well. The tea only steeped for about 30 minutes before I left, and alas, it did not turn that beautiful emerald color as I hoped. I poured the light tan mixture over the sliced lemons in my quart jar and called it good.
When I got to work, I noticed the color had shifted a bit, it was more pinkish than brown. Hmmm, that’s neat I thought. Another 15 minutes passed, and the pink color deepened, and suddenly it hit me, the proverbial light-bulb beaming bright above my head—oh my goodness, IT WAS THE VIOLAS ALL ALONG!!! I’d forgotten that I must have added Violas to that tea mixture back in 2016!!
The two girls who I was working near just then got to hear my utter joy and excitement of finally figuring it out, 9 years later, LOL. My heart was singing!
That is part of why I love working with the Plants. There is always more to learn. More to delight in, more joy to encounter. Now that my garden is becoming more established, I’m finding oddities that I’d not experienced gardening in the Far North. This year, I have dozens of volunteer Parsley plants. How cool is that!? I also keep finding Walnuts in the garden. I’m not sure if it’s the squirrels who are placing them in there (and then they sprout!), or what is going on, but I find that intriguing…how are they getting there?
I’ve also been excited to have the wild Rose, gifted from a friend, finally take off and bloom lavishly. This beauty is placed in the front of my garden-she-shed and I’m just thrilled. Another fun plant I’ve been enjoying is the Blue Moon Woodland Phlox—I’m absolutely enchanted by this flower. She blooms in nearly full-shade where I have planted her, with just a little dappled sunlight.
Admittedly, it’s not all Roses. I’ve been working nights, 3-4 times per week. This changes up my normal routine of being an early bird, to now becoming a night owl—and unlike Alaska, it doesn’t stay light most of the night this time of year, so no extra gardening after work! Watering takes a lot of time these days, and it seems everything in the garden needs some sort of attention. [Yes, Emily, it’s called PLANTING SEASON.] Some days it just doesn’t seem worth it, all the time and dedication.
But then the Rose blooms, the Lemon Balm beckons and Violas turn my tea pink. And I know that this is part of the reason why I am here. To tend the land. To make wherever I reside a prettier place with Plants. To share what I’ve learned is also part of the work. But, one also needs to pay the bills and I’d like this love of mine to help support my family financially as well.
So, the following recipe for Mint Pink Lemonade is included in HAVEN MAKING II for those who are paid subscribers. I’d like to say an extra thank you to those who consider these words valuable and worthy of supporting. Much love and here you go: