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Last weekend I got a chance to visit this wonderful festival on Lopez Island in the San Juan’s.  It was held at the Lopez Center for Community and the Arts and the free outdoor and indoor events included:

  • Sheep shearing and fleece analysis
  • Sheep dog demonstrations
  • Various breeds of sheep and goats on display
  • Sheep-to-shawl demonstration
  • Vendors of local fleece, yarn, textiles, meat, and other sheep- and goat-related art
  • Cheese-making and meat-cutting demonstrations

It was sponsored by Island Fibers and well worth the visit!

 

Focus on Arugula

A zesty arugula plant

A zesty arugula plant

This week I think my arugula plants have grown about three inches.  This spicy plant can be eaten in salads with an oil and vinegar dressing or used as a zesty garnish.  We really like to top a just baked pizza with this richly flavored plant.

Arugula likes cool weather and a nitrogen rich soil.  You can plant it when soil temperatures are between 45 and 60 degrees.  Scatter the seed then cover with 1/4 inch of soil.  It likes to be moist but not soggy.  Because this plant grows so quickly I like to plant some about every two weeks to keep a good supply on hand.

Here’s a tasty recipe for a quick summer dish:

Arugula with Pasta and Cherry Tomatoes

Serves 4

One package of pasta, (I like to use whole wheat)
About 8-10 cups arugula
Olive oil
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
8 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved, (you can also use dried tomatoes that have been soaked for 20 minutes in boiling water to soften them up)
2-3 ounces goat or feta cheese, crumbled
Salt and pepper

Cook the pasta and drain it.  Chop the arugula if the leaves are big. Heat a sauté pan over medium high heat and add a little olive oil. When it is hot, cook the arugula, letting the first few handfuls wilt completely, and leaving the last few just barely cooked.

Add the basil, tomatoes, cheese, and pasta with the last handful of arugula. Turn the heat to high and cook for another minute or two – until everything is hot. Remove from the heat and season to taste with salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Serve immediately.

Now that you have dried herbs making your own blends is easy! These make great gifts as well as stepping up the flavor of your own dishes.

Lavender

Lavender

Here are some of my favorite blends:

Herbes de Provence

Herbes de Provence usually contains basil, bay leaf, marjoram, rosemary, summer savory and lots of thyme. Lavender can be included too but don’t add too much as it’s pretty strong.  Here is a base recipe to start with but feel free to play around to get the flavor you like.  If you don’t have all of these herbs it’s fine to leave some out.

  • 2 Tablespoons dried basil
  • 1 Tablespoon dried marjoram
  • 1 Tablespoon dried summer savory
  • 2 Tablespoon dried thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoon lavender flowers
  • 1 bay leaf
  • ½ Tablespoon dried rosemary
Rosemary

Rosemary

Rub for Grilling

  • 3 Tablespoons dried basil
  • 2 Tablespoons dried rosemary
  • 1 Tablespoon dried savory
  • 2 Tablespoons dried oregano
  • 2 teaspoons dried fennel
  • 1 bay leaf
Oregano

Oregano

Italian Seasoning

This tastes great in spaghetti sauce, on pizza or in salad dressings.

  • 4 Tablespoons dried basil
  • 2 Tablespoons dried oregano
  • 1 Tablespoons dried thyme
  • 1 teaspoon dried garlic, (you can leave this out and use fresh instead when it’s time to cook)
  • 1 bay leaf

You can put these blends into small jam jars or metal containers.  Keeping air and light out will help the flavors stay bright.

 

Time to Dry Herbs

Drying your own herbs is a great way to spice up your dishes, make nice presents and save money.   The fragrant oils are at their peak around mid-morning so this is a great time to harvest.  If you need to wash them then give a light spray with the hose first thing in the morning and pick them when they are dry.

Chives

I like to pick them with long stems so they are easy to tie together.  Once they are picked then tie them with twine or wire in a small bunch.  They will keep their flavor best if dried in a cool, light free area.  I tie a rope across the rafters in the basement and hang my bunches from there.

Sage

Sage

Check them frequently and take them down when the leaves are dry enough to crumble in your hand.  Too dry and they will lose flavor, too wet and they might mold.

Calendula flowers

Calendula flowers

Tomorrow I will talk about different blends you can make with your lovely home dried herbs.

 

Lemon Balm tea

Lemon Balm tea

Do you have lemon balm, (Melissa officinalis) coming out your ears this time of year?  Mine is ready to take over the entire perennial bed.  In addition to tasting great it’s also supposed to decrease stress and increase mental function so it’s time to get cooking!

Here are some of my favorite ways to use this abundant herb.

Iced Lemon Balm Tea

Ingredients for one glass:

  • 1 lemon
  • 1/2 cup balm (fresh lemon, leaves)
  • 1/4 cup sugar or to taste
  • 2 cups boiling water
  • ice
  • 1 lemon balm sprig for decoration

Directions:

Put leaves in boiling water, add sugar and let steep until desired concentration is reached.  Squeeze in juice from one lemon, adjust sugar, add ice and sprig – enjoy!

Hot Lemon Balm Tea 

Ingredients for one teapot full of tea:

  • 1/2 cup lemon balm
  • 1 tsp lemon zest (grated)
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 2 cups boiling water

Directions:

Put leaves and zest in pot, add boiling water.  Let steep about 5 minutes, add honey to taste.

German Erdbeer - This is a summer wine often imbibed at picnics

  • 1 pounds of fresh strawberries
  • 2 cups lemon balm leaves
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 bottle white wine

Directions:

  1. Halve the berries, then place them in the bottom of large punch bowl or glass pitcher.
  2. Sprinkle the powdered sugar over them.
  3. Add the lemon balm leaves to the berries.
  4. Pour wine over the berry mixture, cover, and cool in the fridge.
  5. Garnish with a sprig of lemon balm
Lemon Balm happily growing

Lemon Balm happily growing

Lemon Balm Simple Syrup

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup fresh lemon balm leaves loosely packed

Directions:

  1. Stir together all 3 ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.
  2. Remove from heat, and let stand 30 minutes.
  3. Pour liquid through a wire-mesh strainer into an airtight container, removing lemon balm leaves.
  4. Cover and chill 4 hours.

Syrup may be stored in refrigerator up to 1 month or kept frozen for up to one year.

Fancy Fruit Cup

This one is so simple I hate to even call it a recipe.  Cut up your favorite fruit into equal size pieces.  Add chopped lemon balm and drizzle with honey.

Elderberry Syrup

Sambucus Cerulea or Blue Elderberry

Sambucus Cerulea or Blue Elderberry

Elderberries are in bloom now in the lower elevations of Puget Sound.  The Blue Elderberry is the one to use instead of the Red Elderberry.

These fragrant white flowers can be gathered, steeped then the liquid sugared to make a delicious syrup.  If you have the patience to wait, the dark blue berries can be gathered in the late summer to make into a dye, syrup or wine.

Here is a recipe for making a quart of syrup:

Ingredients:

  • 30 elderflower heads
  • 1 quart water
  • 4 cups  sugar
  • Juice of 2 lemons
  • zest of 2 lemons
  • 2 tablespoons citric acid
  1. Zest the lemons and put in a large bowl, then the citric acid and lemon juice.
  2. Remove the flowers from the stalk and add to the bowl
  3. Bring the sugar and water to a boil, stirring occasionally to dissolve.

Close up of flowers.

  1. Pour the syrup into the bowl and stir to combine.
  2. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and let it sit for 2-4 days.
  3. Strain the mixture through a sieve lined with cheesecloth into a clean jar. Store in the fridge for up to six weeks.

This syrup has a very delicate flavor and scent.  It tastes good mixed with seltzer water or even better with some champagne.

Sambu_cerulea_aa

Blue Elderberry

By Krista Arias

Hi my name is Krista Arias. My family and I run the Tierra Soul Urban Farm and Guesthouse in Portland, Oregon. We explore traditional and healing foods, permaculture, and biodynamic farming at our experimental urban homestead. We have tended goats, chickens, ducks (including the famous Hettie Quackers), topbar hives of honey bees and an expanding perennial fruit, flower, herb and vegetable garden based on permaculture principles. We are also cultural and culinary creatives with a penchant for good taste and a return to Slow Food.

Tierra Soul is an evolution of many projects combined with the need to sustain family life with young children. Armed with the knowledge that small farms are statistically more productive that large farms, and fired up by the challenge of making a difference with just what we had in front of us, in 2006 we set about turning our urban life inside out and embracing our inner farmers. It’s been a few years and now, our urban farm project is thriving, supporting us and reaching out into the local as well as global community.

We currently have three main areas of operation:

Tierra Soul Farm

Tierra Soul Farm

Farm-School
We teach a course called Lazy Lady Living which combines our knowledge of permaculture, value-added farming and nutrient density with a focus on social and cultural resilience/creativity.

Farm-Stay

We have a historic 6 bedroom home where guests can come and delve into the magic Lazy-Lady Living for a few days on our urban farm while exploring Portland’s cutting edge green culture. We also offer healing retreats and a farmer/artist in residence program.

Farm-Stand

Our “shop” is stocked with Tierra Soul farm-crafted soap and salve as well as the best in local homesteading culture. We offer Nutritional Therapy services and The Kraut Club Kitchen Collective, a gathering of neighbors cooking with and for each other in a sort of un-restaurant and kitchen swap.

Young nettles are delicious!

Young nettles are delicious!

Urban Farm Hub had a chance to ask Krista a few questions about her farm:

1.  How did you get where you are now?  Were you raised on a farm or did it all come slowly?  We are city kids who got turned on to traditional foods and with a yard of our own started with goats, ducks, then chickens and bees, then a driveway tear out and 100% mulch project and a B&B to share our world with others.

2.  What do you like best about your work?  What is most challenging?  I love that we have created an income model that brings us closer as a family rather than dragging us in different directions. The cooler and magical our family actually is, the better our business seems to get!  On the downsideI would like to be doing more of the cool stuff instead of  working so much on the business side of things.
3.  What is the strangest thing that has happened running Tierra Soul Urban Farm?  The police showed up at our doorstep at dusk one evening for a domestic abuse call. Our kids were both sleeping so we answered the door quietly and didn’t invite them in. It took a few minutes to realize what they were doing at our place as they were being cryptic and testing us with leading questions.  Once David realized he chuckled and took them out back and showed them our goat barn where we had a couple male kids who were maturing into remarkably loud and strange sounding squawking beasts. They sounded like people squabbling and hollering at each other; quite a commotion! In the end we all laughed together – even the cops!
Yum

Yum

4.  What is your favorite spring meal?  I love having edible flowers in our salad – calendula, lavender, borage, nasturtium, sautéd raab and nettles on sourdough pita with olive oil and local sea salt.  This year we have a new addition of slow roasted goat braised with rosemary, garlic and thyme (all from our farm or neighborhood).

5.  What is your favorite urban homesteading tool?  Our minds is our best tool and Google, (our other mind), is second best! Really though the principles of permaculture, Anthroposphy and Nourishing Traditions have taken us a long, long way. Physical tools are easy when you have principles that increase your efficiency and bolster your perspective.

Hope to see you soon!
Krista & The Arias Clan

Yum

Yum

By Laura Matter, Volunteer Site Leader at the Picardo P-Patch

Here are some tips to keep your garden, and you, thriving this time of year:

  • Keep it hydrated! Water existing plants deeply and your seedling beds often. Deep watering encourages deep rooting and seedlings are very shallow rooted, small and tender and susceptible to drying out. You might need to be checking existing plants twice a week or more right now and certainly the seedlings more often. When the weather cools down again you can back off more frequent watering. Do continue to water deeply when you need to water. It just won’t be as often!
  • Keep yourself hydrated, wear a hat and sunscreen to protect yourself from the sun. Rest in the shade of the pavilion! The garden is a deep bowl of dark soil that heats up efficiently and radiates back at you. Great for growing plants but hot and sometimes humid for you.
  • Garden early in the morning. This is better for watering too as the plants get a chance to dry off before the sun sets and keeps them hydrated during the heat. Garden later in the day. If you are watering in the evening keep the water low and avoid getting the leaves wet to minimize disease issues. The evening air temperatures are still cool.
  • Mulch your beds! Paths in your plots can be mulched with the wood chips that tree companies and Seattle Parks folks bring us periodically. You can also use these to top off your section of the community garden path to keep it weed free; part of your plot responsibility. The chips can be found on the corner of 25th NE and NE 82nd St or on the hillside by the west compost bins. (We need to get these chips off the hill so help yourself). Easiest path tothe corner is out the garden to NE 82nd and then take a left and head to the corner! A wheelbarrow and a pitchfork or shovel will do the job.
  • Another great use for annual weeds, which are growing like gangbusters right now, is to pull them and drop them as mulch around your plantings. They will dry out quickly in the sun and make a good mulch around your plants. Keep it onsite; nourish your beds and keep them moist and weed free at the same time.
  • Try other types of mulch; compost is great for water retention around new plantings, leaves are great for perennial plantings. Burlap laid between rows keeps soil moist and cool and weeds down. You can find burlap from coffee roasters or Seattle Burlap
  • With warmer weather we are tempted to get our summer crops into the soil. Wait to plant them or be sure to provide protection for tender plantings like tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash and eggplant. Cover new plantings with season extenders like Wall O’ Waters or cloches to protect them from cool night temperatures but be sure to also provide venting when cloching on hot days! Wait to plant that basil!!! Basil is one of the most tender of all summer crops.

Dandelion Root Coffee

What to do with all those dandelions?  Roast the roots and make coffee!  I had wanted to try this beverage out for a while and with a nice pile of roots from recent weeding gave it a go.  I was really surprised at how good it tasted; it actually does taste very much like coffee with a smoky tang and a nice bitter bite.

Here’s how to make it:

First find a large dandelion plant that has not been sprayed with any kind of weed killer.  If the soil is soft it’s easier to dig them up, plants that are 3-4 years old will have bigger roots.

Dandelion

Dandelion

Roots

Roots

Wash the dirt from the roots with a good soak if the dirt is really sticking to them.

Clean roots

Clean roots

Next roast the roots; this can be done in a cast iron pan or in the oven.  If you use the oven put it on low heat, (about 250 degrees), for 1-2 hours.  I like using the frying pan method more as it’s faster and you can get a nice roasted flavor.

Roasting roots

Roasting roots

Once they are dried and roasted put the roots in a coffee grinder and pulse.

Roots ready to be pulverized.

Roots ready to be pulverized.

Ground roots

Ground roots

Now put the ground roots into a either a French press or a teapot and let them steep for 3-4 minutes.

Steeping roots

Steeping roots

Pour into a cup and enjoy!  You can add sugar and cream or drink it black.

Good morning!

Good morning!

 

 

 

 

Herbs!

Sleep Away music to look at herbs…

What are you growing in your garden?  Do you have a favorite use for herbs?