Garden Gab

Continuing in our homegrown meal, what’s a dinner without drinks?  Perhaps you haven’t opted to grow indoors this year, so fresh produce isn’t an option.  You can still add a quick treat to your menu if you managed to freeze a few good things from the garden.  If you, like me, are over ambitious when it comes to preserving, chances are you have a bag of frozen berries that never made it to the canning process.  In January and February, when grocery prices for berries are sky high and even greenhouse berries can’t compare in taste, you can provide a tremendous luxury with that little frozen bag of berries.
I’m partial to strawberries, so that’s what I’m using today, but you can just as easily use raspberries or blueberries if that’s what you’ve got.

• 1 cup berries (if they are large and frozen like mine, try thawing a little bit and squishing lightly to measure, so you don’t have lots of air space)
• 1/4 Cup sugar (you can add more if you like, but the real star here is the fresh berries, don’t drown it in sugar!)
• Juice of 3-4 lemons
• 1 cup sugar
• Optional adds: chopped fresh mint from your garden or vodka for an adults only treat!

You will want to thaw your berries just enough to blend easily, this way you don’t have to use ice.  Blend all your ingredients together for a quick berry lemonade (or berry vodka sour).  You can top with whipped cream or ice cream if you like, but try to resist adding too much extra, let your berries (or homegrown lemons) shine through.  Since we were trying for a garden theme in this special meal (we really wanted to turn our thoughts to brighter spring), we served this drink from a beautiful, clean vase rather than a standard pitcher.  When pouring it into glasses, garnish with a fresh (frozen) strawberry and a lemon slice.

Up next: Dessert from a jar- a classic cookie recipe with a homemade flair.

In the last post we discussed creating a meal from scratch for loved ones.  We baked an herb bread in preparation for a light bruschetta.  In case you are not a baker or simply don’t have time for baking a double rise bread, this bruschetta recipe is easily translated into a pasta caprese recipe simply by serving this over warm pasta rather than bread.  Or if you have a pasta maker, you can make your own herbed pasta instead of bread, you lucky, lucky duck!

For either method you will need:

• 2-3 tomatoes, diced
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
• Basil to taste
• 2-3 tblspns balsamic vinegar
• mozzarella, sliced for bruschetta, cubed small for pasta caprese
• diced chicken breast or small Maine shrimp (optional)

As you can probably see from my photo, I only managed to produce two fresh tomatoes from my indoor plant so far (it’s still early), so I’ve mixed a few store bought in.   This is ok, your own produce will have much more flavor and you can use grocery store veggies mixed in and not sacrifice that fresh, homegrown taste.

My tomatoes are mixed, my onions were a trade with another gardener and unfortunately, the lemons are store bought (oh how I long for a lemon tree!)

Once you have cooked your chicken or shrimp (or you can leave these out if you’d rather have a vegetarian version), mix it with your veggies, vinegar and seasonings and let it sit in the fridge about 45 minutes to give everything a chance to absorb the great flavors.  Ideally, you should use fresh just-picked basil for a really fresh taste, but if you have already dried yours, try adding a sprinkle of fresh parsley or cilantro, just to add a nice green taste.  In the meantime, cook your pasta or toast your bread.  If you are toasting bread, melt slices of mozzarella over the top (for pasta caprese the cheese is added at the last second).  For bruschetta, leave the mixture of veggies, meat and seasonings cold and pour gently over the warm bread.  For pasta caprese, quickly stirfry the cooked pasta and veggie mixture just to warm.  Throw in the mozzarella after turning off the heat (it will melt slowly).

our bruschetta (along with drink and dessert)

While you can, of course, make this dish any time from store bought produce and premade bread or pasta, I promise you and your loved ones will notice the difference when you make it yourself.  The taste, especially when it comes to comparing store bought to homegrown tomatoes isn’t even close.  You will appreciate the extra time and effort it takes to make this dish from scratch.

Up next? A drink from those frozen berries you harvested this year.

Preparing a special meal from your garden

Too often, despite my best intentions, the holiday season passes with a frenzy of activity and a whirlwind of guests.  I find, after all the excitement has passed, that the people that most deserve my attention during this special time, the people that live with me and support me every other day of the year, are often the people that become most neglected.  We can and should strive to reverse this, but many of us still emerge from the holidays with a sense of guilt or disappointment over our lack of time with loved ones.  So now that the flurry of guests is over and life is returning to normal, try treating those closest to you to a very special occasion, just for them.

I know many of us are keeping some sort of kitchen garden throughout the year, whether in a windowsill or in the dooryard and some folks who can’t seem to find time or space in winter months have preserved summer garden products by freezing, canning or drying.  What better way to show your family you care than to create a special meal that you grew with your own hands?  It will definitely brighten up those drab winter days.  For this meal we chose a lighter fare with three simple dishes and used dried seasonings, fresh vegetables and frozen berries all from our gardens.  The menu is easily adapted, however to what you have growing or preserved, simply choose your favorite recipes and try to include something fresh and homegrown.  I promise you will see a difference.

In this post we’ll cover an herb bread that can make the base for a homegrown bruschetta (as we did), a side starch, or become delicious croutons in a homegrown salad.  In the following posts we’ll put the bruschetta together, make jam filled heart cookies, a frozen strawberry lemonade and dress the table for a garden them that will bring a fresh feeling to your home.

For the base of this bread you will need:

• 1 and 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 and 1/2 cup warm milk
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp alt
• 3 eggs + 1 egg white
• 6-8 cups of flour (all purpose or bread flour)

To make it your own you will want to choose a variety of your own herbs or savory vegetables.  We chose oregano, basil and some of this year’s garlic since we are making bruschetta with it.  You could easily add onion or green pepper, or you could choose another set of seasonings, such as rosemary, sage or even fennel.  The key is to choose something you have grown yourself.  We needed about a tablespoon of seasoning, however ours was already dried (our fresh stuff is looking leggy and sad right now)- if you are plucking straight from your plant you will need double the amount of seasoning (dried herbs are always about double strength of fresh). 

In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water and milk (these liquids should be hot to the touch but not scalding as it will kill the yeast.  Add the butter, sugar, salt and 3 eggs as well as half of the flour and mix until it becomes a sticky dough.  Add your seasonings or vegetables now (quick tip: if you are using homegrown garlic like us, soften it by microwaving or baking in a small bowl just covering the garlic with water.  Microwave about 3 minutes or bake at 350 about 10 minutes.  The garlic will be soft and crushable for easy incorporation rather than hard and chunky) and gradually add the other half of the flour while mixing until you have a smooth, non sticky dough.  Turn out onto a floured board and knead for about ten minutes.

see the small dark flecks? Those are herbs we grew ourselves and they pack a flavorful punch!

Coat a clean bowl with a thin layer of olive or vegetable oil and turn your dough in it.  Cover with a damp towel (this prevents cracking) and let rise for about an hour.  After the bread is risen punch it down (you know it’s risen enough when your handprint stays in the dough) and decide whether you would like rolls, a braided loaf (as we have done) or breadsticks.  Shape your bread and let it rise again about half an hour.  Meanwhile, beat an egg white with a tablespoon of water.  Brush the top of your bread with this to make it a golden brown when cooked (this is also an opportunity to add more great homegrown veggies or seasonings).  Bake at 350 degrees about half an hour or until the bread sounds hollow when you tap it with your finger. 

Nothing says love like home baked bread. Especially when you grew the seasonings yourself

Stay tuned on how to turn this bread into a beautiful, elegant entree featuring your own fresh produce!

Mercury glass, once used as a cheap and easily replaceable substitute for silver, is enjoying an upsurge in popularity and is becoming highly sought after for it’s stylish look and exotic forms.

Do you have a collection of mercury glass? You can easily find sparkling vintage selections like these from eBay

Many of us have a box of antique mercury glass (also known as silvered glass) ornaments that stay safely tucked away rather than risking breakage by hanging them on a tree.  It’s a shame to keep these beautiful pieces of art from being seen, and winter’s silver, white and blue themes make it the perfect time to show them off.

Choose a nice mix of both silver mercury glass and painted or colored mercury glass, both of which you can find as vintage pieces or their modern, much more polished equivalents, such as these gorgeous bohemian glass vases from The Shopper’s Link:

Start with one large open piece, such as a basin or platter to hold your fragile ornaments.  If you do not already have one, mercury glass reproductions have become extremely affordable, such as this pedestal bowl from Organize.com.

You can use a beautiful ice blue, white or silver cloth or ribbon to create a soft nest for your ornaments, or for a more modern look, fill your piece halfway with silver or gold jordan almonds and nestle your ornaments into them.  The small almonds will absorb any shocks or jarring movements, protecting your ornaments all while creating a dazzling landscape.

Around your large piece, scatter only a few of your most interesting mercury glass pieces, whether for their pretty colors or interesting shapes.

mercury glass comes in many beautiful forms like these doves from www.vintageweave.com

Surround your pieces with twining deep blue ribbon and scatter more jordan almonds to keep your table from looking bare at the base level of the pieces.

Lastly, add appropriate lighting.  We like candlelight for the way it flickers over the mercury glass, so we’ve chosen these beautiful blue mercury glass candle globes from Garden Torches Only.

Subtle blue mercury glass adds extra shimmer to these candle holders

Because there is such a variety of mercury glass available now, and because they range from antique to modern specimens, your display will be completely unique and beautiful.  Don’t let your collection languish in the dark, with a few precautions and a select number of attractive pieces you can enjoy your mercury glass for years to come.

In the last post, we discussed the first half of creating an heirloom seed box to be tucked into a gorgeous pot or given as a gift on its own.  I have chosen the theme of an herb garden, and decorated the fronts of my recipe cards with a detailed drawn picture of each herb.  Again you can use photographs or even pressed flowers if you like, I just like the hand drawn look as it is more personal and this is for a dear friend.  If you would like to use a pressed plant, you need only dab a small bit of clear drying glue to fix it in place, we will protect it at the end by covering the recipe cards with contact paper or laminating them, so they will last for a very long time.

Here are two examples of my cards:

These are the fronts of my Rosemary and Lemon Verbana cards.  When I have laminated them I will attach a small envelope to the Rosemary card with seeds (the verbana grows well with cuttings so I will have to make a separate gift of that).  The detail you put on the drawings is of course, up to you.  I’ve tried to detail what the flowers look like, what the leaves and roots should be like, because I am primarily interested in these being a reference tool.  I wanted my friend to know what a healthy plant should look like, a. because I am a terrible one for weeding, I never know which plant to pull, so I feel like a visual would help other people with similar problems and b. if the plant were not healthy, it’s differing appearance could tell a gardener right away.

On the back should be several short bits of information. 

• When to plant (whether its a month or as soon as the ground thaws, after the last frost)
• How deep to plant seeds, spacing of seeds or seedlings and soil makeup (for example, rosemary likes soil with more alkaline properties)
• How much sun and when to water
• I included a bit of history or trivia on each card, such as what folklore says about the plant or how it has been used in other times and places
• Uses (besides being pretty!) and which parts of the plant to use (for instance, lemon verbana’s leaves can be used as a substitute for citrus peel in baking)

Here is a photo of the back of my rosemary card, I also added tiny drawings to decorate the card (scrapbooking elements, tiny pressed flowers or petals, or stickers would be beautiful too).

Add as much information as you can find, you never know what’s going to be useful (in the sowing, growing or harvesting!).  When you are through, simply laminate or encase in clear contact paper.  Tuck the cards into your box, and be sure to leave some blank cards and a little growing room so your friend (or yourself) can add to it down the road.  Make sure to let your friend know to store this box in a cool, dry place to prevent germination of any seeds that are enclosed (the outdoor gardening shed would be perfect).  Once you and several of your friends have these “recipe” boxes, you can trade both seeds, cuttings and recipe cards from your own gardens.  This would make for a very special gift, ensuring long exchanges and friendships.

Have you got any suggestions on making this recipe box more special?  Or how to incorporate cuttings?  Have you got any nice ideas for tucking into gardening pots to be given as gifts?

Please send us photos of your recipe boxes, we’d love to see all the creative ideas and artistic plant drawings out there!

I love to give planters as gifts for my gardening friends, because they are so versatile and come in such stunning designs.  This year’s favorite?

The Sueki Urn is ideal for my very special gardening someone and the whimsical thimble pots are perfect for funloving friends and especially children who love gardening, both are available from The Trellis Store .  But I always hate to give planters empty, as attractive as they are, empty planters always feel a little forlorn.  Sometimes I find a nice set of garden tools or gardening gloves, or a few beautiful outdoor books.  This year though, with almost everyone I know crafting something special with their own two hands as a gift, I wanted to create something special and unique, something that people would know was from me.

 

With a few of your favorite flowers, herbs or any aromatic plants, you can make your own unique linen water or essential oils to make your home smell delicious as only you and your garden can.  Since every flower has a unique scent based not only on species, but also on soil composition, which other plants share its space and maturity, your linen water will be yours alone, no one can really duplicate it.  Today I’ll be using some leftover pine branches from our trellis project to make a pine scented linen oil but you can use any plant with a strong scent that you enjoy.    You will need about two good cups of your chosen plant.  Remember to use the plant part that holds the most scent.  For flowers, this is mostly petals, but for things like rosemary, the leaves and branch both contain heavy scent  or in citrus, most of the scent is in the peel rather than the flesh of the fruit.  For delicate petals or fruit, you will not need to do much in preparation other than gathering your products.  For woody or tough plants like the pine I will be doing or rosemary for example, you will want to bruise the plant to help it get started releasing their oils.  Delicate plants will easily release their oils when boiled, but woody plants need a little help to start.

To bruise them you can crush the plants between your fingers, chop them with a knife or do a very quick burst in the blender.  I just crushed them with my fingers as I pulled the needles from the branch.  You will need a large soup or stock pot, a clean rock or brick, a glass bowl and some kind of cover for the pot (a steel bowl works best, but as a pie pan fits best over my pot, that is what I am using today).  Place the brick in the center of your stockpot and fill the pot with water just until it is almost level with the brick.  Seat the bowl on top of the brick (the brick is so your bowl doesn’t float around the pot.

Next, pour your petals, leaves, peels or needles around the bowl into the water.  This is basically a makeshift distillery.  Next we need to make a collection surface.

You will need a sort of cap for your pot that will seal fairly tight (it doesn’t have to be jammed in there, but you want to catch most of the steam rather than letting it go.  If the cap to your pot is not perfectly flat, it will work pretty well.  Simply invert it so that the pointiest part is hanging directly over your empty bowl.  If your pot lid is flat like mine, the next best thing is a curved metal bowl.  Glass is ok but won’t let your distilled waters and oils condense as fast as metal.  As I said, my metal bowl won’t fit, but I found a pan that will work pretty well. 

Put your makeshift still on medium high heat, and when you hear the pot begin to boil you are going to cool down the cap by filling it with ice or cold water.  If your cap is shallow, you may want to place another bowl on top or put the ice in a bag so you can easily exchange it when it is all gone.   Otherwise, you will have to lift the lid and will lose some of your oils and linen water.  As long as the lid is cold, the steam from your petals and water will condense onto it and drip back into the empty bowl, leaving you with distilled water and essential oils.

The plants should boil about an hour, but make sure that if the water level is getting low, you take the pot off the heat.  Burnt plant material will make the whole product smell bad (not to mention it can damage your pot) and you will have to start over.  If the plants are boiled too long, they will start to lose their fragrance and though the water will still condense into your pot, it will carry no more oil or scent, making your product more diluted.

When you are through, the liquid in your collection bowl will look like plain water, but it will smell great!  If you want to separate the oil from the linen water, cool your collection bowl and the oil should rise.  If you cool it enough, the oil should become solid, making it easy to skim off.  The linen water is ready to use as soon as it is cool.  Pour it into a spritzer and spray on curtains, sheets, and towels for a pleasant scent (just make sure your guests aren’t allergic to the particular flower you used!). 

If you would like to make hand cream with the oils you’ve collected, Mama Cheap’s Blog has a great recipe, but you may have to repeat this process a few times to get enough oil.  But that’s okay, the whole time this batch was cooking my whole house smelled like Christmas!

It’s always sad when flowers we grew or were given to us wither and must be thrown away.  Pressed flowers are an excellent way to preserve the beauty of your plants and the lovely memories that come with them.  Flowers are easy to press, just place them between pieces of parchment paper and place under a large stack of books, flat bricks or any flat, heavy object for a few weeks until they are dry and papery.  You can also purchase a flower press which will perform the same process but more quickly and uniformly.

Once you have these beautiful pressed flowers though, what do you do with them?  Here is one excellent project you can do to make attractive stained glass suncatchers or ornaments for friends.  Use flowers from your own garden or flowers you have pressed from an arrangement they have given you to give it an extra special, personal touch.  Once you get comfortable with the process you can make smaller or larger versions, we’ve even seen earrings and pendants made this way!

Materials for a stained glass suncatcher

You will need a few specialty items for this project, but these tools are now relatively inexpensive and useful for many different types of crafts.  You may be able to borrow them from friends, or if you choose to purchase them, you will be able to find other uses for them. 

You will need:

• a sautering or soldering iron these can be found in hobby shops, stained glass stores, hardware stores or ordered online.  A smaller version will work best here, especially if you are new to soldering
• copper foil and metal solder, available online or at stained glass stores
• flux, available online or at stained glass stores
• two matching sized pieces of stained glass preferably 2″ by 3″(it can be clear if you like but the ending suncatcher will not have the same gem like quality)  You can buy these from a stained glass store precut or by larger pieces and cut them yourself using the scoring method.  This method is detailed nicely here along with a nice step by step walkthrough of sautering
• a small paintbrush
• 5 or 6 of your prettiest, flattest pressed flowers
• clear drying glue
• a c-clamp or helper
• newspaper

Preparing your glass

Once you have your stained glass sized correctly, place them on a clean, dry work surface and thoroughly clean and dry your glass pieces with windex or vinegar, oils from finger prints can prevent the foil from sticking to your piece.  Peel a small section of the backing off your copper foil, just to start it (if you peel the entire piece it may collect lint or get tangled and stuck while you are wrapping your glass).  Begin just past one corner of your glass piece.  Make sure your foil is centered on the edge of your glass square, so that a very little bit of the foil will hang over and fold down on both the back and front of the glass (as if you were gift wrapping).  Press your foil firmly down and fold the overhang down onto the glass.  Continue around the perimeter of the glass, peeling away the backing as you go.  Try to hold the glass in the center as you are doing this to prevent touching the clean edge you are foiling.   When you meet the edge you started at, cut the foil and finish pressing down the edges.  Before you set this piece aside, go over the foil one more time to press out any bubbles and make sure the foil is tightly holding the glass.  Move on to the next piece and repeat the same procedure.  When both glass pieces are foiled, lay out your flowers on one of the pieces of glass.  Colorful flowers will create an attractive pattern, but don’t forget the exotic textures and shadows leaves and ferns can make as well.  Once you have created a design you like, put a tiny dab of glue on each flower or element and affix to the glass.  Don’t worry about sticking your flowers all the way down, this is only to prevent them from sliding while you sauter, the weight of the glass will hold them in place. 

Getting ready to Solder

Next, you will want to brush all the foil with flux.  This is a vaseline feeling substance to help the solder grip the foil.  It’s best to do this with a paintbrush, as it will need to cover the whole foil surface.  After you have painted the foil with flux on both pieces, it’s time to get ready to sauter them together.  While most of this project lends itself to crafters of all ages, sautering irons are extremely hot and this section should be left to an adult helper or crafter.  Place your glass pieces together (if you have chosen textured glass, make sure the flattest sides are facing each other) with the flowers in the middle, lining up all the edges and place it on the edge of your workspace on top of the newspaper.  Affix a c-clamp to your table and gently clamp down your piece.  This is to keep it lined up and pressed together while you sauter, it doesn’t have to be terribly tight, and if you are lacking a c-clamp, have an adult helper press down on the center of the glass while you sauter.  You (and your helper) can use soldering or safety gloves to prevent burns from your soldering iron and metal solder.  These are available at stained glass stores, hardware stores or online.  Your metal solder will look like a coil of heavy wire.  Unwrap a length that is comfortable for you to hold (this project probably won’t take more than a few inches.  Hold your metal solder in one hand (usually not the one you write with) and your heated iron in the other (usually your writing hand).  Place the tip of your iron directly on the foil of your piece (try to split the tip between both pieces of glass so the solder will fill the seam between them and fix them together).  Touch the tip of your metal solder to the tip of the iron.  The metal will melt and fix to the foil.  Keep moving your iron down the foil seam to spread the metal solder and keep touching the solder to the iron to make a raised metal seam (it will look like a series of long bubbles all interconnected).  When you have finished with one side, turn your piece and finish the other three sides.  You can affix a metal hook for hanging by bending a small piece of wire into a semicircle.  Place the hook on the top edge of your piece and have a helper hold it in place with tweezers or small tongs.  Press the sautering iron to each end of the wire and add a drop of metal solder to fix it in place. 

Finishing Touches

When the glass piece is cool (it will only take about half an hour), gently clean off any extra flux with windex or vinegar.  String a ribbon through the hanger and hang in a sunny window or give to a special friend for a unique gift from your garden.

With glass shelved displays such as the Essex Parlor Case, put heavy or large items at the bottom and work your way up. www.theshopperslink.com

With the change of seasons we all feel the need to tidy up, make our homes comfortable and renewed.  It’s the perfect time to clean and refocus any display cases in our homes.  With a few household ingredients and just a little elbow grease, you can have a beautiful, seasonal display in practically no time.

The first thing to do is to wait until a cool, cloudy day or evening.  If you try to clean your glass display in bright sunlight, the cleaning solution you use will dry to the glass in streaks before you get a chance to dry it.  Empty out your case before starting so you don’t have to worry about breaking any of your special antiques, memorabilia or keepsakes.  If you have an interior light in your case, make sure it is unplugged, then unscrew the bulb and dust both the bulb and any shade the light may have with a soft damp cloth.  To clean the glass, start with the top shelf and work your way down so you won’t be dropping dust where you have already cleaned.  You can use a glass cleaner like windex, but if you are in a bind and have run out, a solution of one part vinegar (cider or white) to two parts tap water in a spray bottle will work just as well.  If you are having trouble with streaking use a coffee filter or newspaper to wipe your glass rather than a cloth or paper towel that can drag fibers around creating lines and dust particles.  If you are displaying crystal, you can use the same method to clean your contents.

To clean any silver objects, the best method is to use a soft toothbrush and silver cleaner.  Don’t use rubber gloves as it can cause the silver to corrode faster.  If your silver is not an antique and has no delicate carvings, you can use a paste of baking soda and warm water- but be warned this can scratch silver if applied too roughly.  To slow the corrosion of displayed silver, try placing a few silica packets in your display case, it will absorb moisture and keep it from reaching your silver.  As with all of your objects, make sure your silver is completely dry before placing it back in your case.

To quickly dust knick knacks, cover the hose attachment of your vacuum cleaner with a piece of old pantyhose and vacuum away the dust, it will reach all the nooks and crannies better than a cloth or feather duster.

If you are displaying china, you will want to rinse it in warm (not hot) water and dry with a soft cloth or coffee filter.  If you are noticing those small crackle patterns in your china, you can soak the piece in a tub of warm (again, not hot) milk for about 20 minutes and then rinse and dry.  If the cracks are not deep, this will make them disappear.

When you are reloading your case, start from the bottom shelf and work up.  Place your heaviest objects toward the bottom and any crystal or light catching objects toward the top.  This will prevent any shelf collapse and make sure the light gets to your most sparkly pieces.  If you are exchanging displays, make certain each individual piece is well wrapped in newspaper or acid-free paper before it retires for the season.

The same methods can be used for small display boxes or even tabletop glass terrariums, just make sure to remove the contents while cleaning.