Beautiful Beans

Post by Jessica | Photos by Corissa
Bluegrass Domestic Violence Program

This year we planted another round of heirloom dry beans.  While dry bean production on our site isn't necessarily economically efficient, it's a good practice for several reasons.  Beans, peas, and other legumes fix nitrogen in our soil, but this is just one of the reasons we include a variety of legumes in our cover crop schedule.

We also love dry beans for their extended shelf life. These beans, once dried correctly, are storable for one or even several seasons. Leftover beans can even be planted the following June to produce again and save on seed costs. Beans can be prepared in many different ways, they provide a nutritious protein, and also serve as a great locally grown meal in the dead of winter!

One more reason that we are crazy about these heirloom beans is that they are simply beautiful and maybe even a little magical!  I love nothing more than walking past the bean patch as pods are drying on the plants and plucking one off. Shelling them is such a treat! Each bean, while still its own specific variety, is completely different and special in its own way. Their colors and spots develop as they mature, and it's so fun to compare beans from the same pod, noting the differences and similarities. I must admit that I can't help but wonder if one of these beans could contain the same magic as the beans that Jack planted in the old fable. I guess we will keep on growing them, just in case.:)

Varieties grown this year included Vermont Cranberry, Jacob's Cattle, Calypso, Black Turtle, and Hidatsa Shield Beans. We have been working with these varieties for several years and are very pleased with them for flavor and productivity. One of the best varieties I have grown (though I didn't this year) is Arikara Yellow. The flavor is amazing, and we plan to get those in the ground next year.  Cow Peas and Cream Peas are also lovely dry beans to think about planting.

Shelling dry beans is quite time consuming but can be a really nice group activity.  Last year we utilized a mechanical sheller from the University of Kentucky, but this year we got a group of ladies and kiddos together and shelled beans for a few hours on several chilly fall mornings. Good times!

Harvest Party Recap!

Post by Corissa | Photos by Ralph
Bluegrass Domestic Violence Program

Last month we invited the community to a Harvest Party to discover and explore the farm and healing gardens. Staff and residents worked all week to make the shelter and grounds sparkle for our visitors. About a hundred people attended the event on that breezy end-of-summer day. Some party guests were familiar with the farm and stopped by to show their support. For others, the party was their first introduction to the amazing work we're doing on the farm.

Harvest Party guests begin to arrive.

Everyone enjoyed farm-to-table treats featuring our tomatoes, basil, and honey. One shelter resident made a big dish of her soon-to-be famous spicy salsa to share with party-goers. Tours highlighted how the farm and shelter work together to provide meaningful avenues of healing for survivors of intimate partner abuse.

We even had a special guest - Congressman Ben Chandler - stop by to show his support.

Business Lexington wrote a great article about the event and farm. One line reads: "Those who participate in the garden — and kids love it too — say they feel as if they are part of something bigger than themselves, a part of a community..." You can read the complete article here.

The community interest and support of our farm is really growing. Thanks to everyone who helped make our first Harvest Party a big success!

Sweet Honey: BDVP-Jessica

      

Some hard workin' women!

On this cold, rainy day it sure seems like it was ages ago when we pulled a couple of honey supers off of our bee hives at the Bluegrass Domestic Violence Program.  Actually it was only a few weeks back and it was actually very warm and sunny that day!

We are still pretty new to beekeeping at BDVP and this was our first time extracting honey from our own hive.  We have been playing around with beekeeping for the ast few years but, this was our first year to try it on our own.  Last year we had some wonderful volunteers who maintained our hives and harvested honey for us.  Well, this year the same, lovely volunteer helped us extract honey on our own!

Checking the frames.

We began by examining the hive and pulled out 2 full honey supers. We encouraged the bees to move down into the hive by using a very stinky bee repellent.  This way we were able to remove the full supers and frames without bringing too many bees with them.  Mary, a crisis counselor at our facility has been wanting to get into the hive this whole year but, we hadn't been able to sync up our schedules to make it happen.  She was finally able to come out and get into the bees when we pulled the honey.  I have to tell you that this woman is fearless! It was awesome.  In the past, we have had plenty of residents and staff members who enjoy walking down and watching Susun (our allstar volunteer) and myself work with the bees.  They (understandably) tend to prefer observing us from afar.  Mary, on the other hand, was right up in there with us!  This lady is a natural. In fact, she's the one that got all of these great close shots of the hive.  Thanks so much, Mary!

Susun, our ever faithful beekeeping mentor... Thanks!!!!

In order to extract the honey we had to borrow an extractor from a local beekeeper.  We met up the next morning to get going on spinning out our honey.  We had lots of help!  Our faithful beekeeping mentor, Susun was back to show us how it's done.  We also had a number of staff, volunteers, and clients participating.



Dean is getting really psyched about using the extractor!




Frame ready for the extractor

  We started out by pulling the frames out one at a time and cutting the cappings off with a hot knife.  This opened up the comb so we could then put 2 frames in the extractor at a time and start spinning.  You "spin" out the honey by spinning the extractor one way for awhile, then flipping the frames over and spinning it again...then finally one more flip, some hard cranking.....spin and pull them out.



Go Mary!




Crankin it!



Keep on crankin'.....



After all of this hard work, you open up the spout on the extractor and let the honey flow! It's just like magic....

We got about 5 gallons of honey this year and a whole bunch of wax cappings.  We recently made some more of our healing salve with some of the beeswax and we are planning on making some more lip balm in the coming weeks.... We'll keep you posted on how it turns out. 





Sweet Honey!

 *This blog was brought to you by the letter Beeeeeeee......... :)

Why we love this work we do: BDVP

Just wanted to share a sweet testimony from a client at shelter.   She is a powerful woman who is thoughtful, well-spoken and very grounded in her faith.  This woman was able to participate in our work stipend program for a week before finding an employment opportunity in her field.  She and her child have been an inspiration to me and it has really been a blessing to witness a liitle piece of their journey!  Hearing stories like this are what make me so thankful to have the opportunity to do this work! These stories also make me a little misty eyed :) 
                                                                                        -Jessica



"What can I say about the Bluegrass Domestic Violence Project? Since I arrived at the beautiful forty acre campus the experience has invigorated the essence of my soul.  The exodus from my eight year captivity leads me to liken the facility to a type of 'paradise'.  My many tears Yah has collected in his glass have been balanced with joy and pain.  I began to see a transition from the latter to the former as I embarked on a quest to self-dscovery through participation in a host of programs and groups offered by BDVP.

Time was the most precious gift I received from the program: Time to study my bible and fellowship with loved ones, allowing me to draw nearer to Yah and grow in my faith.  Time to explore my creative niche and unearth talents I was unaware I had.  Time to delve into heart issues, some that had craftily permeated my being.  Finally, time to restore order to my life and the life of my precious baby boy.  By the way, he has determined he never wants to leave the 'Gate House', as he calls it.

The highlight of BDVP for me is the garden.  I was able to contribute briefly through the stipend program that provided the program participants the opportunity to earn some income, while learning to give back to the earth.  It was a place of safety for me, my temple, where I went to meet Yah, my place of Shalom!  Although I still have a meager knowledge of gardening, I have an appreciation of  the life there is outside of what we breathe and the love and the diligence that is necessary to sustain it.  I was able to harvest some of the healing herbs grown and use them to make lotions and oils and facial scrubs.  I also witnessed how to blanch and freeze many of the vegetables, as well as how to create great recipes.  All I can say is it was a real honor and a blessing to be part of something greater than myself.

To the staff, I pray Yah's blessings, may He prosper the program richly and increase what it lacks.  I have no doubt that He brought me to BDVP to rescue me and to fulfill His promise that I would have life and have it more abundantly!  To Him I give all praise, glory, and honor for allowing such a program to come to fruition."
                                                                                                    With Love,
                                    (to protect confidentiality her name will not be posted)

                                                           

Karen, our all-star volunteer: BDVP

I wanted to take this opportunity to give a big old thank you to one amazing volunteer: Karen Lanier.  Karen has been such a wonderful gift to our farm project.  We met quite serendipitously in May and while she has been an amazing and consistent volunteer, she has also become a great friend.  She was kind enough to share a bit of her story with us....

Testimonial of Volunteering on Watershed Farm, or What I Learned This Summer

by Karen Lanier

August 19,2012

What brought me to Watershed Farm? A very different reason than most of the women here – I came to Lexington to be closer to a good man. But my story echoes their need of support through a transition. It has been a big shift for me to approach life with the intention to put down roots in this city, coming from a semi-migratory lifestyle that included living in small towns surrounded by magnificent wild spaces. Now I’m in the urban jungle, awake at all hours not to coyotes, but to siren howls, and the hammering sounds aren’t woodpeckers, but jackhammers.

I knew I wanted to find a balance between concrete and nature, as well as balance earning a living and producing my own food. That’s when Jessica and Watershed Farm entered the picture, as an answered prayer. I’ve been volunteering a few hours a week since May, in exchange for a few veggies and flowers.

Why do I continue to volunteer? For the soul nourishment that comes from slowing down my pace, kneeling with my hands in the earth, inhaling the indescribable freshness and realness that surrounds me and grounds me, sensing the power of creation in each seed, and noticing the subtle changes from one week to the next. 

What do I actually do while I’m on the farm? It’s always a surprise, and I like that. I could show up and be the lone weeder, spending two solitary hours untangling morning glory vines from sweet potatoes. Or I could be swallowed up in the energy of 40 other volunteers, swarming through the green rows, spreading straw mulch and clearing pathways. Often, I get individual attention from the garden guru, Jessica, who infuses the atmosphere with her infectious joy. She may hand me a flat of seedlings, rattle off flowers’ names that sound like Greek goddesses, and show me how to handle them as I transplant them. Each step in the process is meaningful and rewarding, but the best part might just be harvesting. I’ll never forget the day I learned how to pull a potato out of the ground without harming the plant.  It’s a delicate and strange feeling to blindly reach inside the earth, wiggle fingers around and detect a hard little ball, carefully separate it from the tendril that attaches it to the mother plant, and resurface with a golden (or russet) prize in your fist.

This summer has been full of firsts for me. One thing I’ve learned through my volunteer farming is that being a beginner is a wonderful way to exist in this world. Humble farmers know that they are never really in charge, and if you stay open to listening to nature’s messages, the right teachers will come to you.

Thanks so much, Karen!  We love you, lady!

BDVP Make It Take It: Jam and Pickles: Jessica

We recently offered another installment of our Make It/ Take It series.  This month we decided to can blackberry jam and pickles from the garden.  Participants gathered together to make traditional low sugar jam.  As we warmed the berries on the stove everybody chopped cucumbers, peeled garlic and chopped peppers for our batch of home-made pickles. We didn't have any dill in the garden so we actually used basil for our pickles (which I have done in the past... and love!).      Most of our group participants had never done any home canning.  I wanted to let them know what a fun and easy project jam making can be. We really had a great time in the kitchen that day! We were able to make a big batch of a nice quality product and everyone got their own jar to keep. 

Our next official Make It/Take It class wil be held in a few weeks and we will be canning tomato sauce and making an enormous batch of pesto to freeze. In the meantime we are considering doing another pickling class and using up some of our beets and the rest of our cucumbers.  We will surely keep you all posted!

Jam........

Warming up the berries

Adding Sugar

Pickles.....

Wash em'



Chop em'

Pack em'

Pickle em'

Fair Share: Jessica (BDVP)

This blog post goes out to all you growers out there.  I was inspired to write about this after connecting with several Grow Appalachia participants at our recent event in Laurel Co.  We were discussing how it can be challenging to convince our gardeners to participate in a farm stand in some of these rural areas.  We looked at the economics of folks driving all the way across a huge county to bring some veggies to a shared market stand in hopes of making enough money to even cover gas for the journey.  We agreed that  this wasn't exactly feasible for alot of folks considering the markets they were participating in aren't necessarily large, established markets with lots of consumers. In response to this, I would like to share some of the things we have tried at Watershed Farm of BDVP.

Now first of all, we are not located in a rural area and travel isn't as big of an issue for us as in some other places.  However, as a former market grower, I can certainly sympathize with the idea of harvesting a bunch of nice looking produce only to bring it to market and let it sit wilting in the heat (or in coolers...but, it is still losing shelf life) for a few hours looking pitiful only to bring it right back home with you.  This just doesn't seem time or energy efficient in a lot of cases... particularly for small growers.

One option that we have found around this is by offering a pre-ordered "share" to a few specific consumers.  A share is basically a basket of seasonal produce (valued at a certain dollar amount) that we put together and give directly to our customer.  We have several folks that will order a basket of whatever is in season  and enjoy the surprise of discovering it's contents at pick up.  They also enjoy the challenge of having to experiment with different vegetables they may not have considered purchasing individually. 

This idea is modeled after the concept of Community Supported Agriculture or CSA.  Some farmers opt to pre-sell season long shares in their harvest at the beginning of the season. This share entails a weekly pick-up of produce that can last anywhere from 8 weeks to 22 weeks to... in some cases....all year long (impressive)! The value of the "CSA" basket can begin at $10 up to $30 or even $50 depending on the contents of the share (meats, eggs, fruits, dairy).  This is the ultimate local grocery and some consumers are happy to purchase these shares as they are unable to grow their own and want to support local producers by eating seasonal, healthy food.  We can see why this model is so beneficial to farmers.  If we are aware of what we have already sold before we harvest (or in some cases plant) that cuts back on waste and gives us more of an incentive to market our crops.

I really wasn't interested in committing to provide for a long term CSA so, I offer shares by the week of whatever is in season at our farm.  I have 2 customers that are happy to receive a share every week and a couple of others who purchase a share once or twice a month. Shares are $25 each and are probably worth a little more than that to sweeten the deal.  Even though our farm is not certified organic, we grow our produce using organic methods and our consumers know that.  They are happy to pay a premium for our crops.  I just love the CSA model because it is a great way for us to make a little extra money off of our surplus produce without the stress of managing a traditional farmers market stand.

Our most recent share included:
4-5 cucumbers
3 yellow squash
3 zucchini
1 bunch beets
1 bunch of onions
2 heads of garlic
3 pounds of potatoes
3 large green tomatoes
4-5 peppers
a HUGE bunch of basil (enough for pesto)

....sometimes I include flowers in the basket for fun
....or berries if they are in season

Grow Appalachia project sites may be able to help facilitate this option for their grower participants by handling sales and/or marketing shares for some growers. Perhaps site managers who are operating through a farmers market already can accept EBT money for shares and reimburse growers. Another great option is for growers to find a couple of folks, neighbors, co-workers, friends from church who might like to purchase a weekly share from time to time.  It may be as easy as calling up or emailing these folks when you've got produce coming out of your ears and letting them know. I know that it is important to give away produce and share with neighbors to build community.  This is awesome but, it is also ok to let folks give back to the garden or the grower in some way (I am also a huge fan of bartering for vegetables!) for their hard work.    Growing is hard work, it is an investment of time energy and even cash at times.  If you were able to sell 2- $15 shares a week for 4 weeks in the summer when you have more veggies then you can handle... that's $120 made off the garden that can be re-invested the following season. I mean this may not necessarily make a huge amount of income but, it could create more and more opportunities for self sufficiency..... If seeds and supplies are paid for by the previous year's crop....then it really is a community supported agriculture project! 

I'm just putting this out there because it has been a very manageable option for us. We are able to bring in a little cash without a ton of extra work. Maybe this could work for some of the other sites... never know until you try!

BDVP

This morning.  I was greeted by a resident of our shelter who has been participating in our work-stipend program.  This woman has been very dedicated in her work and in her attentiveness to the gardens.  She told me that she had written something about her experiences with the farm. She put alot of thought and consideration into this lovely letter....this poem, really.  I am so proud of her for all of the amazing, positive work she is doing and am honored to be able to share a little bit from her perspective:


"On a summer Kentucky morning, as I walk through the garden, seeing the sunflowers growing high, the sun shining among the apple trees, the flowers dancing with the wind, gathering wildflowers to put in my windowsill.

I enjoy the smell of the fresh herbs, gathering them to herb butter and mint tea.  I enjoy planting the cucumbers, pulling the onions, gathering the potatoes, hoping for rain on this hot summer. 

I also like tending to the blackberries and tasting them, too. How sweet they are!  Eager to make jam.

As the day ends, sitting down for dinner I enjoy having fresh salad, baked potatoes, and herb butter on bread, later enjoying a cup of mint tea with some raspberry cookies... and being thankful for being part of such a beautiful garden!"



The Heat is On! BDVP: Jessica

Things are certainly heating up at the Bluegrass Domestic Violence Program these days.  Projected temperatures of over 100' this week have us all wanting to run for cover... and for good reason!  It's times like this, however, that we have to power through and make sure we have all of our bases covered (or as many as we can) to keep our gardens blessed and nourished.  We have been spending the last several weeks at BDVP making sure that our irrigation systems are functioning appropriately and that mulch is heavy enough so that our crops are well hydrated. 

Speaking of hydration, we all need to remember the importance of hydrating and nourishing ourselves at this time as well!  Drinking plenty of water and taking frequent breaks in extreme heat is crucial if we want to keep up the good work we are all doing.  I often hit the ground running in the morning and don't stop until my head hits the pillow.  While my ego might feel like this is a noble pattern, the reality is that when it is this hot outside, my productivity may decrease a bit.... and this is ok!  We have to realize that getting out in the field earlier and taking a mid-day break from the heat is essential to maintaining productivity. 

I have worked at several community gardens and have seen a very similar pattern.  People are absolutely enthusisastic about preparing, planting, weeding, and harvesting up until about the beginning of July.  This is when it starts getting pretty hot, weeds and insects are more agressive, rain is lacking.  Honestly, this is a common time for new gardeners to cut and run.... and I totally get it.  Gardening is hard work!  As we gain experience, however, we are able to begin to plan ahead for weather, weeds, lack of rain and create growing systems (drip irrigation, less tilling/more mulching) and utilize effective cultural practices that can work arround some of these obstacles.  It is important that we encourage our families to learn from these challenges as it only helps us improve.  It is also important that we ALL remember that we are working with a dynamic, living, ever-changing system...A.K.A. nature and we can't plan for everything.  Some crops will thrive and some will not. So we do the best we can, we learn  from our mistakes, we stay humble and we give thanks for the journey...

Stay cool, friends :)





Make it Take It Part 2 at BDVP: Jessica

Recently we shared in our second official make it/take it class at the Bluegrass Domestic Violence Program.  The theme around this event was "Using Fresh Herbs".  We spent most of a Friday afternoon collecting various fresh herbs from our healing garden and processing them together.  As we harvested each plant we discussed traditional uses for it and spent a bit of time with identification through sight, smell and taste.

Once we had filled our baskets with lemon balm, thyme, sage, stevia, mint, chamomile, lavender, holy basil, anise hyssop, oregano, and calendula (along with other culinary and medicinal herbs) we brought them all inside for processing. We had a pretty good size group  of women and children for this event and as we stripped and clipped the herbs we all sat around a big table chattering and playing with recipe ideas.

Harvest

Our first concoctions were a couple of different herbal teas we brewed up using lemon balm, mint, anise hyssop, holy basil, lavender, hibiscus, red raspberry leaf and stevia.  To prepare these fresh teas, we simply coursely chopped our tea herbs and poured boiling water over them.   We let them steep for about 30 minutes and strained them adding some ice for some refreshing herbal ice tea.... I have to say, I love it when the kiddos are willing to try herbal tea.  I think that one of the keys to getting them interested is to use hibiscus flowers. These flowers turn the infusion a beautiful, fuschia color and make it a bit more visually stimulating.  This flower also provides a good deal of iron so it is a lovely additon for several reasons!  We used dried hibiscus flowers purchased from the Co-op for our tea.

While our tea was steeping we chopped up some lavender and lemon balm to infuse into honey.  This was prepared via a wam infusion method on a double boiler over the stove.....Luscious!

Next we prepared some different flowers and herbs for a cold oil infusion. A cold infusion is made by simply pouring some sort of oil over coursely chopped plants (making sure there are no big air bubbles) and allowing the oil to infuse at room temp. over time.  We made this infusion with the intention of making a home-made body scrub in the coming weeks.  Calendula, lavender, chamomile, and a little bit of rosemary and holy basil are currently infusing in a jar of safflower oil in my office.  It is important to remember that these oils need to be strained within a certain time frame to prevent mold.  With flower infusions, I typically allow the infusion to sit for about a week while, I allow herbal infusions to sit for several weeks.  These are very easy to prepare using fresh herbs from the home garden.

Some of our fresh herbs

There are so many great resources for working with fresh herbs on-line.  I like to watch videos on you-tube of an herbalist named Susun Weed.  She often posts videos of herself... and her grandaughter making herbal oils and infusions....very cute and very informative.

Below are just a few of her videos that I like.... The violets are gone by for the spring but, this video just gives an idea about making flower honeys. Black Raspberries are really rocking right now and the leaf of this plant and the leaves of  red raspberries can be used throughout the season.  This is one of my all-time favorite teas as it is particularly good for women. I generally dry a whole bunch of this to use for the winter... and to share with my lady friends!

Making Comfrey Oil

Aromatic Honey

Violet Flower Honey

Black Raspberry

Rainbow Connection

Our last herbal recipe of the afternoon was a serious crowd pleaser!  We made garlic herb butter and slathered it all over some fresh artisan bread donated form a local bakery! We combined softened butter, olive oil, and fresh herbs in a food processor with fresh garlic and green onions.  This recipe is super flexible ( as many herb recipes are) and can be used on breads, meats, vegetables, crackers....anything, really.  I like to make a big batch of this goodness and freeze a bit for later as it retains a great flavor for a long time.  You can prepare an herbal butter with pretty much any herbs you have and garlic is pretty much always a great addition.  You can also process these sam ingredients with olive oil for those who are not in favor of lactose.

Some of my favorite herbal oil and butter combos include:

Garlic and Dill

Parsley, Oregano, Thyme an Sage... with garlic

Rosemary

Basil, Thyme and Oregano

Parsley, Tarragon and Lemon

Fresh plants for cold infusion

Oil infusion

Donna checks out our infusion

Butter made with Fresh herbs and garlic from the garden

During our class I really just wanted to let folks know that herbs can be a fun and inexpensive way to
create a gourmet treat for yourself.  Using fresh herbs can be intimidating if you haven't used them before but, they can really be quite forgiving to work with. 

I am known for generally toting around a mason jar full of some kind of herbal brew.  Often the first question I receive about my mystery beverage is " What IS that?" When I explain that it is just tea that as not been strained folks are mystified.  The assumption is that tea has to be bought from a store in a little box that was shipped from way far away.  The reality is that most of the same herbs in those fancy teas are easy to grow at home.  I hope that our little herbal event may have given a few of our ladies some confidence to just get out there and play with herbs and flowers.... treat themselves to a nice cup of freshly harvested, home-brewed herbal tea or make a bit of gourmet garlic butter to share with friends.... or maybe...just pick a sprig of thyme, sage or lavender and just enjoy how lovely that smell can make you feel :)

Abundance at BDVP: Jessica

Well... That's really the only way to describe it, honestly!  We are currently enjoying the abundance at Bluegrass Domestic Violence Program.  We have been busy harvesting, processing, preparing, freezing, fermenting and just loving all of the fresh produce coming from our bountiful gardens!  All I can say is it has been a whole lot of fun in the kitchen these days.... You all know how it is... a bunch of powerful women cooking up some good food together.  What a time!

In the last week we have made kim chee (client request), garlic scape pesto, and kale chips on top of all of the fresh garden meals that our lovely kitchen coordinator, Christina prepares.  We have been drying herbs and flowers and freezing broccoli and cauliflower.  Today we will have a class on using fresh herbs.  Blog and pics to come soon!

Along with all of our in-house abundance we have begun marketing some of our products to the community through an on-line pre-order system.  In partnership with two other non-profits, Seedleaf and In-Feed, Watershed Farm of BDVP is doing a weekly distribution of cut flowers, fresh herbs, and select produce!  Folks can take a look at what's available each week and pre-order and pre-pay for their weekly pick-up.  Pick-up occurs at our favorite local coffeeshop, Third Street Stuff, located in downtown Lexington. We had our third distribution yesterday and not, only are we making some sales but, we are just flat having a good time!

You can take a look at our on-line market here:

http://seedleaf.smallfarmcentral.com/store/all

This on-line sales strategy seems to be a good fit for us.  We know what to harvest before going to market and though we do bring a bit extra for additional purchases, we are ending up with less waste.  Our organizations have a pretty dedicated internet and facebook following so this is a good way for us to keep folks in the loop and draw community support. 

I don't think I could end this post without letting the world (and the blogosphere) know how thankful we are for the opportunity to be doing this work.  It's pretty awesome to spend my work days growing, sharing and preparing organic food, working with bees and herbs, making flower bouquets and all antural body products with a group of strong and amazing women (there are some great fellas and kiddos at BDVP ,too!) I personally feel that it is truly a gift to be a part of this program!

Our First Basket of Produce Sold!

Yum Yum Yum!

Fresh Broccoli

Blanched in Salted Boiling Water

Immediate Ice Bath

Ready for the Freezer

Fresh Kim Chee Ingredients From Garden

Kim Chee

Garlic Scapes

Blending Olive Oil, Scapes, Cheese, Nuts, Salt

Put that pesto in the Freezer, too!