Homegrown Tea

Today's market at Brunswick was cold and windy.  When I got home I felt all stuffy and chilly from being outside for half the day in the cold.  So I figured, perfect day to make some tea, and after I did I felt so much better.

Ingredients:

Chamomile flowers dried

Spearmint

Basil

Garlic

Honey

Water (of coarse)

I take a tea ball and fill it with chamomile, spearmint and basil.  I mostly use chamomile and spearmint.  I add the tea ball to the water in the pan, and bring it to a boil.  Once it begins to boil I add the garlic (about one clove, cut into slivers), and remove the pan from heat and cover.  Let it sit for at least 15 minutes.  Fill the mug, add the honey, and enjoy.

I have never been a tea person, but once I started to grow my own herbs and made my own tea out of everything I grew myself, to me it seemed so much better than the store bought stuff.

Market Pictures

Just thought I would do a quick post with some pictures I took today, of our table at Valley City Farmers Market.

 We will still be selling at Valley City Farmers Market till at least the first week of October, and some other vendors should be joining us also.  Hope to see everyone there!  Also we are still up at Brunswick Farmers Market till the Pumpkin Festival, which is on October 10th and 11th.

Purple and Green Kohlrabi

Purple and Green Kohlrabi

 

Cooking Kohlrabi

Both the leaves and the bulb can be eaten.  Leaves can be used just as you would kale or collards.

I think that the purple and green kohlrabi taste the same, they also look the same inside.  The only difference that I noticed is I think it is easier to peel the purple kohlrabi than the green.  If you slice off the ends and then slice it in half, you can almost peel of the skin by hand, there will still be a little bit of strings left and you can then use a potato peeler to easily peel the rest off. 

 Many people say that kohlrabi tastes like cabbage, and it is a member of the cabbage family.  I think it cooks like, and can be used similar to potatoes and turnips, except it does not take as long to cook as potatoes do.

Kohlrabi can be eaten raw, boiled, sauteed, steamed, baked, boiled, grilled, or roasted.  

It is great for just snacking on raw, or can be grated and added raw to salads.

They can also be added to soups or stews.  

They can be boiled and mashed together with potatoes or turnips.  

We sliced some up the other day and grilled them with some other veggies and olive oil, when they were just browned, it almost tasted like a french fry.

I should still have kohlrabi available at my markets for at least the next couple weeks.  I am going to be starting some more plants from seeds very soon, so once my spring planting is gone, I hope to have some more available again in late summer.

What We Have Growing

I walked around the farm the other day when I was out there picking and took some pictures of some veggies we have growing.  Most of which should be available soon.

 

Red Malabar Spinach

This is not actually a true spinach plant, instead it is a heat loving vine, which can be used in place of spinach.  It can be used just like you would spinach, can also be stir-fried, or added to salads.

 

 

Bleu De Solaise Leek

 

 

Zebrune Shallot Onion

 

 

Purple Peacock Broccoli

A broccoli kale cross.  Can not wait to be able to harvest some of this.

 

 

Some of our tomato plants, even though it has been really wet they seem to still be doing ok.

 

 

Scarlet Kale

It is such a beautiful kale, with large leaves for a purple kale.  I have been picking this for the last few weeks, which I have been adding to my mixed kale bunches.

Brunswick Farmers Market

We had our first farmers market, for this year, at Brunswick this past Sunday.  Here are a couple of pictures from the market of our stand.

 

This Saturday and Sunday we should have available:

Just Lettuce Mix

Lettuce and Greens Salad Mix

Lettuce and Romaine Salad Mix

Lettuce and Endive Salad Mix

Looseleaf Lettuce Mix

Spicy Salad Mix

Ark of Taste Mix

Mixed Kale Bunches

Mixed Mustard Green Bunches

Swiss Chard Bunches

Collard Bunches

Bel Fiore Radicchio

Bagged Mixed Kale

Bagged Mustard Greens

Garlic Scapes

Scallion Bunches

Radish Bunches

Purple and Green Kohlrabi

Vegetable, Herb, and Flower Plants

Herb Hanging Baskets

Edible Flower Hanging Baskets

Tea Herb Hanging Baskets

Vegetable Hanging Baskets

Dahlia Hanging Baskets

Dahlia Tubers and Plants

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Micro Greens

I also wanted to let everyone know that I just started a bunch of micro greens the other day.  They most likely will not be ready for this weeks markets, but the following week I should begin bringing micro greens to the markets once again.

Pasta

As far as pasta goes, if you have been to one of our markets, you may have noticed I do not have pasta for sale yet.  No fear I will be starting to make some very soon.  Just been so busy lately I have not been able to start making it, but I am hoping to be able to whip up some pasta this coming week for next weeks markets.

 

 

Pasta with Mustard Greens

Pasta with Mustard Greens

Ingredients:

2 (8 oz. bags) kale rigatoni

8- 10 mustard green leaves (chopped)

2 scallions (chopped)

4- 5 garlic scapes (chopped)

1 lb. ground pork sausage

1/2 cup milk

4 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Cooking Instructions:

Cook pasta according to package directions, and set aside.  Brown ground pork sausage with 2 tablespoons butter in a large pan until no longer pink.  Add scallions, garlic scapes, milk and remaining (2 tablespoons) butter; cook for approx 5- 10 minutes longer.  Then add cooked pasta, parmesan cheese, and mustard greens, cook for few more minutes, until the the mustard greens just begin to wilt.  Serve warm, and if desired you can top with parmesan cheese on top. 

Note: You could also use heavy cream in this recipe instead of the milk.  I just used the milk because when I made this I did not have any heavy cream.  If you are going to use the heavy cream I would add 1 cup in place of 1/2 cup milk.

Planting, Planting, and More Planting

We have been doing a lot of planting lately.  Yesterday we planted around 200 tomato plants and about 150 basil plants.  Below is a picture of most of our tomatoes, behind the tomatoes are hot peppers.

 

Scarlet Kale

A beautiful purple curly kale.

I will be bringing a bunch of this kale along with other varieties, to take to the markets this weekend and will be sold in mixed kale bunches.

Purple Kohlrabi

It is just starting to look like kohlrabi, I am hoping that I will be able to start picking some of the markets starting next week, we will see. 

Purple Peacock Broccoli

I am so excited to see how these turn out, it is a cross between broccoli and kale, so it sounds like a really useful and beautiful plant.

I got my seeds from Wild Garden Seeds, here is their description from their catalog:  "Our contribution to ongoing broccoli evolution; green beads, sweet purple stems, toothy red veined leaves that will make you think it’s Red Russian kale. Young leaves are salad-rate, and mature leaves are as sweet as any lightly steamed kale. Floret stems erupt first as loose heads of broccoli, followed by prodigious side shoots. These are sweet and non-biting as raw “dippers” and salad additions. This “eat everything brockali” comes from crosses between ‘Green Goliath’ broccoli and two kales. Farm Original Variety!"

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Just wanted to let everyone know that Brunswick Farmers Market starts this Sunday.

Brunswick Farmers Market

11am - 3pm

Starting June 14th and runs thru October

Located at Brunswick Heritage Farm, 4613 Laurel Road, Brunswick, Ohio

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Now Available

Mixed Kale Bunches

Mixed Mustard Green Bunches

Scallion Bunches

Radicchio

Bagged Kale

Bagged Mustard Greens

Garlic Scapes

Just Lettuce Mix

Lettuce and Greens Salad Mix

Lettuce and Romaine Salad Mix

Spicy Salad Mix

Lettuce and Endive Salad Mix

Loose Leaf Lettuce Mix

Ark of Taste Salad Mix

Herb, Vegetable, and Flower Plants

Dahlia Tubers

Coming Soon

Green and Purple Kohlrabi

Radish Bunches

Swiss Chard Bunches

Radicchio 

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