In the Garden ~ Companion Planting

 

    This February weather has been pretty mild so far, but do not let it fool you into complacency, your plants are not yet ready to go outside.  What you can do instead is get ready to plant in the coming weeks by starting your plants early inside, if you have the space.  This could be anywhere you have good lighting or you can also use grow lights.  If you are really lucky, a green house.  To get some of the best yields you have ever had, we wanted to talk about companion planting.  

Companion planting is growing vegetables, herbs or flowers near each other to optimize the soil, bug deterrents and pollinators, for a stronger healthier plant and a larger yield.  Did you know that tomatoes love carrots?  While we usually plant basil with our tomatoes, they also love carrots.  Since carrots like cooler weather, start them first, then succession plant in tomatoes and basil, as the days go longer and the temperature increases.

Another favorite of ours to plant together is nasturtium and cucumbers.  Nastirtium is a flowering green, where everything it grows is edible.  The flower and leaves are a perfect addition to salads, and adds a bit of peppery spice to the dish.  Cucumbers thrive with nasturtium growing close by.  Ours took off and did not look back.  

Probably our most successful and favored planting companions is the “three sisters” combination of beans, squash and corn.  This triple threat works great together and produces wonderful yields when grown together.  With differing times of produce, you can have food all summer long with these companions.

We usually mix together our greens, in rows by and around each other.  Kale, spinach, arugula and chard all go well together and create bountiful yields when planted.  The cooler weather allows for greens to grow and thrive together early on in the season, and when planted next to each other, they all thrive.  

We have left the best for last, marigolds.  Marigolds are a garden staple and we plant these all around the edge of our beds to help keep away unwanted pests and to draw in pollinators.  Marigolds help tomatoes, summer squash, lettuce, and green beans.  These flowers are beautiful as well as beneficial for any garden.  

Do not be afraid to combine your plants this year for a stronger, healthy plant that produces more food for you and your family.  Companion planting is more than just planting next to each other, its a great way to ward off pests and optimize your garden to produce more.  Be sure to check out the chart from the Farmers Almanac website for more details and plants that we did not cover.  Happy planning and plating this Spring.

In the Garden ~ Farm to Table Breakfast

 

               Have you ever wondered about what breakfast is like at the Oaks Bed and Breakfast?  Today is the day that we want to share with you some of our secrets to the amazing meal we provide our guests every time they stay with us.  We truly feel that a great day starts with breakfast, and what is a better way to start than with a farm to table breakfast experience.  Welcome to our bed and breakfast where we’re proud to serve a farm to table breakfast that encompasses the rich agricultural heritage of North East Texas.

              

               Some of you locals may remember my in-laws, Bernie and Susie Thesing, who now live out in the country and take care of a little hobby farm filled with animals and produce.  The animals on the farm provide food for our table and theirs, and the garden provides produce.  Some of the best eggs I have ever eaten have come from the farm and are far superior to the eggs you can purchase at the grocery store.  There is just a better taste from an egg of a chicken that has had the joy of roaming the land and discovering the bugs that hop across their path. 

 

               As a rule, studies have shown that the benefits of pasture raised eggs include:

1/3 less cholesterol, 1/4 less saturated fat, 2/3 more vitamin A, 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids, 3 times more vitamin E, and 7 times more beta carotene.  Who does not want to have more benefits from such a tiny specimen?  You can even see the difference between a store-bought egg and a pasture raised egg.  That is our first step in providing a great farm to table meal for our guests to enjoy.

 

               The second item we pretty much always use for breakfast is fresh herbs from the herb garden.  Summer is the best time to enjoy the fresh cut herbs, sauteed into a delicious meal, and one of my all-time favorites, incorporates fresh tomatoes as well.  Our crustless tomato quiche is a crowd favorite.  The flavors of the fresh herbs mixed with the sauteed onion, baked with shredded mozzarella cheese, is nothing short of mouthwatering.   The summer is the best time for this dish, because we can usually pull tomatoes from the garden to include them as the topper.  Each bite is a little taste of summer.

 

               Now that the seasons are attempting to change, we will start to utilize those amazing fall garden staples.  The remaining hot weather spinach will need to be used or saved, and sweet potatoes that were planted earlier in the year are going to be ready soon. When we prepare breakfast we always take into consideration the dietary needs of our guests.  Most often that means gluten free items, which works out well, in a veggie and fruit heavy meal.  You cannot forget about the fresh sausage or bacon from the farm. 

 

               The fresh meat that we use, tastes and looks so much better than their storefront counterparts.  I will say when we have that fresh bacon and sausage, it goes quickly.  The guests love the flavor and the family does too.  Any meat that we do not grow ourselves we try to locally source from farms we know. Our beef often comes from The Tully Family farm or we shop at Tolleson Family Market for those odds and ends we might not have on hand. 

Your Garden ~ Canned Peppers

    

    As summer is draws to a close, about the only item still producing with any vigor in our garden happens to be peppers.  There are so many peppers, that I was at a loss for what to do with them all.  I figured that canning some up for later was the best plan.  I gathered my supplies and got to work.

    For this process, I used whatever peppers I had on hand, that would go to waste if not used relatively quickly.  Of course, you can be more discerning in your pepper selection and go all out on one variety over another or mix and match like I did.  My focus was on using what I had available so as to not create more waste or pass off too much food to the chickens or pigs.  

    I figured that no matter what, which ever peppers I happened to use would not go to waste and can be used in a variety of ways.  On tapas at the Tipsy Oak Lounge, various breakfast dishes for our overnight guest at the Bed and Breakfast, or just as a healthy snack for the children. Plus, we could always gift them to friends and family to enjoy. Who doesn't like a homemade treat, even in veggie form.

    To get started, I washed them all off, so they would be ready to slice and dice. Then I prepared the jars with the pepper corns, mustard seeds, garlic cloves, coriander seeds by evenly distributing the items between the four jars.  Then I started the water, salt and sugar on the stove top and brought to a boil and added the vinegar and cooked that together for about a minute.  While the water was coming to a boil, I sliced the peppers into strips and placed them in the jars as I moved through the process.  I tried to get an even amount of items into each jar, of each pepper option.  I will say I did use only sweet peppers, no hot peppers in this batch.  Maybe on the next one I will mix and match or just do hot peppers.  

    After the jars were filled with peppers, I added the water and vinegar solution had cooked. I poured an even amount of the water into the jars.  I closed the lids and I was done.  I plan to store my peppers in the fridge which is why I did not do a water bath to seal the jars.  Once the lids had sucked down into the jar, into the fridge they went.  I don't have a lot of pantry space available, so this was my best solution.  Now if I did have space, I would have given my jars a nice water bath, for their preservation.  

    As a bonus these peppers are ready to eat relatively soon after jarring.  We opened one up this past weekend and they were perfect.  Just the right amount of brine and flavor and still crisp, how I wanted them to be.  

    We hope that you will preserve your extra produce to use later in the year when nothing is growing as well.  Preservation provides for a family long after the harvest season has ended and before the new growing season starts.