Lemon Lavender Soda

• pick around five or six lavender flowers, leaving a few inches of stem with leaves on each.
• make a simple syrup by bringing two cups of water to a boil, and adding 1/2 cup of honey.  Taste, to see if you want it sweeter and if you do add more honey.
• Add the lavender flowers and the zest of half a lemon to the syrup, turn off the heat. Let the flowers steep for 10-20 minutes, depending on how floral you want your soda. Strain.
• Pour one or two inches of the syrup into a glass, add ice, club soda, and the juice of at least half a lemon. 
• Enjoy!  (the syrup may be refrigerated for up to a week if it lasts that long)

Saving the Harvest - Green Smoothies - Kale

Today we are saving the harvest with KALE!  Kale is a wonderful vegetable with huge health benefits so adding it to your morning routine is bound to give you a healthy boost!

Gardening with a Baby

I have to admit there were years where I didn't garden.  Those years were when my children were under 2 years old.  It was just to busy of a time.  Now that I'm in the over 60 crowd I never in a million  years thought I'd have a baby when I planted this huge garden (size of two city lots).  Then three weeks ago our 6 month old granddaughter, Gabriella Nicole (Gabby), joined us.  What to do?  Well we've hired a helper and need to hire another one, but Gabby does enjoy going to the garden for short periods of time.

No Garden? You Can Still Preserve the Harvest!

Don't have a garden?  You can still preserve the harvest!  Buy all you can from your local farmer (Have you taken the 30 day 100 Mile Challenge?) and farmers markets, then preserve your bounty for later!

For freezing you will need some necessary equipment:

• Baking Sheets
• Freezing Bags
• Stock Pot
• Knives and good Cutting Board
• Pots to boil water and bowls for cold water to shock before freezing
• Freezer space.

We will cover other methods of food storage in later posts.

Today we are working on some Asparagus.  It is almost time for the Asparagus to disappear from your farmers offerings so better hurry because this is last minute.

Today's Harvest

I just love growing my own food, 

knowing how it was raised and using it fresh. 

We could have harvested some kale, herbs and other things but this was all I was willing to work with right away.

Supper tonight will be Beef & Brocolli (our own grass-fed beef), lunch tomorrow will be a yummy Salmon, Asparagus Quinoa Salad.  Tonight we'll make some Strawberry Ice Cream with our Fresh Goat Milk. The spinach will likely be used in some Green Smoothies and/or a Frittata for Breakfast!

Need some recipes?  I'll send them along soon!

Love to have some fresh fruits and veggies like these?  BUY LOCAL!  If you are local to us (within 100 miles) then contact us to purchase some great organically grown, GMO free food!  CONTACT US

Asparagus Soup for One

2 teaspoons butter
1/4 cup diced onion (can use green onions)
1/4 tsp shredded fresh ginger
1/2 tsp chopped garlic
1 1/4 cup chopped asparagus (abt 6 oz)
1 cup home-made chicken stock
pinch dried rosemary
1 tablespoon fresh, chopped parsley
1/2 cup Coconut Milk (or other milk product)
1/4 tsp salt
pepper to taste

Saute onion in butter over med-low heat for 4 min, add ginger and garlic, saute 2 more minutes. Add asparagus, stock, rosemary, and parsley. Cover and simmer 20 minutes. Blend carefully in blender until smooth. Add back to pan with milk, salt and pepper. Stir to incorporate. Enjoy!

Homemade Lemonade

4 cups of very warm water
2 cups of room temperature water
1/3 cup of honey + 2 tablespoons
6 organic lemons + 1 for garnish
fresh sprigs of local organic mint
lots of ice (about 2 cups)

To heat the water, I like to put 4 cups of water in a kettle and place on burner till very hot and starting to steam. Pour the very warm water into heat proof container. Add in the honey. Stir to combine then add in the room temperature water.

Squeeze the juice out of the 6 lemons. Place a strainer over the opening of the water-honey mixture and pour in the lemon juice.

Add in the ice and the mint. Chill in the refrigerator. Before serving, cut the last lemon into slices and place in the jug. The sliced lemons and the mint leaves are beautiful garnishes for this delicious beverage.