The marigold and you

In my expreince, marigolds have done little in the way of insect protection in my garden. I have never seen the difference in using them verses not using them. This year could be different. After the mild winter the bug population has increased immensely. Farmer hay ( different than hay guy) informed me that the local alfalfa harvest was decimated by aphids. There will be no first cutting locally.

I tend to use marigolds as, what the boys refer to, as a candy crop. I will post about candy crop later. Basically this means that I do not use them as a insect repellent ( as they tend to attract their own insects) but as an edible cover crop.

I have read and have repeated in the past about marigolds as an insect repllent, however I have yet to actually see it work that way here. I have also read that they do little to help. But it is better to be safe than sorry, right? Using them as borders in your veggie garden is just fine. But don't waste those pretty petals! You can find three marigold petal recipes here. Enjoy!

Clover and wild strawberry Jelly

I made clover Jelly yesterday, and tossed in a couple of wild strawberries for the heck of it.

Clover Jelly
2 1/2 cups white wine
1 cup fresh clover blossoms
4 cups sugar
1/4 tbs lemon juice
3 ounces of liquid pectin

a few small wild strawberries, or 1 large one, sliced

Bring wine to a boil and pour over petals, toss in strawberries. Cover and steep until
liquid has cooled, then strain out flowers leaving only liquid. Combine 2
cups of this flower infusion with sugar and lemon juice.
Bring to a boil over high heat and as soon as the sugar has dissolved, stir
in the pectin. Return to a rolling boil, stirring, and boiling for exactly 1
minute. Remove the jelly from the heat and skim off any foam.

(can you see the photo? whenever I edit, I fear a repeat of the goat kid debacle.)



And in other news, after a month of badgering me, I have allowed the boys to start their own blog. They understand that it will be heavily monitored by me, but that they will not get into trouble for what they write there. They know the rules.

So please let me introduce you to The Wilder Boys

What's in Bloom; Roses

Here is my rose petal Jam from last year.

To use rose petals; Gently wash and drain rose petals. Carefully remove the white/yellow part of the petals.

Rose petal Butter

1 cup of fresh rose petals
¾ cup of butter

Set butter out at room temperature just long enough to soften up for mixing.
Once soft, chop rose petals finely and stir into the butter.
Cover, and refrigerate. Let it sit for 24 hours so the rose flavor can settle into the butter.

Home-made rose butter will last about 2 weeks in the fridge, or freeze for several months.

Crystallized Rose petals

1 egg white, room temperature
48 Red Rose Petals, washed and drained
3/4 cup Sugar

Beat the egg white until foamy. do not over beat. Use a small pastry brush, coat each petal with beaten egg white. Brush lightly removing any excess. Immediately dip in sugar and place on a rack. Repeat with remaining petals. Refrigerate overnight to dry.

Rose Petal Sauce for Poultry

2 cups water, plus 1 cup
2 tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon aniseed
12 red or pink roses with open blooms, petals removed
1 peeled red cactus fruit or 2 red plums, skinned
12 fresh chestnuts
2 tablespoons honey
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Bring the2 cups of water to a boil, while in a separate large skillet, melt the butter and cook the aniseed and garlic together for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. Place the rose and cactus fruit in a food processor and puree until smooth. Set aside.

Using a knife, cut an X over the flat ends of the chestnuts. Use a hot cast iron skillet to toast them for 5 minutes. Once the shells open, toss them into the boiling water and allow them to cook for 15 minutes. Drain, and allow to cool. When cool enough to handle, peel the chestnuts and add them to the pureed rose mix. Slowly add the remaining 1 cup of water while pureeing the mixture.

Reheat the skillet with the garlic/butter, add the rose petal puree and simmer for 10minutes. Whisk in honey, salt and pepper. Strain through a sieve or several layers of cheese cloth to remove any solids. Keep the sauce in a pan, and keep warm, drizzle over your pan roasted or oven roast poultry.

Rose Fritters

Use you favorite beer batter recipe, dip in rose petals, then fry until golden. Drain then sprinkle with powder sugar.

Rose petal Vinegar

2 cups white wine vinegar (heat to near boil)
1 cup rose petals
3 or 4 whole cloves

Gently crush the petals to bruise a bit.In a sterilized canning jar, place the rose petals and cloves. Pour hot vinegar over top, roughly mash the petals with a wooden spoon and seal. Set aside for 10 days at room temperature and in the dark. Shake one a day. Strain vinegar and discard the cloves and rose petals.

Rose petals can be added to every freakin' salad you can think of. Add them to just about any dessert, and so forth.

It was cute, our calf bull and our kid billy were testing each other. Forehead to forehead. I swore that the kid billy would win, ha He is the one with horns after all.

She's testing me

Melissa picked out some hard flowers for me to talk about the culinary uses of.

Butterfly bushes
Salvia
Cosmos
Zinnias
Marigolds
Lamb's Ears
Peony
Sedum

Starting with the butterfly bush, no clue, I have nothing about them on the edible side of things.

Salvia, is the common sage.

Cosmos, The only thing I know to do with these is to candy them.

Gently rinse off blossoms, allow to dry thoroughly. Beat egg whites lightly. Using a small paint brush, coat petals with egg whites. Sprinkle with sugar or gently dip flower to coat. Set on a plate to dry completely. When dry, store in a tightly sealed container. Use to decorate pastries, or as a sweet snack.

(other flowers to candy: Rose petals, lavender and lilac, nasturtiums, pansies, chive blossoms, fushia, carnations, pinks and most herbs, such as mint leaves, borage, bee balm, etc.)

Zinnias, they are in the marigold family and edible.

Marigolds, (eat petals only!)

Beltane Custard

2 cups milk
1 cup unsprayed marigold petals
1/4 tsp salt
3 Tbsp salt
1-2 inch vanilla bean
3 egg yolks
1/8 tsp all spice
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp rose water
Whipped cream

pound the marigold petals. Mix together salt, sugar, and spices. Scald the milk with the marigolds and the vanilla bean in it. Remove the vanilla bean, add egg yolks and cook on low heat. When the mixture thickly coats a spoon add the rose water and allow to cool.Serve with whipped cream and garnish with fresh marigold petals.

Marigold Pie

4 tablespoons of marigold or borage petals
3 organic, free range eggs
3 heaped tablespoons organic cottage cheese (plain)
1 tablespoon icing sugar
small pinch of salt
small pinch of nutmeg
1 baked pie shell

preheat oven to 350 F. Bring petals to the boil in about half a pint of water. Drain immediately. Separate eggs . Mix the yolks with the petals. Sieve cottage cheese, add sugar, salt and nutmeg. Mix together petal mixture to the cottage cheese mix. Whisk the egg whites until a soft peak forms and fold into the mixture. Pour into baked pie shell and bake for about 25 minutes or until the pie feels firm to the touch.

Orange Marigold Iced tea
1 quart water
1/3 cup sugar (optional)
3/4 cup organic, edible marigold petals
3 tablespoons whole-leaf assam tea
2 medium oranges, well scrubbed
Ice

Place the water in a medium saucepan over high heat, add the sugar, if using. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low and add the marigold petals. Simmer 2 minutes, add the tea leaves and remove from the heat. Allow to steep for 3 minutes, strain into a pitcher, discarding the solids. Refrigerate until cold.

Cut the oranges crosswise into thin slices. To serve, line the sides of tall glasses with 5 to 7 orange slices each. add ice and tea.

Lamb's Ears, They are of the mint family and edible, but I have no recipes other than a cough syrup. They are a natural band aid.

Mullein Tea for congestion and cough

4-6 Young Mullein Leaves(Lamb’s Ears)
Milk
Teaspoon of sugar or honey per cup of tea made


Boil the Mullein leaves in just enough water to cover. Strain through a cheese cloth. Add some milk and a teaspoon of sugar or honey to personal taste per cup of tea.

Peony, is another to be candied.

Sedum leaves can be added to salads, they have a slight peppery taste. You can also fry them with other veggies or add them to your soups. The yellow flowers do have some toxicity, but frying them removes that problem. The red ones are fine to eat.

Relish for hot dogs or hamburgers

fry sedum leaves with a couple of slivers of sweet bell peppers and onions over a high heat in olive oil until the onions are browned and bell peppers nearly translucent, add pepper to taste.

Do I pass?

Why are her kids in my yard, eating flowers?

Day Lilly's are edible, Tiger Lilly's are not!

You can save them for future use by drying. Soak them for 30 minutes in water to rehydrate for use. Day Lilly's taste a little like green beans when used fresh.


Sautéed Day lily Buds
Melt a tablespoon of butter in a heavy skillet over a medium heat. Add rinsed and trimmed buds, sauté until lightly browned. Add a few teaspoons water. Salt and pepper to taste. Cover and 10 min. drain.

Day Lilly Blossoms stuffed with Chicken salad

6 open day Lilly blossoms
2 1/2 c. cooked chicken breast meat, chopped
25 seedless grapes, cut in quarters
1 slice green sweet onion, diced
1/2 stalk celery, diced
3/4 c. mayonnaise
2 tbsp. fresh chopped parsley
2 tbsp. fresh chopped French tarragon
6 borage flowers
Fresh ground pepper to taste

Wash day Lilly blossoms and remove stamen . Make sure there are no flaws or discoloration in flowers. Mix chicken, grapes, celery, onion, mayonnaise, parsley, tarragon and pepper together in bowl. Stuff chicken salad into blossoms and top each with a borage flower.


Spiced Pickled Day Lilly
2 qt Day lily buds, unopened freshly picked
3 c White vinegar
3/4 c Light brown sugar, packed
1/2 ts Salt
1/2 ts Whole allspice
2 Two-inch sticks cinnamon,
10 To 12 whole cloves

Rinse and drain unopened day lily buds; remove any stem remnants. Place buds in to a saucepan. Add water so it barely covers buds. Bring to a quick boil, cover, and simmer 20 minutes. Drain. Pack hot buds into 8 hot an sterile half-pint canning jars. Combine vinegar, brown sugar, salt, allspice, cinnamon, and cloves in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil 3 minutes. Pour pickling solution over buds, distributing spices equally. Seal, process in a hot water bath 10 minutes.

You can stuff the Day Lilly buds with cheese after the 20 minute simmer, and drain, to serve as an appetizer.

Now, you can officially call me bizarre.

Farmers Cheese, Lilac, and (giggle) Kumquat

Farmers cheese is super simple (I say very too much, super seems appropriate here). You can make it with both cow and goat, skim or whole, but not with pasteurized milk. But I do have a trick for those of you that can't get raw milk.

If using store bought milk, heat it to 75F and add 1 cup cultured buttermilk (from the store) and it will help if you add 1/2 tablet of rennet to every 1 gallon of milk.

If using goats milk, you might want to think about doing half goat half cow, as it takes up to 5 days for goats milk to sour enough.

What we are actually going to do is make cottage cheese, then do something a little different to make it farmers cheese. Here we go.

1 quart of milk will make 1 cup of cheese. You can use as much as you want since we are not adding any other ingredients to this besides some optional salting at the end, and that is to taste. Pour your milk into a iron kettle or pot, or even a stainless steel bowl. Do not use aluminum. This container will be used through out the process. Place you milk and container in an area that you use to allow your yeast breads to rise. Not too cold and not too hot. Leave it to clabber for a few hours to a few days, depending on the temperature and your good bacteria count. (and if you are using goats milk).

When the milk is set, it will be jelly like. The solids will have formed one large curd and will be floating on the whey. Using a long knife, cut the curd, creating squares that are 1/2 inch to 1 inch squared. Gently stir, you do not want to break up the curds more, merely keep them from clumping back together. Now you have to slowly heat up you curd on a stove.

The temperature at which you stop heating determines the type of cheese you will get. A low heat will get you a soft cottage cheese, 110F or less. For Farmers cheese we need to slowly get the temperature up to 120F. You need to take 30 minute to slowly get you curds up to the temperature. Increase your heat a little every 5 minutes. Hold it until it reaches you desired firmness. To test, pinch the curd, if it remains in a ball your done.

Drain your whey, reserve for your chickens. If the curd is very sour, go ahead and rinse it carefully in cold water. Press the cheese into a dish. it will keep for up to 10 days, if covered and refrigerated. Crumble on top of your pizza or into your salads.

Lilacs. Yes, you can eat the blossoms.

Just like my warning with the roses, don't just go picking any one's lilacs. You need to know what has been sprayed on them. Do not eat any of the green parts of a lilac please.

Lilacs are great if you use them as a simple syrup. Use my strawberry simple syrup recipe replacing the strawberries with lilac (strain flowers out before storing)


Lilac Sugar

Fill a pint canning jar 1/2 way with plain sugar. Sprinkle the lilac over the top, then cover with more sugar. The jar should be 2/3 of the way full. Sprinkle on more lilacs, then more sugar, leaving 1/2 inch head space. Place the lid on tightly, shake the jar and hide it away in a cool dark place. It is ready to use in 2-3 weeks. The longer it stands to more fragrant it becomes. Replace the sugar that you use, shake and store again. This is great for your baked desserts.

Lilac Muffins (makes 2 dozen)
2 cups lilac buds and blossoms (no green part of flower)
3 eggs
1 cup oil
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Rinse lilac buds in water and allow them soak. Beat eggs. Stir in oil, sugar and vanilla. Blend in the flour, baking soda and baking powder.

Pour excess water off lilacs. Add to the batter. Pour in prepared muffin tin. Bake at 325F for 30 to 40 minutes.



Lilac Jelly

4 cups lilac flowers
2 cups boiling water
steep flowers, by covering and
allowing to sit for 24 hours
For each 2 cups of liquid add
juice of one lemon,
1 pkg pectin
boil
add 1 cup sugar
allow to boil for 5 minutes
Place in 1/2 pint hot jelly jars and process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.

I was asked about rosemary as well. Rosemary is indeed a very strong herb, use it sparingly in most recipes. I use rosemary with my meats, as Mrs. Fuzzy stated in her reply yesterday about Sage, rub the meat with it, then dispose of it. One of the great things you can also do with rosemary is make a bread.

Rosemary Bread
1 cup water
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon dried rosemary (less for taste and if using fresh)
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

For a bread machine, set this at white bread, and go. If not, mix together all the dry ingredients. Using a separate bowl, mix together the wet. Blend both bowls together, and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead gently until the dough is silky smooth (5-10 minutes) do not over knead, and try not to add too much flour to the mix) Place in a grease bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until double in size, 2 hours. Punch down, and gently knead out air bubbles. Place into a greased pan and allow to rise again, 2 hours. Preheat oven to 350F and bake until golden brown on top and hollow sounding when you knock on it. Because ovens vary so much, check the bread after 40 minutes.

Kumquats are a wonderful fruit. I have an article about them over here, and it does include three recipes. (including making your own pectin)

Marmalade
3 cups chopped kumquats
1 cup water
6 1/2 cups sugar
1 pkg pectin
Prepare the kumquats, half the fruit and remove seeds, chop coarsely or slice thinly

Combine the chopped kumquats, with water, and pectin. Add the sugar and bring to a hard boil (cannot be stirred down). Boil for one minute. Pour into sterile jars and seal, process in a hot water bath for 5 minutes.

Glaze (for a pound cake)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
1 cup chopped kumquats (pureed)
4 tbsp cornstarch
3 tbsp lemon Jello gelatin

Mix together the sugar, cornstarch, Jello and water. Cook over a medium heat until thickened. Stir in the chopped kumquats. Pour over a slice of pound garnish with whipped cream.

Kumquat Citrus Butter
1 1/2 tablespoons softened butter
4 de-seeded kumquats with rinds, minced until pulpy
1 teaspoon orange zest
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and mix with your fingertips, ensuring that the fruit and seasonings are incorporated into the butter.Store in an air tight container. (great on fish)


As for you Cygnus. You can use any browny recipe with your herb, just make sure you use real butter. Animal fat is the catalyst. Oh jeez, I just told on myself. (giggle) But of course most of you know about my naughty little past.

Don't Just Stop and Smell the Roses, Eat them.

As some of you may have noticed, on the side bar under the Back to Basics logo I have an updated daily tally of things that I have harvested. One of those items was rose petals. I received an email the other day asking about said rose petals.

Here on the Neophyte Homestead we eat rose petals in various forms. The ones I harvest here are for Rose Petal Jam.

2 cups rose petals ( finely chopped)
2 cups boiling water
2 3/4 cups sugar
3 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon lemon juice
( I did not have 2 cups of roses, so I had to adjust the recipe to fit what I had)

cover the rose petals with boiling water, simmer for 10 minutes. Strain and reserve both water and petals. Add sugar and the honey to the water. Simmer for 30 minutes. add lemon and finely chopped petals and simmer 30 minutes. Pour into hot jars.

I added 2 strawberries to mine. I tastes like watermelon Jolly Ranchers.

Hot Jam!

Food to put by

I apologize for not posting yesterday. I seem to be having blogger vs PC issues.

Every spring I end up doing a challenge, this year I chose to participate in;

Back to Basics challenge

A few things in my garden to put by;

Brussel sprouts

Cauliflower

Stowell's Evergreen corn

grapes

We have a lot more coming in, unfortunately some of the photos were not the greatest.

oh and for Lisa. LOOK LOOK! I have flowers!!!!

Of course I didn't grow them, they were here when we moved in. But I didn't kill them either.

I have something that I really want to tell you all. It is something that I hinted at last summer. We at the Neophyte Homestead are thrilled about it. But I am not going to tell you what it is until next Monday.

A new Flower garden

On Wednesday I took all three of my boys to Little River Greenhouse, in a neighboring town. We walked around looking at what they had to offer so early in the spring.

I allowed each boy to pick out some flowers, and we talked about why there were only a few different types of plants and trees available.

Yesterday I took on the task of pulling up some badly done weed barrier, that I previous owner brilliantly put in. From what I see, it looks like all they want was a big pebble garden, and that the dirt that was in it was accidental {the wind blows hard here}.

Once up, I had my oldest pick the spots were each of his flowers would be placed. I had him read the cards to see how they should be planted. Then the whole digging began. My middle boy will do the same thing today, and my toddler gets to use his older brother's old wagon to plant his.

We had small scraps of woods laying about, and I had them decorate both sides. After I clear coat them, this will be their border that separates their gardens. {I have a lot of drawings of evil slugs}

I am sore this morning from trying to get that weed barrier up, but I did enjoy spending time in a garden with my boys and not end up covered in mud, or paranoid that they would step on my veggies.
****************
Cheryl, you will be happy to know that my husband has strung me a clothes line. However it has been storming all week and I haven't been able to use it.

Your grape questions will be answered in the comment section of Great Grapes.

Blueberries and Sunflowers

Something that I can not resist is the chocolate covered blueberry. Last night around 1 am I decided to make some.It took quite a bit of will power for me not to eat the entire pint of chocolate covered bliss. So simple to make. Slowly melt your favorite brand of solid chocolate bar, dribble a bit on wax paper, place blueberry in the center then cover with more chocolate. Place in the fridge until firm {about 15 minutes} Simple, but heavenly!

Wet air and drying sunflowers make a poor combination. I lost my entire crop because of the odd weather we are having. No roasted sunflower seeds, or sunflower oil this year. Grey powdery mold has infected everything. The sunflower field a few miles from me has suffered as well. I have done well with sunflowers the last couple of years, and am disappointed that I will not have any this winter.

Flies have also invaded my home. It has been nice enough to keep the house open. I realize that many of you have never brooded chicks in your home before, but the sickly sweet smell of chick poop draws the flies {yes I clean the brooder daily}. If the weather changes and is back to it's hot dry self, I will be able to move the chicks out to the nursery this weekend. These chicks are the most paranoid bunch I have ever dealt with. I am use to the frightened chick attitude, but this bunch will jump at any small sound. And as they are located in my master bath, they keep me up at night.

Today we go on the great egg hunt. There is approximately 3 days worth of eggs somewhere in the chicken/goat/geese/turkey pen. The standard rooster is in lock up, the geese will be shooed into the barn so that my boys can help me search the ½ acre area in the hopes of stumbling on the elusive chicken egg. My layers have not laid in the normal spot, and I have only 1 hen that sets. Hens like to share nests, so somewhere out there beneath the bright blue sky, someone's laying out there, out where weeds grow tall {I like An American Tail , just in case you didn't get the last line}

I am more than canning

Canning is not my entire world, though this time of year, it seems to be. I am very busy preserving my garden treasures that I forget that there are others that might find canning only mildly interesting. Food preservation is very important, as it ensures that you will have something to eat over the next few months. If you have done everything correctly, and had a bountiful harvest, you can last out the year.

Apricot jam

But there is more to this life. I have a flower garden,

purple butterfly bush

that was over run by caterpillars,

And pumpkins,As you can tell, I don't tend my flowers as well as I should. It gets forgotten.

I thought I should make a to-do list. Not just for my benefit, but for those of my readers as well. This will give you an idea of what is coming up.

A HOMESTEADING NEOPHYTE ADVENTURE LIST;

1} Butcher a turkey for the first time
2} raid someone’s woodlot and construct a wattle fence
3} Build an under ground green building {home}
4} get sheep and llamas
5} Orchard
6} hatching eggs
7} butchering geese
8} opening the Homesteading Neophyte store {if there is interest}
9} butchering lambs
10} TAKING OVER THE WORLD PINKY!

This list is subject to change at the whim of the author's flakiness.