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Refreshing Herb Teas from the Garden

As we've seen this Spring, the weather here in Virginia is never for sure. Two days ago, it was rainy, cold, and we had the fire going. Today, it's 75 degrees and sunny. You just never know if it's going to be an iced tea day or a hot tea day. Luckily, we can enjoy herb teas in both ways.

The easiest way to enjoy herb tea is just this simple: Take a mug, add a tablespoon of your favorite fresh herb (say, spearmint, lemon verbena, or rosemary) and cover with hot water. Make sure the water is not quite boiling. Then let it steep for five minutes and enjoy. Be careful not to oversteep your tea! If you want a stronger flavor, just add more of your herb. If you're making ice tea, pour your tea over a cup full of ice after it's finished steeping.

You can also use dried herbs in this way, but you'll need less herb (about a teaspoon is good) and the flavor will be a little different. We always prefer the fresh stuff.

After you've tried making a few fresh herb teas, you might want to try a combination of flavors. Here are some favorite flavors:

• Rosemary

• Lemon Verbena

• Spearmint

• Peppermint

• Ginger

• Lemon Grass

• Hibiscus

• Rose Geranium

• Dried citrus peel

• Chamomile

My personal favorite combination is lemon verbena and rosemary. Or maybe it's lemon-ginger. Who can choose just one? Try mixing some combinations yourself and let us know if there's anything we should try!

9.11.07

The Most Beautiful, Freshest Salsa for Tomato Season

One of the best parts about having your own herb garden at hand for use in recipe experimentation. This season, my chop-and-mix experiments have centered around fresh salsa. My experiments in this field are no doubt due to my decision to plant a dozen-odd tomato plants a few months ago, including various heirlooms, blood princes, green zebras, sweet 100s, and mini-romas. This has led to a tomato feast of unprecedented proportions. Ready access to dozens of herbs and brown bags full of ripe peaches haven't hurt, either. My experimentation in this field has led me to this, the perfect fresh salsa recipe. You'll notice there's no garlic in it, I prefer it without. But feel free to mess with it to your heart's content:

Fresh Salsa

Ingredients:

• Three pounds of the weirdest tomatoes you can find, and they MUST be straight from the garden, chopped

• A handful of Greek Columnar Basil (or Sweet Genovese, if you must), minced

• A large handful of Vietnamese Coriander (or Cilantro, if you like), minced

• One small red onion, or half a large one, chopped

• Two ripe peaches, chopped

• Four Jalapeno or Two Habenero peppers, minced

• A generous dosage of sea salt and fresh-ground pepper

Place the chopped tomatoes in a medium-sized bowl with a generous pinch of sea salt. Stir briefly and then let the mixture sit for 10 minutes. This will release the juices of the tomato. After ten minutes, pour the tomato into a tight-netted strainer. Most of the juices will go through the strainer. leaving you with the meat of the tomatoes.

Don't let the tomatoes drain too much; when they're done, dump them back in to the original bowl. Next add the rest of the ingredients, toss briefly, and let sit for one half-hour outside at room temperature. Then eat it with tortilla chips or something equally crunchy. Also a great plate garnish or salad topper.

6.19.07

Letters with Flowers

These days, sending a old-fashioned, creme-stationaried, put-it-in-the-mailbox-with-the-flag-up letter is increasingly rare. With most every-day correspondence done over the phone or by email, the postman increasingly delivers only bills, flyers, and the occasional magazine. Consequently, receiving a tangible letter in the mailbox is more of a thrill than ever.

Because I write letters so infrequently, I like to make them as special to the reader as possible. Given the incredible boom in the greeting card and high-quality stationary stores in recent years, I'm probably not the only one. One of my favorite ways to make a card or note personal is by adding some pressed flowers from my own garden.

The best part about pressing flowers from your garden is that it's EASY. You can either get yourself a flower press or you can use a big, heavy book and a pad of sketching paper. I like to press my flowers for about a month, and, though I've read that one should change the paper they're on every few days, I haven't found this to be necessary.

First, it's important to choose the right flowers from your garden. Unsurprisingly, flowers with larger reproductive parts (you could call them "fatter" flowers), like coreopsis or zinnia, take longer to press. Smaller flowers or flowers that have comparatively large petals, like pansies, violets, or coral bells, take less time to press. You can choose to cut the flower where it meets the its stem, or you can choose to leave the stem on for different effect. I prefer to leave the stem on smaller flowers for context and portability.

After you've picked your flowers, it becomes intuitive: place the flowers, seperately, in between two sheets of heavy white paper, put the paper into a press or a heavy coffee-table book, and wait. You can see the fruits of my first flower-pressing experiment above. So far, my favorite pressed flower is corral bells, but their size doesn't make them a good fit for envelopes. Instead, I recommend pansies, violas, and morning glories. Of course, the best way to find out is to experiment for yourself. If you have any enlightening suggestions about pressing flowers, or have a favorite pressed flower, drop us a line and let us know at morningsidefarmandnursery@gmail.com.

4.15.07

Horse Season Special: The World's Greatest Mint Julep

 The Mint Julep is a staple of the great Southern horse racing season, and we're happy to bring you, by request, the recipe for the perfect Mint Julep.

Ingredients:

• Your favorite Whiskey or Bourbon (we prefer Culpeper local Copper Fox)

• 2 cups sugar

• 2 cups water

• Two big handfuls of Kentucky Colonel Spearmint plus a few sprigs for garnish

• Crushed ice

1. Make simple syrup: Add 2 cups of sugar and 2 cups of water to a medium-sized pot and bring to a vigorous boil. Continue boiling until the mixture has been approximately halved by evaporation, about ten minutes. The longer you boil this mixture, the more solid your syrup will be. While the syrup is boiling, wash Spearmint.

2. Once the syrup is finished, remove from heat. Shake the Spearmint to remove excess water and add to the syrup; stir. The more mint you add to the syrup, the stronger the mint flavor will be in your Mint Julep. Let mint syrup cool for 1/2 hour or more at room temperature. Slowly cooling the syrup will allow the mint flavor to be brought fully out of the plant.

3. When the syrup has cooled, strain out the remainder of the mint plants. Fill a clear rocks glass to the top with crushed ice. Fill 1/2 to 3/4 (depending on your taste) of the glass with your chosen bourbon or whiskey and the rest with mint syrup. Add a mint sprig as garnish and serve.

Remember that this same syrup will serve you well in making incredible mojitos as well.

Enjoy horse season, and remember that Kentucky Colonel Spearmint is always available at Morningside Farm & Nursery!

3.14.07

Weeping Willows and Cut Pussy Willow Arrangements

We at Morningside Farm and Nursery have always had a soft spot for the often-maligned Willow. With hundreds of varieties of all shapes and sizes, willows are generally fast-growing, easy to take care of, and beautifully quirky.

The most famous is the stately Weeping Willow, its long, slender twigs draping down with such a perfect, aristocratic laziness--as if to remind us all that we should just relax.  Though this willow is native to China, it has a long history in Western Civilization and the United States. Brought to England in 1730, George Washington subsequently mentioned the Weeping Willow in his diaries in 1785. According to Thomas Jefferson, the original graveyard of Monticello was surrounded by them.

Other willow species appeared in America soon after: the Bay-leaved Willow was identified in Philadelphia in 1807 and the Ram's Horn (or "Crispa") Willow was seen in Boston in 1830. We have healthy examples of these and many other willows on the farm, including Japanese Fantail Willow, Rosemary Willow, and Giant Pussy Willow (see below for a complete list). Today, some willows are grown for their strange, fuzzy catkins while others are better known for their shape and foliage.

One of the most beautiful and rewarding applications of the Pussy Willow is the display of their catkin-ed stems in lovely, long-lasting vase arrangements. In fact, just sticking a few cut willows here and there can have a very pretty, homey effect. Willow stems are like cut flowers that last an entire season, and with so many willows to choose from, your arrangements can be very diverse. Luckily, the pussy willow can be relied on to put out catkins every year in late February. Remember, don't put them in water--they'll start growing roots and their catkins will turn green and fall away.

Our favorite willow to start with for arrangements is the Japanese Fantail Willow, which you can see above. This willow's curly-cues provide a natural surrealism that keeps the eye interested and amused: the fasciating tendency of the Fantails stems are a strange and fascinating habit. Feel free to cut yours right to the ground...don't worry, it will be back with plenty of stems for next year.

Other, more traditional pussy willows fill-in and finish off an arrangement. Rubykins Willow has small, fuzzy, tightly-regimented grey-pink catkins.  The blue-white catkins of the Giant Pussy Willow, aptly named, are enormous and dramatic. Meanwhile, the Black Pussy Willow's red-orange anthers against the jet-black catkins provides an excellent contrast to the typical off-white catkin.

Of course there are many other willows, and many of them are grown purely for their shape and foliage. With so many uses, the willow is sure to once again regain it's rightful place in the standard landscape vocabulary of the homeowners and gardeners everywhere. We are happy to report that The Washington Post seems to agree with our opinion, according to this recent article.

Update! We recently heard that the Inn at Little Washington had used some beautiful willow arrangements in their dining room.

At Morningside you can find some of your favorite willows:

For Catkins:

• Japanese Fantail Willow

• Rubykins Willow

• Black Pussy Willow

• French Pussy Willow

• Giant Pussy Willow

For Beautiful Foliage:

• Dappled Willow (Hakiro Nishiki)

• Rosemary Willow

• Ram's Horn Willow

• Silver Willow

• Golden Stemmed Weeping Willow

• Bay-leaved Willow

Questions? Email us at info@morningsidefarmandnursery.com.