Starwberry Fields Forever!

Strawberries Garden Guides:
Just planted all of my strawberry roots that I bought at my local nursery! DON'T fall into the trap of buying already large, ready to pick strawberry plants! you can buy about 10 root systems of usually three types of strawberries for around three dollars, it usually costs that much just for one larger plant. These root systems grow fast if they have all of the proper conditions. These include the PH of the soil should be around (5.5-6.5), the soil should be sandy or well draining, and your plants will need to have at least 6 hours of full sun per day. Here's some pics of my 16 plants I have! The ones that are in the green pots I started in march.

The Three Main Types of Strawberries

-June Bearing strawberries produce a large, concentrated crop in late spring. You'll get more berries per season from June bearing strawberries, and the entire crop will ripen over a three week period.

-Ever Bearing strawberries produce one crop in spring and another in fall.

-Day Neutral plants are capable of producing fruit throughout most of the growing season"

Some Fun With Lemon Balm (does that rhyme?)

Just got home from working, and there was this mysterious plant just chillin by the porch, it looked like a huge mint plant. Anyway when I went on the Internet on a botany website I identified it as a lemon balm plant, (turns out my mom got it from a lady that has it growing wild!), and believe you me this thing smelled really good! And not only did I find out that it is therapeutic, and an ingredient in many teas, I found out that you could cook with lemon balm. Basically they said to just use lemon balm like mint or lemon for a substitute in recipes. So the next day i whipped up some lemon balm tea cakes with lemon curd, and my take on lemonade called lemon "balmaid", it was over the top good!!! well I'm posting some pics of my creations as well as the recipes!!! Enjoy!

Lemon Balm Tea Cake

3/4 cup milk

4T. Bruised Lemon Balm

2c. AP Flour

1 1/2 t. Baking Powder

1/4t. Salt

7T. Softened Butter

1c. Sugar

2 Eggs

1T. Lemon Zest

1. -Place milk ans lemon balm in saucepan and heat until scalded, cool, strain out leaves
2. -Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. -Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy, add eggs one at a time.
4. -Add the lemon zest and the cooled milk
5. -Stir in the flour, mix just until combined.
6. -Pour batter in greased loaf pan, bake at 325F for 40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
7. -Slice and enjoy with lemon curd, recipe follows.

Lemon Curd

Zest and juice of two large lemons

85 grams lightly salted butter

200g granulated sugar

3 large farm fresh eggs

1. -Whisk all of the ingredients together over a double boiler until thick and can coat a spoon.
2. -Make sure to not stop whisking lol
3. -Cool, strain, and pour over teacakes, enjoy!!!

Green Onion Snack! (Fritters)

I went out in my garden this morning and picked some spanish onions that im growing. I picked them to thin out the crop so mature onions have room to grow. I had a huge cravng for fried food so I cooked up some Yukon Gold potato fritters that where loaded with the green onions I picked! Along with a green onion aioli! Anyway heres some pics of my snack along with some frying tips! Hope you enjoy!

Don't use clarified butter or olive oil to fry because they have a low smoke point.

Use peanut, canola, or vegitable oil because they have a high smoke point.

Don't overcrowd the pan because you will loose critical heat in your fryer.

Make sure to keep your food moving in the fryer to avoid sticking and clumping.

Water and hot oil do not mix!!!

Good Morning everyone! This morning I drove to a local farm that I know sells eggs at the local farmers markets in Green Bay. I buy eggs from him all of the time because fresh eggs taste AMAZING and they are much fresher, cheaper, and just better for you! They're especially great when they're baked in butter, truffle salt, and have some bacon and a Parmesan cheese tuille. Hmmm Mmmm can't think of a better way to start the day! I also bought a very cool African blue basil plant (actually purple) from my local plant nursery that has all sorts of cool edible plants. It defiantly tastes like basil but it has a slight clove taste to it. It was soooooo good I had to bake it on my eggs!

Hey! Just had to post the pic of my blackberry plant that I started from a vine cutting, it has come a long way and is going to produce fruit this season!!! There is already buds galore on the plant. Just have some pics of the plant being "trained" on three pieces of bamboo, the unripe berries, and the rare sight of a blackberry flower! (rare because they do not last long!)

Hey Everyone! this is my first post for my new blog "REAL FOOD". Throughout this blog I will be demonstating my knowledge of the culinary arts through the growing and preperation of what I call "Real Food". All food supplied will be from the local farmers markets, or from my own extensive garden in my backyard, including my greenhouse. My overall goal for this blog is to persurde people to buy locally and support their local farmers markets. Without further adue here are some pictures fromthe garden that I am working on at my house!