Backyard Farmgals

I had to share this beautiful flower with you.  She was the first to bloom at the farm in the sunflower patch that we have growing there.  I found seeds for black sunflowers this last spring, but I have to say that I planted them with a bit of doubt.  Would they really be black???  Ye of little faith!  Here she is black and glorious.  I squealed with delight when I saw her bloom on Sunday morning.  She is absolutely gorgeous, dark and mysterious, completely stunning...  The variety of species and diversity is astounding to me.  I am continually baffled by the idea that there are over 5,000 types of tomatoes.  How will I ever get to all of them???  What is so amazing is that diversity is what keeps our planet going.  Without it, we would be just a potato blight away from sure starvation.  Remember Ireland???  The thing is that there are several large companies in favor of doing away with diversity, patenting seeds, and requiring farmers to plant only certain varieties of plants that

Corn and squash, great companion plants I did the craziest thing this year, I planted corn in my front yard.  And not just corn, I planted an organic "corn fence".  This is one of my more outrageous ideas, and it has been the talk of the neighborhood.  We all love it!!!  I have this crazy notion to tie ribbons around sections of it and let it be it's own Fall decoration. Cinderella squash peaking our from under her leaves. Front yard gardens are becoming a trend and also a problem in some communities.  I recently read about a family that was charged with a misdemeanor for planting veggies in the front flower beds.  Absurd, if you ask me, but some cities actually have ordinances that state what can and cannot be grown in front yards.  If I get drug off to jail for my corn, I hope that you will all protest for my release and freedom to grow whatever I please in my yard. From our neighbor's side, you can't even see our house!  Privacy and it's

I've gone a little nuts...with the jam that is.  I have made oodles of it this year, but this one is by far, the most outstanding of any jam I have made.  I was inspired by another vendor at the farmer's market and thought I could make my own, and make it better.  I think that the key to this is using really, really, horribly ripe apricots.  So ripe that they fall apart when you peel them and your hands are coated in juice.  I made another batch with not so ripe fruit and it was good, but not fantastic. I am really in love with the flavor combination and with the lime juice.  It brightens the whole flavor and surprises your taste buds.  I used the lime juice and zest because I loved the little flecks of green zest in the orange jam.  What can I say...orange and green...I must be a child of the 70's!  The ginger plays a lovely role after the jam has cooled, you get this sweet spiciness in your mouth toward the end of your bite.  It's absolutely beautiful. Apricots

I love sunflowers.  They are one of my most favorite things.  I love how massively tall they can be and all of the colors that they can show off, but there is one thing very special about them that I love.  They are called sunflowers for a reason, not only do they look like the sun, but their heads actually follow the sun.  Really!!!  It always reminds me to look up toward the light and is a wonderful reminder of how easy it can be to find the "sun" in our lives! This year I allowed a little patch of sunflowers that the birds planted, to come up in the front yard.  They are absolutely beautiful and they are a monstrous 16-feet tall.  Yeah...they are as tall as a giraffe!!!  I feel so small standing under their towering stalks, glorious orange and yellow heads above me.  They have become a wonderful part of the garden and they are so beneficial.  Bees and birds benefit greatly from them, and my children absolutely adore them.  To the kids it's more like a sunflower for

Fresh Wild Blueberries...YUM!!! I found the most amazing wild blueberries at the Farmer's Market and I had to make this.  Really this recipe has been haunting me; it calls to me in the night, "make me, make me," and then "eat me, eat me."  It is disturbing that a tart could have so much power over me, but it does...because it is soooooooo good! Blueberries are one of the most unloved berries.  They get pushed aside by sweet juicy blackberries and glorious ruby red raspberries.  Blueberries are an unsung hero in my mind.  They are PACKED with antioxidants and they have the most remarkable tangy sweetness.  No other berry can mimic the blueberry.  If you have written off the blueberry as tasteless and boring, you obviously have not had fresh picked wild blueberries.  They are remarkable!  Get your buns to a farmer's market and give them a second chance... This tart is really quite easy to make.  I got the recipe out of the cookbook "Chicken and