 February brought some crazy weather down on the farm! From ice to snow, to hail, to sunshine and LOTS and LOTS of rain! All that crazy weather kept us inside the farm house, inside the barn and working on the farm store more than usual. These cows thought they would tell us about the snow on our way up to the dairy farm, I think that they are also looking forward to some warm sunshine! In the Farm Kitchen... Down on the farm we love supporting other local farms and other local small businesses! We had the pleasure of meeting the owner of Epiphany's Caramelized Balsamic Vinegar and had to bring some home with us. We created this griddle cake recipe that it goes great with!  The end of January marked our first on farm experience with having an animal that we raised, butchered for the freezer. It was a new experience for the children and a little hard on them at first but they seemed to get over it ok. These are some of the lamb chops from the first lamb that we had processed. Aside from him eating too much of the chicken feed it turned out ok. We will be trying again but separating the lambs from the chicken food! Grass-fed lamb is best! Grain just makes them fat, and fatty meat.  Breakfast down on the farm: homemade whole what sourdough toast with plenty of butter, scrambled eggs with spinach and homemade kimchi. Oh yes, don't forget the tea!!!  Despite all the snow and the huge amounts of rain, spring must be near because the chickens are finally laying eggs again! Farm Boy #2 calculated that if all of our chickens start laying eggs (half the flock are newbies and haven't lain any eggs yet) we will have 120 eggs a week! If you are local this is good news because this means we will have farm fresh eggs awaiting for you! Keep your eyes peeled on our Facebook page for announcements.  Bread and water can be so easily made into toast and tea! Mt. Hope Farm's Strawberry Lavender fruit spread is WAY too yummy. I had to share so that I didn't eat the whole jar. Paired with our Lavender Earl Grey tea in a Silverton Food Co-Op mug. This was the perfect afternoon snack! Around the Barnyard... Betsy the bunny getting a break from her cage and a good pet, complete with a snack. She was playing dead until the carrot came near her nose. Rabbits! They fall for the carrot every time!   The cats have officially become barn cats! We decided to move where we feed them so they don't hang out at the front door so much. I guess they decided that being fed in the barn wasn't so bad, they find quite the cozy spot.  The pasture is about spent so the chickens have been allowed to free range around the farm. They are doing much better health wise, their feet are a bright yellow, their combs more red and we have more eggs to show for it. The only down side is the poo that is all over the farm! Hopefully that will be remedied soon with our new garden plans. Check out our Youtube channel to see more on that. In the Greenhouse ... We started planting in the greenhouse in February and a few things are SLOWLY sprouting up. Its been pretty cold so things are really slow in the growing department. These are beets working their way up from seed that we saved in the fall.  A little behind the scenes shot from our Youtube video titled "How do you say Fiacre? Farm Tour" This Joby tripod is pretty fun to use, it just likes to hang out.
The peas and spinach are coming up and we are getting super excited to have a greenhouse full of produce again! We have missed our winter garden sorely.  Radishes are getting a good start and will be moving to the above ground garden boxes very soon. Around the Farm ... The tea studio project is coming along nicely. This was an earlier shot before all the walls were totally finished. The ground level is done and next we go up!  Cutting and dehydrating blackberry leaves for a few of our tea blends. Blackberries grow almost year around here in Oregon and they actually make a great tea. The longer it is brewed the sweeter the leaves get! Traveling off the farm ... We had a little break from the farm as we visited the Winter Ag Fest but on the way we picked up some manure for the garden and had a tea party in the barn. Check out our day in our Youtube video "Making Tea in the Barn"  We had fun showing off our hand crank grain mill and teas at the Winter Poultry and Homesteading Faire in Eugene, OR. Farm Boy #2 spent a good portion of the day demoing the mill and oqccaiosnally letting others try it out. It works out the farms for sure! If you want to see how bad the 'burn' is check out our video "The Fermented Bread Winner"  Grinding up the wheat, can't have a proper tea time without some baked goods! In the Farmstore ... We are excited to announce that we will have these great cards at the Salem Saturday Market starting in April! Buy 12 bags of tea and get one free!!!  A new bath of Lavender Lemongrass Garden Salve is in stock! Ready in time for gardening season. It moistens the hands after gardening in dry soil and assists with sore muscles. Find this great hand salve here.  We have been enjoying our new bag stamp from Authentic Heirlooms! Its really made our packaging look wonderful.  Our new label line up! All bags are now switched over to their new labels and packaging and even new sizes! Check it out in the farm store.  A gift that we had fun packing up for a customer, its always a treat to get to use creativity in wrapping up orders. Every order feels like a special gift from our farm to your home!  From blackberry leaf to black berry tea, its fun to see it grow on our farm and get turned into a yummy tea. Blackberry leaf gets sweeter as you brew it and is quite a bit more pleasant that one might expect. Our blackberry leaf is in our High Desert Hibiscus as well as our Oregon Harvest Berry teas.  Oregon Harvest Berry showing off her new labels, we are glad to not be printing and cutting these by hand any more. It has allowed us to enter the wholesale arena and be able to up our processing. Plus they look fabulous!  Speaking of Oregon Harvest Berry, here she is in all her beauty. With blackberry leaf from our farm, apples from Queener Farm, aronia berries from Mt. Hope Farms and blue cornflowers from Floating Petal Confetti. Thanks for stopping by the farm to see what is new and we hope to see you next time!
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 Where did January go to?! It was a busy month for this family down on the farm and the weather was interesting too! We have had snow here and there where as last year we hardly saw one snow flake. We had sunshine and blue sky, we had freezing rain and then just plain rain. Much of our time was spent working on indoor projects and cleaning/organizing our spaces. Thanks for stopping by the farm to see what is new! Around the Barnyard ... The chicken's seem to be happy with the abundance of water, it makes for some yummy slimy snacks. Since there isn't much for grass left out in the pasture this time of year those worms are quite the treat!  Bob basking in the sunlight and hoping that I will keep my distance, he isn't a very cuddly cat but we love him any how.  The spearmint is making a comeback even through the cold snow, its good to see some signs that spring is not that far off!  A wonderful blue sky day with a little snow on the ground!  From blue sky to ice, every day brings us different weather down on the farm.  The fog floats down on the river as the sun rises in the trees. In the Greenhouse... The chickens were suppose to be on bug duty in the greenhouse but I guess they needed a bath! Its quite entertaining to watch them take a dust bath!  Hey if weeds can grow in the greenhouse then so can lettuce and kale! Its time to start the spring planting and get our greenhouse flowing with abundance again! These are seeds that we saved from last year... aka free food!  Planting spinach, oh how we have missed our greens! Tea Studio Construction ... We started January out with just the foundation to our tea studio addition....  And slowly but surely....  We have some WALLS!!!! The framing is coming along quite nicely and giving us something to be super excited about! In the Farm Kitchen ... Dehydrating some haskaps for our Willamette Berry Pie Tea, a few more months and we will be picking these beauties!  Making a little skin care product in our farm kitchen this month, this lovely French Green Clay and Violet Leaf Lotion Bar has its very own DIY vide on our YouTube Channel. Have you seen it yet? Check it out here!  Farm Girl #1 had a birthday this month so for our Tisane Tuesday that week we made her a special birthday cake! Check out the recipe here!  Happy Birthday Farm Girl! Your a blessing to our family <3  We are adding away to our new YouTube Channel with this exciting DIY Cheese Making video featuring our local dairy farm and Portland, Oregon's Urban CheeseCraft. Check out our v-log style make your own cheese video here. New in the Farm Store... We are increasing our spring inventory in anticipation of several events and our February promotion (get a free lip balm with every order)! We thought we would update some photos too and these two lip balms got a new little photo shoot. Check out the vanilla Chai Lip Balm Here.  Ginger Snap Lip Balm, almost like a cookie! But if you are wanting to taste the flavor we recommend our Gingerbread Spice Tea instead... this one is for lip licking only!  We are SO excited to be partaking in the Salem Saturday Market again this year and have expanded our attendance to every weekend rather than every other. We will have these beautiful Market Cards for our loyal customers this year so they can earn a free bag of tea! Make sure to stop by and get your card with your favorite blend.  We are slowly introducing our new packing to our farm store and local events! We are super excited to show these off as we are happy with how they represent our farm, the other farm's that we use and the quality of our teas.  Along with new packaging also comes new sizes! We have our trial size and our full size now. Perfect for either testing out a new flavor or for that flavor you already love! Thanks for stopping by the farm! We are glad that you stopped by the farm and hope that you enjoyed your stay! If you need to fill up your tea stash or herbal care cupboard please do so this month and make sure you take advantage of our February promo- A FREE lip balm with every order! We will see you again soon!
 December the last month of the year and a time for playing catch up on the farm as we continue to recover from such a long lasting cold. It was a time to deck the halls in prepration for the coming of Our Infant Lord on Christmas day. A time to plan gifts for loved one's and tidy up around the farm. Thanks for stopping by on such a special month! Welcome to our farm! In the Barnyard... In our little reading on lambs and experience with them before getting them no one mtioned how dirty they are! Our one goat seems to be nice and tidy yet these lambs seem to find every gross thing to get on them. The exciting adventure of a new farmer! This is Big Boy, who will soon be leaving us to go to the freezer. He is getting a wee bit pushy when it is time to put the food out.  Roscoe our only goat peeking over Little Bitty our Ewe. He is still busy trying to be king of the barn yard but these sheep are getting much bigger than him.  Our excitment for the month has been this vistor. He likes to hang out on the porch rather than his home across the street. Thankfully he isn't very agressive but he likes to make a mess near all the door ways and make sure his presence is known by doing what roosters do best.  This turkey, I mean turken is one of the most interesting chickens I"ve seen with his bright red bare neck. He is still a messy rooster.  Sorry no treats for you Big Boy and Little Bitty!  The pasture is still green, but its cooold and the grass isn't growing much. The chickens are quite happy though with all the wet and rain, it makes for some good worm feed.  A close up of one of our hens, she is watching you! In the Greenhouse ... Last month we caught bad colds and were not able to water the starts or get them in the ground for the winter garden. Sadly the greenhouse is resting. It is probably really good for the soil to rest but its been ruff not having fresh greens when ever we want them. We are making the best of this season to clean up and debug and get ready for planting in February.  Thanks to Justin Rhodes at Abundant Permaculture, we decided to put the chickens in the greehouse while it is 'resting' and let them clean up all the bugs and hopefully come spring, we won't have the pill bug infestation that we had last year. They certainly have plenty to eat out there!  And then..... there was snow! In Oregon some times we don't see one snow flake all year. This year seems to be making up for the drought that we had last year. Not wanting to see how much snow the greenhouse could hold we went and knocked it off the top.  And then it snowed again.... Around the Farm ... Despite the cold weather the mint is still growing like crazy and doesn't seem to mind the cold freezes. Like they say, you can't kill a mint plant. No kidding!  Every once in awhile the sun peeks out and these 'mountians sing'.   Some see weeds.... All this farmer's wife sees is a whole lot of blackberry tea! These blackberries are still hanging on in the cold. Fresh blackberry and mint tea must be in order.  We thought we had a never ending wood pile, but with a drought last year that thought is bound to creep in. This year our wood pile is dwendling quicker and quicker. It has been pretty cold outside!  And then.... snow... here though it doesn't stay around too long. In the Farm Kitchen... The greenhouse might be resting but our fall crop garden is still giving with an abundance of winter squash in storage.  Dehydrating mini oranges to decorate the Christmas tree with.  Pulling out strawberries from the freezer that were put up from the Spring Farmer's Market, time to make Strawberry Bread for Christmas breakfast!
Christmas Eve Dinner at our house is the most special part about our Christmas traditions. A three course vegetarian meal served after the reading of the Birth of our Infant God from the Bible. Afterwards we decorate our tree and stay up until Midnight when Christ was born. In the Farm House... December 6th brings St Nicholas to our house. In keeping with European traditions the feast of St. Nicholas is when he brings gifts and puts them in the children's wooden clogs. Complete with oranges, nuts and treats.  Wrapping hand towels for a family tradition... brown paper packages all tied up with string. And tea! A few of my favorite things...  Christmas morning, Christ our Saviour is born! Always a favorite tradition to put Baby Jesus in the crib that has been empty and waiting all the month of December.  Up in the mountians picking out a Christmas Tree... think we found just the one!
 Christmas inside the farm house, white and golden..... Merry Christmas from our farm to your home! In the Farm Store... Packing orders for the Christmas shopping season, some lovely things going out in the mail. We are so excited to a part of our customer's Christmas celebration knowing these healthful items are going to others.  Packing up a special order with a special gift wrapping request.  No these are not Christmas treats but a way to melt down the local bees wax that we use in our herbal salves and lip balms so that it is easier to weigh and measure. But they are beautiful and smell heavenly!  Thank you for stopping by the farm! We wish you and your family a blessed New Year in 2017 from our farm to your home! May has brought us green trees, green grass, blackberry weeds, and so much more growth in the greenhouse, the barnyard and the whole farm. We hope you enjoy your May visit down on the farm. Around the Barnyard ... The very beginning of May brought some new friends to our little farm. Two ram bummer lambs took over the inside of our barn. These little guys will be raised for the freezer as part of making our little micro farm sustainable and to help in raising our own food.  Please meet Tiny and Big Boy...  Socks got a little surprised and woken from his nap... ahhhh stretch! Nothing like a nap in the dirt.  Tiny and Big Boy get a break from their barn life to taste the green grass...  Big Boy enjoying his outdoor time...  Time for a bottle.... Pepsi the breakfast of champions ;) We started them out on lamb replacer and gradually changed them to half cows milk kefir, half formula and some raw scrambled chicken eggs with molasses.  Meet our little ewe lamb, Little Bitty... she was the last bummer lamb from the local lamb farm and left all along so of course we welcomed her to our farm. The future mother of our future freezer lambs.  Lambs out for a walk.... they follow where ever I go...  Spotted by the chickens who think they are going to get treats....  Getting bigger! Lambs introduction to the pasture, they thought follow the leader sounded like fun.  Farm Girl #1 visiting with our every growing lambs and Lucy the goat.  One of our two little farm kittens, not a fan of getting her picture taking. Our mama cat had two kittens last month. In the Greenhouse and Around the Farm... Our busy greenhouse at the beginning of the month, packed with peas, cabbage, carrots, chicory, kale, beets, fennel, radishes and lettuce.  So excited to see cabbage heads forming!  After burning our summer crops in the greenhouse last year we broke down and put a shade cover on the hoop house. Its amazing how well it works and it keeps the temps down 10-20 degrees.  Seed shelf built by the Farmer to keep the pill bugs away from our seedlings. Its working great!  Baby seedlings growing big for our summer garden...  Little Lady in the greenhouse enjoying some sunshine!  Our two grape vines are looking like they will fruit on this, their second year.  Foraging for black berry leaves for our Bloom'n Hibiscus Loose Leaf Tea.  Blooms showing up in our Mary Garden...  Roses, lavender and chamomile from our Mary Garden.  Our Floral Repose Tea bouquet, one of the few teas that we grow many of the tea ingredients in our yard. A great caffeine free night time tea drunk to assist with restful sleep.  In the Farm Kitchen ... Haskap Berry Whole Wheat Sourdough Muffins for Sunday breakfast.  A small but beautiful haskap berry harvest from our few plants.  Our first spring salad all from our garden and farm. Kale, haskap berries, steamed eggs, and peas.  Abundance of eggs brings us weekly frittatas, quick and easy dinner- just add green salad!  First radishes and carrots from the greenhouse.... love those Easter Egg Radishes!  Another all garden/farm produced salad.... snap peas, carrots, radishes, steamed eggs and kale.  Sourdough Whole Wheat Scones with haskap berriers grown on our farm and some dairy free whipped cream. With tea of course!  Whole Wheat Sourdough Pizza, a little treat not out of our garden but made for special company.  Fermenting green haskap berries, they turned out great! They taste like something between green olives and capers.  Curry Chicken Pasta, kale and strawberry salad and local sourdough bread... dinner down on the farm.
 Local spray-free strawberries brought us a morning of making freezer jam. A great and easy project for our Farm Girls, a home ec. lesson.  The Feast of Corpus Christi brings us cross cut bread, red wine, grapes and roast lamb as we celebrate and remember the Last Supper and Holy Eucharist. In the Farm Store and at the Market ... The start of May found us packing up a whole sale order for a new cafe opening in McMinnville, Oregon called, Mommies Minis. You will find some of our teas served there, some for purchase and our mother's and children's line of herbal care along with some great fun for the children. Make sure to check it out when they open.  Our 'how to brew loose leaf tea' station at the Salem Saturday Market.   Introducing Dog Salve for your doggie friends available in our shop and at the Salem Saturday Market.  This month we spent time repacking tea into our new bags, blending new batches and taking photo shoots. Here is our Peppermint Patty Loose Leaf Tea which makes an excellent iced drink.   Our Marsala Chai Tea was next on the photo shoot list. This is one of our two caffeinated teas and very lovely for a cold rainy day. We spruced it up a bit and turned it into a latte using our French Press to make some frothy milk. Yum!  Noggin Tea for when you need some ginkgo to assist with brain function be it studying or planning your crop rotation, its a 'smart' choice for tea drinking time.  Our first Salem Saturday Market at the start of May went so well we turned our six dates into 12! A little cold, no rain but a good day for loose leaf tea!  Introducing our newest loose leaf tea to enter the farm store! Our Haskap Berry Pie Tea Blend is made with locally grown haskap berries courtesy of Dr. Maxine Thompson of OSU. These blueberry like berries pack a higher antioxidant punch and make this cup of tea taste like blueberry pie in a glass. Grab your bag online or at the Salem Saturday Market. This one will only hang around as long as the berries last!   Coming soon! Our Herbal First Aid Kit which will included a 1 oz tin each of Arnica, Calendula, Plantain and Joint/Back Salve complete with a card on what to use and when! We will also have these lovely lavender sachets available at the Salem Saturday Market, filled with home grown lavender for keeping clear moths from closets and dressers or freshening up a bathroom. Make sure to check out our Farm Store to see what is new! Thanks for visiting us Down on the Farm!  Its been a busy busy April and May is just busier! Our apologies for the mid month, rather than the beginning of the month farm update. Without further ado.... here is what we have been up to.... In the Greenhouse ... The greenhouse at the beginning of April, spring is just getting a start here.  Here come our sugar snap pea blooms, so beautiful!   The radishes are coming out nice and plump with only a few critters taking some bites. These were a lovely addition to our nightly green salad! Maybe we should call it garden salad instead....  Goodies from the farm from this particular day, beet leaves, a few baby beets and some fresh eggs. Thank you chickens!  Our cabbage getting a little too much warmth in the hot hoop house, doesn't look like it will probably give us a cabbage head but we shall see.  Our cabbage patch.... not dolls, but food :D  The rainbow chard is looking beautiful!  Kale Brocoli? The kale is trying to flower in all the heat we had but it goes great in salads any way!  The end of April in the hoop house has quite the growth going on, spring is here for sure! Around the Farm... I spy with my little eye a HASKAP! Exciting to see our first fruits of the season. These lovely blueberrish treats are similar to blueberries but they are from Japan/Russia and are a more tart elongated version of the blueberry. We were blessed with many of these plants and hope they continue to grow!  A few more berry sitings.....   These lovelies went into a batch of kombucha!  Our wild grown comphrey patch. They are beautiful to booth and great for muscle soreness. In the Barnyard ... Fat fat Mama Cat.... getting ready to have her babies!  Rocco you crazy goat! I don't have any treats for you!!!  Speaking of babies, turns out she was really ready to have them. Three tiny kittens, sadly one of them was malformed and didn't make it more than a week. We are glad that he didn't have to suffer longer poor little guy. The Fermentation Station ... Kimchee fermenting on the counter, a staple in our house for scrambled eggs and anything else!  Purple Kraut, for those who don't like spicy kimchee.  The haskaps from above fermenting away in their kombucha brew.  Everyone has a fermenting shelf right? Ok so maybe its time to eat some of that and make space.... Fermented beets, fermented jalapeños from last summer, a bunch of cherry tomatoes from last summer (red and green), kraut of a couple kinds and some mixed veggies and our sour dough starter. At least I'll know that they make it a year.. hehe.  Meet our scoby... this is what makes our kombucha tea ferment. Looks kinda crazy like a mushroom but its a colony of bacteria and yeast that help brew our brew. I accidentally made one of these when putting orange peels in vinegar... though that was a vinegar scoby. Makes for a great science experiment!  Straining some finished kombucha brew from its second ferment, looks like some yummy Bloom'n Hibiscus! Our Daily Sourdough, a Class of Its Own... Two loaves a day keeps hungry tummies away....  Love this crusty loaf great with a bowl of soup on a cloudy day. There are still a few of those left but not many.  In the Farm Kitchen ... Curried Chicken a la pressure cooker  Weekly quiche provided by our barnyard chickens.  The garden is my paint palate... a couple of our nightly salads from April. All out of the garden accept for the broccoli and strawberries..   Blending up a green kefir smoothie for an afternoon snack with some frozen blueberries from our u-pick adventure last year. What's New in the Farm Store ... In April our tea was featured by world renowned florist, Katie Davis, from Ponderosa and Thyme. Our beautiful Floral Repose Tea here traveled from Salem Oregon to England as a gift to her workshop participants. I'd say a florists touch did our tea pretty good. Thank you Katie again!  It started with the Arnica...... we have been busy rebranding our labels. This was the first one to get its make over. That also means some fresh inventory in stock!  We added some dog salve to our shop for our doggy friends! Great for snouts, skin and paws. Where ever doggy skin needs attention due to dryness, itching, or wound healing. Click photo for more information.  Our first Salem Saturday Market was a blast and Salem was very welcoming. The weather perhaps not cheerful and sunny but we didn't get rained on!  Our products are made by hand from the bottom up.... from design, to printing, to packaging and everything in the package... sealed with love and prayer. Here is a look at our new Belly Balm Labels. Click photo for more info.  Our Beard Balm is sporting a new label and a fancy photo shoot, check it out by clicking on the photo.  Our popular Joint and Back Salve has lovely cayenne pepper in it to help bring heat and circulation to your painful muscles. Read more about this salve by clicking the photo.  The end of April took us to the Salem Armory in Oregon joining fellow artisans from the Salem Etsy Team showing off our goods.  Inspired by Ponderosa and Thyme's lovely photo of our tea we decided not only to give our salves a new photo shoot but update our tea photos as well. Pictured above is our Farmer's Wife Tea Blend, a light green and raspberry tea that is especially good for women health. Pictured below is our Floral Repose Tea, wonderful not just for looks but as a relaxing night time tea. It also works great for teething toddlers!   A close up of our Floral Repose.... we nick name it the Pretty Tea  The warmer days are coming so its time to break out the Bloom'n Hibiscus Tea! Our favorite summer sun tea sweated with some local raw honey. Click the photos to order yours today!  That wraps up April down on the farm! We will see you in a couple of short weeks with our whirlwind May updates. Harvesting season is upon us and planting season for Summer as well!! May God bless you and keep you and thanks for visiting down on the farm!
Outdoor on the farm ... A beautiful sunny (yet cold) day on the farm along with a shot of our fencing project. Hopefully soon this portion of the pasture will be home to a beef cow. The goats will also be happy to have some where to roam untethered!  The green house BEFORE the frost hit. I'm afraid between the chickens and the frost our late season green bean experiment was a bust. And its too cold even in the green house for most things to be growing! We have a very slow growing spinach patch and some lettuce with some beets but it is not looking as productive as last year.  A tree across from the farm that stands out from the rest, we affectionately refer to it as the "burning bush". It has since lost its leaves but it was beautiful while it lasted. In the kitchen … Pinot Noir grapes from Thistle Vineyard. Time to make some juice….   Cooking, smashing (no not with my feet) and straining grapes.  While I didn't make wine with the Pino Noir (I leave that up to the vintners) we used some of our juice to flavor our kombucha! It seems to be a favorite now. Also pictured is some cultured Christmas Kraut- we will consume before Christmas and make another batch.  This is why kombucha is opened over the sink. Our first batch of ginger peach kombucha was… well, a little explosive! The kitchen smelled like ginger and peaches for a bit.  Lots of homemade sourdough rolls and 4 mini loaves for our big family dinner.  Ube (Purple Yam) Pie in the making, are they not pretty?!  Note to self: leave out the molasses next time, it turned that pretty purple brown but it still tasted good! What's New in the Farm Shop ... Holiday Bazaar season is here! Our first event was at Marian Estates in Sublimity, Oregon. It was a great day for a cup of hot tea!  Speaking of tea! We have been stocking our shop with inventory and new products with the holiday shopping season in full swing. Check out one of our latest winter themed teas - Gingerbread Spice. It is a relation to a decaf chai with a flavor reminiscent gingerbread and cookies!  Have any manly tea drinkers in your home? No? This might turn their heads, maybe get them to give it a try. Our new Bullets and Beans Green Tea is a fabulous blend of gunpowder green tea with spearmint and a twist of chocolate. It is similar to our Peppermint Patty tea in that its flavor is like that of a chocolate covered mint but more like a Moroccan Green Tea. Click to read more about Bullet and Bean Tea!  While this listing has been in our shop for a while we made up a new batch of Bloom'n Hibiscus Tea complete with some updated photos of the tea and a cup of it (any excuse to try out a cup of tea ;) ). This lovely red tea is warming with a slight raspberry twist.  Introducing our Farmer's Wife New Mother Gift Set. Your choice of two teas- Farmer's Wife Blend for women or Ma's Tummy Tea great for nausea along with some Farmer's Wife Belly Balm, Farmer's Wife Nursing Salve and Baby Bum and Body Balm! Click to view in our shop for more details.  A gift set for the men! Some of that yummy Bullets and Bean Tea with our special Sandlwood Deodorant made with powdered sugar and some Stubble Patch Beard Balm. Herbal sophistication!  This is what a lot of peppermint leaves and cocoa nibs looks like! Oh I say about 2 five gallon buckets of peppermint and 1 five gallon bucket of cocoa nibs. It made the kitchen smell wonderful! We have been busy prepping an order for Prospurly! Do you have your subscription yet? www.Prospurly.com  Filling tea tins with our Organic Loose Leaf Peppermint Patty Tea!  This is small business hand crafting in our small kitchen! A little motivation to build the addition to our home ;)  Filling tins with our lovely Winter Balm- the sweet smells of frankincense and cinnamon filled our kitchen! Another item going in next months Prospurly box! Click to purchase your winter balm in our Etsy shop!
 Vanilla Coffee Hard Lotion Bars! These yummy smelling items will be featured at our two craft shows, not yet for sale in our Etsy shop. They smell good enough to eat! Come visit us to try one out. Check out our Event Page for details. Thanks for stopping by the farm... Please read about our farm's patron, St. Fiacre HERE. Enjoy some garden bounty today in his honor and ask him to watch over your garden and abundance! Today we also share our August happenings around the farm in hopes we can establish at least a monthly farm update as we did last year. The farm store should also re-open soon with a few new items and updates. Thank you for your patience as our family has been recovering from illnesses and business of life! In the Hoop house… |
 Beans in their two leaf stage. |  Baby kale coming on up! |
Our busy out of control tomatoes, most of the beef steak and roma tomatoes had blight and haven't done much but become goat treats.
In the Hoop house…
end of August
Our hoop house the end of August, still busy with tomatoes! We planted about 33 tomato plants intending to move them outside… but when the gardner is out sick… the tomato plants get bushy!
After four weeks our bean plants are doing super well! (Thank you St. Fiacre for answered prayers!) One of those bean runners is already half way up its string and leafing! Come October we will probably be canning many jars of beans!
Come back Kale…. we planted this Kale last September when we first put our hoop house in and I"ve been cutting it down to almost nothing and it keeps coming back.
Cucumbers we planted the same time as our beans, looking for a trellis to climb… a project on my list...
Tomatillo globe, so pretty! Looks like the bugs have attacked the plants...
Over abundant tomatillo plants, this is only TWO plants. If all those blossoms fruit we will have plenty of salsa verde.
Our hopp'n hop plant! About time to harvest those.
Harvest time!
While our roma tomatoes are few and far between (and growing in odd shapes) and our steak tomatoes almost non existent we have an ABUNDANCE of cherry/plum tomatoes. Not enough for sauce but enough for fresh eating and dehydrating.
Our garden is not doing too much but we have been blessed with produce from friends and family. These lovely plums came from my in-laws. Great for fresh eating… maybe if there is more some jam.
Lemon Cucumbers from my husbands work (they are blessed with a decent garden there). These were not overly popular and were stacking up so we took our lemons and made….
Lemon Cucumber Pickles! This before processing, are they not beautiful! They will be a treat come November.
In the APOTHECARY...
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All natural vanilla scented lip balm, a special order for my sister-in-laws wedding favors. There were some extra too that in the near future will be sporting a St. Fiacre's label and for sale in our Etsy shop!
in the barn- fur and feathers
Our youngest son posing with one of our Road Island Red's
Our two pigmy goats, Lucy and Rosco… not wanting their picture taken.
touring a vinyard
My mom bought a pinot noir vineyard a few months ago and we were taking a tour. Grapes are just beautiful!
Home sweet home
in the kitchen …
We finished off the box of pears and apples this last week… this is my little apple picker. For only two front (bottom) teeth she does good damage to an apple!
Our second harvest of chives from our two new chive plants this spring. Into the dehydrator they go! Speaking of which they have been in there a few days… time to take them out!
The base of two new salves- Winter Balm; a wonderful cinnamon and frankincense balm (boy it smells great!) and a lymph salve with bay laurel, lemon grass and frankincense.
Our first, and probably our only, all garden salad! Between the green house and the last of a few things outside we were able to make a dinner salad with only produce from our garden. Lettuce and radishes from the green house, tomatoes, red bell pepper, and zucchini from the outdoor garden.
Despite our cabbage looper infestation last week, I think we have managed to get it under to control (so long as no eggs they left hatch!) and the lettuce is looking beautiful!
The front of our green house… I don't remember if the rosemary plants were in any of the previous pictures. The pots came from a second hand store and I transplanted the rosemary from our herb garden as it was being over taken by our mint plants.
School went a little long today so the opening of the green house doors was later than it should have been. No one here in Oregon would know it was October because its been about 80 degrees and the greenhouse must have been around 90 today. The humidity was very high in there. (Time for a thermometer in the green house!)
The plants are all growing like crazy in this heat and even the lettuce that the cabbage loopers demolished last week shows signs of recovery. We planted a second round of lettuce between the ones they attacked.
We harvested two rounds of radishes this week and planted another batch where we removed these ones.
Round 2 of radishes… too many to eat before they go bad so they are now sliced up and fermenting on the counter. They should be great in salads and I have read not with so much bite either.
The spinach is looking happy and it probably won't be long before we are harvesting this along with more radishes. Thanks for stopping by this week!
In the Kitchen …
Beautiful huge kraut cabbages… I refrained from bringing one home because we would never be able to eat it all. Maybe some day when we have a root cellar and some where to ferment it for a long time ...
Canning adds up jar by jar… we have been moving around things trying to make it all fit in the spaces we have. Not the ideal place for jars but it will have to do.
Homemade Sour kraut on organic all beef (no nitrate) hot dogs on sourdough buns. It was pretty good… even my child with the sweet tooth asked for more kraut!
Fermentation trial #2. I think I went a little long on the souring again other wise they are pretty good, Its nice to have a natural probitoic food.
In the Garden …
Sadly this is my before… everything green and growing…
This is the after…. after the cabbage loopers attacked the middle bed of lettuce and are working on the others.
Cabbage looper 1 of 32…. prayerfully we can spot them before they take out the whole garden.
Our poor lettuce… someone's very hearty lunch
Harvesting the squash, not too bad of a turn out.
The squash did better than the potatoes… I don't think we got more than we planted and they are tiny little 1/2 inch to 1 inch in size.
Lil' spuds
In the Herbal Shop …
Coming soon to our tea inventory … Peppermint Patty. Peppermint tea with cocoa nibs… yum!
the wood pile …
Big project #2 after the green house… splitting logs for firewood.
Piece by piece.. .. cord by cord ...
Counting the rings… a wood cutting lesson for the children
Our big pile o logs!
In the farm shop …
Ok so these are not in our shop yet but they should be this coming week. Also coming soon are a line of lip balms and a few more salves as we gear up for the Stayton Christmas and Craft Bazaar on December 6th. Also coming soon are a few tea infusers to use with our loose leaf teas and sample sizes. Please keep a look out in our shop for new items!
Warming Chai is great for fall and winter (even iced for summer and spring!) A great daily help for protection against cold/flu season and many of the herbs work as a digestive aide. Perfect with some milk (non dairy is our favorite) and a natural sweetener such as real maple syrup, raw honey etc. Even the children love it!
A warming green tea, this Orange Jasmine is similar to Tazo's Orange Blossom Tea. Complete with calming chamomile and sweet goji berries.
In the greenhouse …
We have been having overly warm weather here in Oregon but the rain has shown up this week. I think many of us Oregonian's are welcoming the cooler weather.
Last week we shared with you the greenhouse once the plastic went up and over. And just a week later….
… and here we are a week later, talk about some happy plants! They have doubled or more in size and are coming along just great.
Our radishes that are getting close to harvest!
Rutabagas!
Carrots! and a some lettuce that snuck in ...
Very happy lettuce!
Sadly all that warm heat we ended up with some surface mold which hopefully by removing and adding some cinnamon we can clear up. We will have to get air moving through their better next time there is so much heat.
In the kitchen …
Whole Wheat Freshly Ground Sugar Cookies for the Feast of St. Linus
Our first vegetable ferment- cabbage, carrot and zucchini sauerkraut. Day 2 brings us some bubbles and life… we will let you know next week how it went.
This picture is way more forgiving that this weeks kitchen flop (Sourdough Pizza Ring). I forgot I usually make braids on a silicon sheet on the pan I'm using to bake and went and filled this then tried to move it. Half of it just fell apart. Thanks to St. Anthony it was still edible!
Our tomatoes are turing red in a hurry so we put them to use this week …
Chopped and into the crock pot they go!
A few hours later and a stick blender and we have tomato sauce! Next time I need to cook out some of the water or add tomato paste as it was a little watery.
Canning… Marionberry/Raspberry Jam
Herbed Sourdough Breadsticks read for the oven...
Curried Pumpkin Soup with leftover Herbed Sourdough Bread sticks…. a great lunch for a cold (cooler) day.
The Greenhouse and garden …
And the plastic goes up!
Interior after the plastic is up.
From the top gardens looking down, sure makes it look bigger!
Chili Peppers
Tomatoes- still not enough to can but too many to eat. I think its salsa mak'n time this weekend.
Pastic goes up on the doors, just the handles and the latch left… and some decorating ;-)
Downhill side view…. we are planning on moving some of those really productive strawberries along the side there of the greenhouse.
Inside shot a few days later, those are some happy plant starts… and weeds! Though my little helper took care of those weeds today.
Super happy lettuce! It won't be long now :D
Produce from one of the days this week… its probably a good thing our 3-4 zucchini plants keep getting a fungus or I'd be over whelmed with zucchini!
in the kitchen …
Not much going on in the kitchen this week other than the usual meals, sour dough muffins etc. Though we did take this silly salad to a relatives for dinner. Grandma's potato salad recipe cannot be without a veggie face!
our furry friends …
Baby kittens are so sweet… but they must soon find a home. Any one local need a kitty?!
Tired mama cat!
Free game for the children!
Click to download this free file folder game PDF for the children to help them learn how to multiply 7's and 8's! Addition one coming soon.
Green house progress …
The frames of the doors on the far end of the greenhouse were completed last week. Its been a bit of a challenge to use the scrap wood that was given to us but we are making do and are grateful for the gift.
Its so exciting to see the lettuce and other things sprouting up! It will not be too long before we are harvesting again.
Now that the whole greenhouse is planted it has me thinking of the next seasons crop. A four season growing season is something to get use to!
HEllooooo sunshine! Makes for happy plants. Our green house plastic arrived this week, guess what we are doing on Saturday?!?! yay!
in the garden …
The last tomato I found had a little finger sticking off the top…. that was pretty weird until finding this. Any ideas what causes a tomato to grow arms and look like a raw chicken?! Or maybe its a rabbit with ears…. I might just have to draw a face on him ;-)
These tomatoes look more normal. I just wish that I would have known not to give them so much water so they would ripen up better. I'm still working on that green thumb ;) Its a good thing my husband is the real gardener! If all else failed I see lots of fried green tomatoes and green tomato salsa in our future.
Some volunteer pumpkins turning orange on our greenhouse hillside.
This big guy was planted intentionally… I'm not sure if he gets bigger or if the leaves are dying off and looking smaller….
A few more orange treasures… almost time to harvest!
What I found in the garden today… the top part of that one looks pretty harmless amongst the leaves until you discover the big bulb at the end! The little two were eaten at lunch!
Zucchini? Check! Tomatoes? Check! Must make zucchini/tomato/black bean/avacado and corn salad! YUM!
This didn't turn out so well because of the sun but this is some huge horsetail growing wild out in the field, its probably 3 feet tall. Great for sticking in the bath for a sore back! Good for bones and joints etc...
Also not a great picture but this is our wild cattail patch (yes I know HORESEtail and CATtail all in one yard). I've read you can eat all parts of the cat tail but we have not tried it yet… something about those little fuzzes on my tongue just isn't that appealing yet.
Our crazy cayenne 'tree' sending us a ripe cayenne pepper or two a day. Socks here wanted lots of attention today, he was hard to keep out of the way. Such a friendly kitty!
In the kitchen …
Pickling cucumbers just chill'n waiting for the canning jar
The pickling adventure…. to make a long story short there should have been twice this many jars but the produce never made it that far. Live and learn! Love'n those Tattler lids though! I even read they improved them so there is no loose fit during processing and then tightening needed after processing. They work just like metal lids now. Guess I bought mine a little too soon!
Special order salve - now in our shop under Granny's Everything Salve! Click for more details.
Our feline friends …
Mama cat was trying to wrangle up the 6 kittens today to take them hunting… I'm afraid they were not being very compliant and her look shows it. Poor mama!
Socks the extra friendly cat…. he sure wanted attention today… at least until he ran under my feet and got stepped on. Why is it cats do that any how?! At any rate he is a good buddy to have when watering.
A tiny one waiting on the door step after my watering… he didn't know what to think of the phone in his face. The children refer to this one as 'baby Socks' because he has the same colorings as the cat above.
Tomorrow we will announce the winner of our Baby Bum and Body Balm giveaway! Make sure you enter on last weeks post.
Also today is the last day to get FREE SHIPPING on your order, use coupon code 2014FIACREOPEN
In December we will be hosting a booth at the Stayton Christmas and Craft Bazaar at Stayton Middle School here in Oregon. The bazaar is on December 6th from 9-3pm. We would love to see you there! We are hoping to sample some of our tea and run a little give away.
Also today is the last day to get FREE SHIPPING on your order, use coupon code 2014FIACREOPEN
In December we will be hosting a booth at the Stayton Christmas and Craft Bazaar at Stayton Middle School here in Oregon. The bazaar is on December 6th from 9-3pm. We would love to see you there! We are hoping to sample some of our tea and run a little give away.
our patron and namesake …
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| On Saturday we had our 'grand opening' and also celebrated the Feast of St. Fiacre the patron of Gardener's and our little farm's namesake. We had fruit filled cornucopias, garden salad (with fresh garden tomatoes) and 'garden' pizza from from our favorite local pizzeria, Panzenellies! | 
Download a free picture book about st. fiacre here! |
In the kitchen …
Breakfast! I know exciting right?! Its been so busy on the farm I forgot to take pictures this week you sort of get a day in the life of ;-) Homemade sour dough english muffins with homemade blueberry (sugar free) chia jam and a cup o tea in my favorite tea mug.
Honey Cinnamon Pears canned with Tattler's reusable lids. Thanks to my sis in law these ones did not spill over and make a sticky mess, though I did have one seal fail. Still learning how to use the Tattlers. The pears were a gift and a gift they will be to our table come winter time!
Our little shop is open and our first order out in the mail! Some Noggin' Tea and Farmer's Wife blend to a sweet friend. Click for more details on our tea.
In the garden …
We have doors framed in! Yay! The debate is over using plastic to close them in or wood. We have been using gifted scrap lumber for a lot of the building but ran out so now we are up to buying either one or the other leaning towards the plastic.
The end wall at the opposite end also got put up over the long weekend and the door frame will be next on that end. 7 of our 9 boxes have been planted. Lots of lettuce, kale, beets, carrots, and cilantro with some turnips, chard and radishes still waiting to be planted.
Pablo lettuce is coming up!
Cilantro sprouting…
Our over grown herb garden! Time to transplant a few herbs before the mint takes them all over.
Every few days we have a new chili pepper ready to pick and go into the dehydrator for our spice storage. That and maybe a cayenne muscle salve or two ;-)
Oh strawberries, you have been neglected… they need to find a new home very soon…
If it were not for my 'green thumb' we might have enough of these beauties to be canning now but I seem to be an over ambitious pruner when it comes to tomatoes and took the tops right out of them. One year I'll get it right! For now our 8 tomato plants are just enough to give us a few every couple of days.
Fall is coming quickly, so many large pine cones around we gathered a bunch to save for winter crafting.
With a wee bit of rain the calendulas are super happy this week, they make for a beautiful view our our dining room! Pretty and useful at the same time!
View out the dining room window… now if only the whole hill side looked like this instead of black berry brambles… some day…
farm animals …
Aren't they cute?! They were just sitting there posing for me… well for long enough to get this one before they scattered. Its too bad they don't stay so small soon they will have to find new homes before we have a cat farm.
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I know it doesn't look this way but these are two different kittens, twins! The children call them 'baby mama cat' 1 and 2 since they look just like mama other than the blue eyes. All the kittens have climbed out of their little box and have been exploring around the house.
giveaway!
Enter to win a free 4 oz tin of Baby Bum and Body Balm. Our tried and true diaper salve used on many little baby bums in the past. A salve we use personally here in our house, clothe diaper friendly and chemical free! Just leave a comment on the blog post about what brings you to St. Fiacre's Farm and what you look forward to seeing here on our blog or in our shop! Giveaway ends September 11th, 2014 12 pm.
The Hoop House …
The sides/doors are going up on the hoop house! A few more weeks and it should be closed in just in time for fall.
2/3 of the green house are planted with hopes of finishing up the end of this week. So far we have 3 kinds of lettuce started, carrots, cilantro and kale.
We have baby lettuce! Its exciting to see something growing in the hoop house!
In the Garden …
Amongst the grassy field lies our small pumpkin patch with a few large pumpkins.
This one takes the cake from the four that are growing. Nice big and round… has me wishing I would have planted pie pumpkins to eat though this should give some pretty good snacking seeds!
Red Hot Chili Peppers and I don't mean the band. Our two loaded plants are ripening up and getting ready to fill our spice cupboard.
farm animals …
Our newest batch of kittens are getting big! Look at all those BLUE eyes!!! A few weeks from now they will be finding new homes and we will be back down to "just" our 6 cats…..
in the kitchen ….
The lavender finally was processed and the stems were turned into fire starters using a left over burlap rice bag and some twine.
Our sourdough is really happy lately with the double batches of english muffins and so it made for some good cinnamon rolls. Fresh whole ground wheat sour dough- refined sugar and dairy free. Some coconut sugar fills the middle with a little drizzle of raw honey and lots of cinnamon. A double batch of these did not last long around here… especially with their carmel coating on the bottom. Thanks GNOWFGLINS for a super recipe!
Sour dough on the rise for that double batch of english muffins. Its so fun to see those large air bubbles and happy starter… that means good muffins!
We canned the last batch of peaches this week with one jar failing… we enjoyed it for breakfast. A good trial to see (now that we are done) perhaps a bit more honey would have made these peaches better.
In the farm store …
We have been working on adding teas to our shop this week in anticipation of our grand opening on Saturday. Check out our Bloom'n Hibiscus Blend great for cooling off in the last days of summer. Especially good iced with some raw honey this red blend also goes great with lemonade. Click picture for pricing and details.
Farmer's Wife blend is perfect for the woman of the house featuring green rooibos and nettle leaf with some bloom'n sweetness! For more details click on the picture.
In the kitchen …
Sour Dough Breakfast Braid in the making! Blueberry & Cream Cheese for the Feast of Our Lady's Assumption into Heaven.
In the garden …
A dump truck load of top soil and compost for the green house raised garden beds. Thank you Fresh to You Produce in Stayton!
Time to start shoveling …
One more helper and a couple more in the peanut gallery.
A lot of boxes to fill!
After a few days of hard work shoveling all the garden soil is in the garden boxes! Doesn't it look pretty?!
Some racking and smoothing out the garden beds and in go the first 1/3 of the seeds for this falls planting!
A top view from the upper garden beds.
Some Pablo Lettuce was planted in 2/3 of one of the boxes along with another 1/3 in another kind of lettuce with more seeds on the way. We also planted some cilantro and kale.
The calendula in our Mary Garden are still bloom'n- they get clipped every other day and then they come back. That is my kind of flower!
Into the dehydrator they go! Great for making tea, salves and soaps, one of our favorite herbal flowers!
Our jalapeño "tree" is still producing like crazy. Thankfully the tomatoes are coming on so its salsa time!
The upper garden beds are doing great, time to move some strawberries leaves or clip to dehydrate for tea… or some herbal creation ;-) The potatoes are getting tall and the tomatoes red.
I spy… an ever bearing strawberry… there are a few random types of this plant in our collection. Just enough for a rare snack!
The Farm animals …
A couple pictures of our newest kittens, their eyes are open now! A few more weeks and they get to find their new homes.
mystery plant & giveaway …
Enter our giveaway! The first commenter who can tell me what this wild plant is wins their choice of a 2 oz of salve/balm! Please leave your guess below in the comment box. All guesses will be verified in order to win.
In the garden …
We have hoops over our 'hoop house'! This weekend we should have the center garden boxes in and have them filled with soil. Yay!
Our herbal garden box above the greenhouse.
Domestics …
We are blogging about our homeschool over at Sanctus Simplicitus' Education Blog, take a tour of our school area and curriculum by clicking on the picture.
In the Kitchen …
Canning approx. 10 lbs of peaches… there were a lot more in there BUT.. hmmm, someone ate them?
Honey Peaches (sugar free) with Tattler reusable lids! Tutorial coming in the future ;-)
Yes…. those are arborvitae stems in my food processor… strange I know. They are very high in vit. C and they are great anti-vitals. Perfect for ….
TEA! This is a work in progress tea blend I'm making for my hubby.
The lone sour dough pancake… I'm not sure why I didn't take a picture of the heaping stack but here is one puffy pancake. With the increase in our sour dough muffins these last weeks the sour dough starter is super happy…. which makes for super fluffy pancakes! Have a blessed week!
In the kitchen …
Non-Alcoholic Peach Rita - AKA Lime Juice and Peach Smoothie with a touch of orange flavoring :D Perfect for our 90 degree weather
Our daily bread…. I've been making double batches every other day. Its an easy go to for sandwich bread and makes the right size for little hands.
'Lo Mein' with spaghetti noodles, a quick dinner on a hot night with some garden zucchini
Flash freezing peaches from a local farm (for that margarita above!)
Oh and a few peaches for this dairy and sugar free ice cream made with coconut milk and maple syrup.
In the garden …
The tomatoes are starting to come on and the plants are loaded! YAY! Nothing says summer like a fresh garden tomato.
They are turning red and there should be a few ready just in time for our Assumptia Salad for next weeks Feast of the Assumption!
Our strawberry plants have gone wild, sending runners out and over the garden box. It must be time to relocate some strawberries!
A couple of green peppers on our plant getting close to harvest time.
Tea time …
Passion Tea Blend … Lovely Hibiscus with home grown spearmint and a hint of lemon flavor… perfect for a hot summer day along with some raw local honey. (Coming to our store at the end of the month!)
Yesterday was tea blending day. This is a new tea, that I have yet to taste test. Welcome Orange Jasmine Tea Blend…. a green tea with a hint of orange and goji berries.
The farm animals …
Our 6 cats became 12 this week with another batch of kittens. These ones will need to find new homes when they are old enough as we have enough mousers on our property. Today mama cat relocated them from under the barn to the side of the house. We found them a nice safe box to call their new home. Aren't they cute?!
The calendula are in full bloom!
in the garden…
Harvesting chives, oregano and marjoram from the herb garden.
I'm getting really excited about our hoop house! This week it went from a frame to having some visible garden beds leaving me to imagine just what we might start planting in there. Lettuce for the fall/winter is top on our list, we love our salads! Next spring some echinacea and other medicinal plants that like the warm weather to get started also. There will be another row of garden boxes down the middle as well and maybe some shelving over the top of some of the side beds that have shorter plants so that we can grow starts.
Wild plumbs
Jalapeno's from the herb garden, made for some lovely peach salsa!
Pickling cucumbers, not quite enough to can but enough for a few jars of quick pickled cucumber salad
in the kitchen …
Our new Lavender Leisure Tea Blend with beautiful flowers from the garden patch; lavender, chamomile, calendula and rose petals.
Preparing some mint to go into storage.
Chewy chives, all cut up and in the dehydrator!
Not sure what to call this so we will go with - pickle experiment- Sort of a combo of a quick pickle salad I found and the idea of maybe canning them. Perhaps we will try the salad and then see how it goes!
Mama and baby pickle? These two little guys grew one right on the other.
Our St. Anne's Feast Day meal (some of it), Lillies at the Golden Gate Salad, watermelon (red and green for St. Anne) and red hibiscus tea (our Blossom'n Tea Blend). We also had chicken salad sandwiches with red cranberries and green spinach to keep with our color scheme.
Domestics …
Roses for St. Anne's Feast Day, I just love how they smell and beautiful to boot!
My dear friend made me this beautiful apron with pockets so I have some where to stash things when working outside. She even stitched St. Fiacre's Farm on it, she is so sweet!
Veggie dumplings and garlic green beans, a little rain down on the farm this week brings back some warm comfort food to the kitchen.
In the herbal kitchen …
Work in progress… lavender to dry, herbs hanging, blue berries to pack away welcome to our kitchen.
Processing lavender for storage, stripping flowers from stems for future use in tea, salves and soaps.
Two different salves cooling; one for use on joints and the back the other is our floral garden salve with its beautiful rose smell.
Our special deodorant salve, the best working all natural salve my husband says works better than anything else he has ever used. And the secret ingredient…….
Powdered Suger!!! The sugar mixes with bacteria which is what causes the smell… this little bit of sugar goes a long way. Our 2 oz salve soon to enter the store lasts 4-6 months.
Experimenting with our deodorant to get it into a roll on tube, we will keep you posted on how it turns out.
wildcrafting in the yard …
Chamomile
Clover
Plantain
Mystery Plant #1, do you know your 'weeds'?
Mystery Plant #2 (the big stalky one)
My hubby brought me flowers, isn't he sweet! He harvested this lavender from plants at his work and I spent some time this week processing it and thinking up ways to use it. Tea, salves…. soaps! Coming to the shop soon of course.
Clipping flower tops for the dehydrator and savings the stems for fire starter.
in the kitchen …
Decocting some more elderberry syrup… its a great concentrate for a cold tea on a hot summer day.
A box of lovely peaches from a local farm waiting to be eaten, it made for some lovely peach shortcake.
Another trip to the blueberry farm has our counters loaded! These ones are going into the freezer and maybe another Kale Blueberry Salad and some scones.
The marjoram plant that we transplanted this spring is recovering well and blooming.
The calendula's are blooming! When we moved from town I missed leaving my 4x4 foot bed of prolific calendula but here they are coming back in their new home. For a person with a black thumb these are one of the easiest things to grow. They are not too picky about their soil or water so long as they get lots of sun. And they are edible, make a wonderful tea and great item to have in the medicine cabinet especially for cuts/scrapes/burns and anything to help soothing and calming.
Jalapeños! I"ve never successfully grown any sort of pepper but this plant is looking rather promising so long as no deer or children get a hold of them. They should make some excellent salsa when the tomatoes start coming on.
in the dehydrator …
Lovely lavender, beautiful rose petals and the first calendula flowers!
No room in the dehydrator for this stash of herbs! They are hang drying on our pantry door which usually stores my aprons. Some wild harvested chamomile and our first trimming off of our ONE peppermint plant! The peppermint plant was a new addition this spring and it took off overly well. A wonderful smelling herb to harvest and makes an excellent tea!
In the shop…
We have our first product available up in our shop, a limited supply (for now) of our Lavender Lemongrass Garden Salve. Great for after working out in the garden! Click the picture for more details and to purchase. Our grand opening will be August 30th, 2014, the feast of St. Fiacre. Between now and then we hope to add items to our shop here and there.
in the kitchen …
We celebrated the feast of SS. Cyril and Methodius, patrons of the Slavic countries including Bulgaria and Russia were three of our adopted children are from. We enjoyed some Americanized cabbage 'rolls' gone hash, Bulgarian Shopska Salad and quick 10 minute Baklava cups.
We have been experimenting with some grain salads this week with our weather up in the 80's and 90s and some high humidity, grain salads make for a quick and cool refreshing meal. This one is a mexican grain dish with some of our Bloom'n Hibiscus tea blend. We also had a kale blueberry grain salad this week as well.
Tea time …
Speaking of tea, here is our blended Bloom'n Hibiscus ready and waiting.
Bloom'n Hibiscus, Dry Night Tea and Spring Tonic teas soaking up the sun.
in the garden …
Its blueberry picking time! We took a trip to our favorite blueberry farm Satterwhite's Blueberry Hill and picked 26 lbs of blueberries. After giving some to family, dehydrating some and eating a bunch its almost time to back again.
The zucchini are showing some fruitful signs! A few more days and we will be picking zucchini from our own garden. Those blooms are so tempting to grab a couple and make deep fried squash blossoms.
The hoop house is coming along well and the base is almost complete. Our three garden boxes above are doing very very well. The herb garden will be taking up space in the dehydrator this coming week, the strawberries are filling out well and the tomatoes are starting to bear fruit.
Our only rose bush bloomed this week to add some bright lovely red to our Mary Garden and the calendula's are still doing well, not long now and they will be blooming too.
In the garden …
Ripe Cherry Plums ready to pick from our wild plum trees!
Horsetail growing all over all yard. Great for bone health, teeth etc.
The greenhouse spot is coming along and we are hoping to make more progress on it here soon.
Spearmint has gone nuts! A little rain, some sun and this spearmint is taking over the herb garden. It got a 'hair cut' just after this picture.
The calendula's also liked the rain they are coming along nicely, can't wait for the flowers!
While the chamomile that we planted has not come up yet this wild chamomile is ready to be harvested!
Fruit's and flowers every where, the yard and garden is coming to life. First few tomatoes in our tomato bed.
in the kitchen …
Spearmint awaiting space in the dehydrator.
So much spearmint what to do? Make TEA! Passion Tea blend, was wonderful and will probably be joining our line of teas in our shop.
Preparing the tea/salve/soap storage for our kitchen inspection.
Cherry Plums out of the Dehydrator!
A little photo shoot for some products, this one got added to our main header when we updated it a bit. Salves and balms should be available for purchase in July along with herbal loose leaf teas the end of July.
In the Kitchen …
Two loafs of sourdough bread rising on the dehydrator. One for lunch in the upcoming week and the round loaf for our Corpus Christi dinner.
Cauliflower… soon to be sauce!
Dairy free Alfredo Sauce… the kids will never know it was cauliflower… though mine would eat it any way. They are weird like that ;-)
Thawing out our berry stash from the freezer. Its that time of year to use up what didn't get used over the winter to make room for more of the freshly picked berries. Yay berry season is here!!! These lovely homegrown marionberries, by my father in law, became yummy jam! Marion berries are a rare treat grown here in our county… Marion county! A cross between a blackberry and some other berry I don't remember.
Our jam put up so far… some apple butter still left from last fall, strawberry jam that is going as quick as strawberry season went and some marion berry…. and also some soon to be added…..
… this yummy no pectic, no sugar blueberry chia jam. While we canned most of ours this jam can also be froze or eaten raw.
Tea time! Some Blossoming Hibiscus sun tea, coming to our shop the end of July! So good the kids will think its kool aide but better!
Inspired by this Pinterest find Spinach-Artichoke Dip Pasta Bake our version… not baked and without the fake cheese (really no better than real cheese and equally as expensive) this dish was just as good without!
Homemade toothpaste - orange flavored per children's request. Anxious to see how this 'remineralizing' recipe works on some teeth around here.
In the garden …
See that inclination that the horseshoe pit would become a green house was not too unrealistic! Our horseshoe pit is now being plotted out for a green house. We started leveling out the location and hopefully in not too long it will be full of nice green things, even through the winter.
An attempt at potato towers with some 'up cycled' wire we had hanging around. We will see how it goes!
In the dehydrator …
I should have read up on mint before plopping it in the herb grow box. Its taking over as any professional or semi knowledgable gardner would have known. Guess its time to harvest! And dry to save … this lovely mint is spearmint.
Prepped kale going in the dehydrator for some cheesy kale chips… tutorial coming soon!
Ok so obviously this is not IN the dehydrator, or going In the dehydrator. We harvested round 2 of our wild comfrey and it sat out on the lawn for a bit while the sun was still out.
Then it got hung out to dry on the side porch.
in the kitchen…
Did you know you can regrow green onions from the ones you buy at the store? Something I learned via Pinterest. I stuck the roots in a cup of water until I could get them in the garden. They seem quite happy here though and very convenient! They have grown about 6 inches in less than a week!
Blending some Blossoming Hibisucus Tea for a baptismal celebration at our home. Serve with a bit of raw honey and it makes a sweet treat.
We dehydrated more bananas this week that were given to us and that we could not eat before they were too ripe. They make great snacks this way too and a cutting lesson for some chefs in training.
In the garden …
Once our rain subsided it was weeding time in the garden. The calendula were very happy for the rain and are coming up well. We also planted a few creeping thyme on the hill side to try and help with erosion.
Father's day brought the arrive of two hop plants and a second grape vine. All three are growing up the deck posts and hopefully will make a nice covering over the porch. Inspired by our two visits to Bulgaria when visiting our daughter and bringing her home from the orphanage. They have beautiful old grape vines there in the countryside.
A game of horseshoes anyone? With much company over for the celebration of our daughter's baptism this week hubby was inspired to make a horseshoe pit. This may also be the future site of our greenhouse.
Our three garden boxes seem to be growing nicely. A little rain goes a long way to plant growth!
Our herb box which has 3 kinds of mint, some bell peppers (not an herb I know), some chives, oregano (which is blooming), sage, rosemary, and basil. It looks like something ate the tops of my peppers, but ignored everything else.
The strawberry box is filling out nicely. They were transplanted this spring and did not fair too well… what they did grow the birds got. I'll be painting some more rocks red as decoys I think and hopefully that will keep them out.
The tomato box has 8 tomato plants and 3 bell peppers (the tops also eaten off). They seem to be doing ok, a little slow in growth.
The chopping block! Summer is here and the heat sometimes has us forgetting that we need to keep cutting wood or we won't have any heat in the winter. A few days of cold and rain though were a good reminder.
Domestics …
Our little home altar decorated for our Baptism celebration as our newly adopted infant has been under the protection of the Blessed Mother since we first knew about her.
This week in the mill….
Grinding corn for polenta, though I couldn't remember which kind was for polenta. We now have some very fine white corn for tortillas and enjoyed the popcorn for polenta.
Polenta with fire roasted tomatoes and chili peppers.
In the Kitchen …
Roasted potato wedges, better than jo jos!
Flaming Hibiscuis Orange Juice (Vodka version), our Pentecost Feast treat.
Flaming Hibiscus Orange Juice, non alcoholic versions for the kids. Hibiscus tea, and orange juice made with sparkling mineral water.
Pentecost breakfast, yellow and orange to remind us of the tongues of fire above the Apostles' heads. Strawberry crepes, bacon and bright yellow eggs from our Fresh to You egg stash.
Fruits of our labor …
Picking labor any how, we returned to the u-pick strawberry patch at Fresh to You to get 2 more pounds of berry to make some jam.
In the herbal APOTHECARY…
Bed wetting tea blend for one of our dear children struggling at night.
Tis the season for allergy sufferers. Allergy tea blend for a hay fever sufferer in our home.
In the yard …
We discovered a wild (maybe not wild) cherry tree in our yard with some normal size look'n cherries. Yay for undiscovered and established fruit trees!!!
Welcome to our Family Tea Farm!
Howdy from our farm to your home! It is said that the, "farm is the nursery of the family," and that "the family is the nursery of the nation." We hope you enjoy your visit to our blog as we share with you the happenings on our little "nursery". Thank you for following us on our journey and watching us GROW! Read more about our farm HERE.
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