C.S.A. Week 10

One of our great pleasures on the farm is our flowers.  They serve no other known purpose than to make us and the bees happy. When it comes to flowers, we try to save our own seeds and bulbs as much as we can. Last year we saved all our zinnia seeds and carefully kept the different color flower heads in separate envelopes for storage. We seeded them into trays this spring, making sure to label them by color, so as to plant out our gardens with the proper color scheme for the summer. We planted the profusion zinnias in a red, orange, yellow, white pattern in the front row of the garden in front of our house. As they began flowering in July, however, we quickly noticed a change in the pattern from what we thought we had planted. They are all orange! So much effort being organized and all for naught. It seems the orange colored flowers were dominant in the cross-pollination. The favorite plant this year is the mighty Castor Bean.  See below for a picture.  The castor bean is a tropical plant, and also the origin of castor oil.  The bean/seed itself is very poisonous, but the plant makes for a dramatic garden display, about 8 feet tall and growing.  The scarlet runner bean is another favorite ornamental of ours.  It is a pole bean and will happily climb any supporting trellis.  The plant does produce beans that can be harvested as a dry crop, but we enjoy them for their shade properties, and their tiny orange flowers that attract humming birds. 

In this weeks share:

• Cipollini Onions
• Edamame
• Lima Beans
• Elderberries (eggplant for Cornish pick-up)
• Beets
• Lettuce
• Tomatoes
• Basil

Elderberry Syrup (Use on anything you would normally put syrup on)

-1 cup elderberries

-1/2 cup honey

-1 cinnamon stick

-1 garlic clove (optional for spice)

-1 teaspoon minced ginger root

1. Place elderberries, water, cinnamon stick, cloves, and ginger in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 30 minutes. Use a potato masher to mash berries to release juice; strain the mixture through a fine sieve, retaining juice and discarding the pulp. Let juice cool.
2. Stir in honey until thoroughly combined and transfer to a lidded jar. Keeps in refrigerator 2 to 3 months.