Saturday, July 18, 2009

Herbs, Herbs, Herbs!!!

Herbs are ready to be harvested and it's so hard to keep up. Running out of room in the house to hang them to dry. Today I harvested echinacea, goldenrod, marshmallow, borage, feverfew and nettles (don't even let them brush up against you--they sting). Trying pickled nettles: put into jar, covered with tarragon vinegar, added garlic, cayenne and let sit for 8-10 weeks. Serve with toast, feta cheese and olives. Have been making herbal foot and bath bags to sell at the Farmer's Market. Sold a few last week and will try and make some other mixtures like Cold & Flu Soak, Antiseptic Soak for Cuts & Bruises, Stress Relief, etc. Seems that if you don't sell items to eat, you don't have to make them in a certified kitchen. Garden is slow this year--I think I used too much horse manure, although it didn't seem to hurt the grass. Harvesting beans now and will pick some salad burnet and herbs to take to market this week. Planted some seeds today--pole beans, carrots, turnips, beets, kohlrabi--hopefully they will have time to mature before frost.

Bought a dozen quail eggs at the Farmer's Market last week. Had 3 fried this morning. Very small, and they cook quickly, but very tasty. They looked so cute, but it was kinda scary thinking about eating them. Actually they tasted just like chicken eggs.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Independence Day!


Picked my first zucchini today. And the first real harvest of green beans. Have been picking the lavender flowers to dry this week and the hot weather crops are beginning to grow. Should have cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers soon. We have a few families of birds living in the gardens. A robin made a nest on the drain spout of the house and it is on it's second round of providing a nest for babies. The ones in there now are starting to ruffle their feathers; getting ready to learn to fly. Another family of dove are hanging around in the herbs and the whole family was sitting on the fence the other evening; mother feeding and hugging the two babies on either side of her. Chased a big buck deer out of the garden the other morning--he had a nice rack on him all covered in velvet. Pretty sight, but not in my garden!