Lavender - The Versatile Perennial

     Lavender needs little care, has few pests, adds beauty and fragrance to your garden, and when dried, decorates your home and pleases your palette.  This versatile perennial comes in many varieties that bloom throughout the summer, beginning in June. 

North Wind Farms, Pawling, NY

     Lavender's uses are endless, creating fragrant oils, candles, baked goods, jellies, pillows, sachets and other crafts.  If you purchase your lavender from our local lavender farmer, Ellen of North Winds Farm, it guarantees that the lavender will thrive in your Pawling garden.  She will help you choose the appropriate lavender for your purposes: culinary or landscape varieties, and give you planting tips. Along with the plants themselves, she also sells an extensive array of hand-made lavender products.

     When she is not in her lavender field, creating crafts, or in the kitchen creating amazing lavender goodies (scones, biscotti, jelly, syrup, breads) you can find her at a number of local farm markets.  She is extremely knowledgeable about every aspect of lavender: growing, baking, crafts and use as aromatherapy; she generously shares her knowledge with her customers.  You’ll find her at the following locations this summer:

Muscoot Farm Market, Katonah, NY  www.muscootfarm.org/farmersmarket 

(Every Sunday 10am - 3pm) - Starts May 9, 2010

Millbrook Farm Market, Millbrook, NY  www.millbrookfarmersmarket.com 

(Every Saturday 9am - 1pm) - Starts May 29, 2010

Scarsdale Farm Market, Scarsdale, NY

Starting May 22nd, every other Saturday 9am to 1:30 pm.

Bronxville Summer Market - April 24, 2010 - Kick Off Day

Bronxville, NY Starting May 29th, 2010 every other Saturday

Clermont State Historic Site - Hudson Bush Plant Sale June 5, 2010 -

10am - 2pm (www.friendsofclermont.org for information)

Harvesting Your Own Lavender

     Because I use lavender as a perennial border plant as well as a culinary herb, I harvest stems one-by-one, allowing me to have garden plants in full bloom, while my harvested stems dry in the cellar. 

Cut stems near the bottom of the stem, just above a pair of shoots.

 Peel the leaves off the stems.

 

Wrap a rubber band around the base of the stems. 

 

Hang the bunches upside down in a dark, cool, dry place for a few weeks until the stems feel dry.

 Then use the lavender on the stems for floral displays or peel the buds off the stem for culinary uses. 

 Combine sugar and lavender in a ratio of one tablespoon dried lavender buds to every cup of sugar.

When baking, measure the amount of sugar you need into a food processor and blend, then use this flavored sugar to add the delicate flavor of lavender to almost any of your favorite baked goods:

cookies, biscotti (recipe), cakes, pancakes, muffins, and scones.

    If you have lavender plants with very long stems, try making lavender wands by following this step-by-step process described by Peaceful Valley Organics.

And if you're not the "crafty" type you can purchase beautiful hand-made wands from Ellen at one of her markets. 

Flavoring Vinegar with Fresh Herbs

Perennial herbs are bushing out in the garden, ready to be harvested to add varied flavors to vinegars.  

Flavoring vinegars with fresh herbs is quick, simple, and one of the sweetest smelling tasks of summer.

The best time to pick herbs is in the morning when they are still damp with the morning dew. 

 Rinse herbs in a large bowl of water and strain. 

(Add 1 tsp. bleach to the water to sterilize, if you choose.)

 Pour ½ - ¾ cup of vinegar out of a gallon jug to allow room for the herbs.

 Push clean leaves into the vinegar and return the cap.

Store in cool dark place for a month.

Strain the vinegar and pour it into smaller glass bottles to use throughout the year.

The vinegar’s flavor can be intensified by adjusting the amount of herbs added and the length of time they remain in the vinegar.

Strawberries are Ripe for the Picking

     Rows and rows of strawberry plants, separated by hay covered walking paths, are dotted with ripe red fruit waiting to be picked at Secor Farm, 63 Robinson Lane, Wappingers Falls, one of our local pick-your-own farms. Bring your own containers or grab a cardboard box, and hand pick to your heart’s content. The sound of young pickers delighted by the task accompanies you as you fill your containers to the brim. 

     The strawberry, symbol for Venus, the Goddess of Love, has significant health benefits: they “contain a large amount of antioxidant, anticancer, anti-neurodegenerative, and anti-inflammatory properties.”  Strawberries are packed with nutrients; help prevent Alzheimer’s disease; and improve cardiovascular health.  Positive results from recent studies have researchers “investigating the possibility that strawberries may be valuable as an add-on or alternative treatment to cancer-treating drugs.” 

    Although strawberries are listed on the "Dirty Dozen", due to the numerous species of insects that attack the strawberry plant, growers at Secor Farm explain that they spray minimally and never once the  fruit appears, avoiding spraying pesticides on the fruit itself.  

   If you have a dehydrator, you can use the following steps to preserve this amazing flavor (intensified by the drying process) throughout the year:

Hull strawberries (remove the stem).

    

Slice them ¼” thick.

 Soak for 30 seconds in water with a squeeze of lemon.

Spread them out on the trays; dehydrate for 8 – 10 hours, until brittle. 

 

Store in a canning jar. 

Enjoy!

A Solar Clothes Dryer

   Not only are the kilowatt savings significant, but the process of hanging our clothes outdoors in the early morning and taking them down in the evening is one of the "chores" I truly enjoy.  Planning a clothesline takes thought to ensure that the location is convenient and aesthetically pleasing.  Ideally the line won't obstruct your view of attractive areas of your yard, and an appealing view from the perch you are standing on to hang your clothes will add pleasure to the task.

1.      Try to locate your line in a part of the yard that is not easily seen from your neighbor's home.

2.      Locate your line somewhere that is easy to access from one of your exterior doors. 

3.      Attach one end of the line to the house, if possible—it's much harder to pull down the house with a heavy load than a vertical post—and the other end high off the ground (twelve – fifteen feet) to a tree, braced post, or building.

  4.      Attach the ends securely using hardware that allows the line to move smoothly.

5.      Hang the line so that the distance from the line to the ground is significant, allowing sheets, towels and pants to hang without touching the ground—even when the line is weighted down with clothing.

6.      Stand on a bench, if possible, while hanging clothes to avoid raising your hands over your head while pinning.

7.      Purchase enough clothes pins so that you can attach the clothes securely to the line without worrying they will fall on a windy day.

 8.      Use hardware that draws the two lines together to keep the line from being dragged too close to the ground.

9.      Hang clothes inside out if they are susceptible to sun bleaching, and give clothes a quick “snap” before hanging to help shake out wrinkles.

10.   Watch the weather—but don't worry too much, because a little rain doesn’t hurt your clothes; it just prolongs the drying process.

     A clothesline is one of the simplest, least expensive, low-tech solar devices on the market.

Leave My Leaves Alone -- Garlic Spray

Newly emerged potato leaf after spraying.

Potato leaf before spraying.

     My goal, as an organic gardener, is to set up the best environment for my plants; supply natural inputs to sustain them; and—as they say in the  medical profession—“do no harm”.  I strive to make my garden capable of sustaining my family for the year without any harmful inputs.

     Organic gardeners rarely look for “perfect”, unblemished produce.  We are generally satisfied sharing some of our harvest with the insect world as long as the plant does not suffer and we are able to harvest enough for our needs.  Aphids and other leaf eating insects push my limits, not only eating too much of my edible greens (collards, Swiss chard, spinach, kale and lettuces), but at times spreading disease from plant to plant (potatoes).  When the damage begins to impact the harvest, I use a home-made garlic spray to repel the insects.

 

     Although I continue to experiment to see which sprays adhere best to the leaves and are most effective, this formula is the best I've come across so far:

• ¼ cup cooking oil
• 1 tablespoon hot pepper flakes (or hot pepper)
• 4 cloves of garlic (peeled)
• 1 teaspoon liquid detergent
• 1 egg
• 1 quart water (divided into two parts)

1.      Puree first five ingredients food processor with 1 cup water.

2.      Let sit for ½ hour.

3.      Strain. 

4.      Combine with 3 cups of water; shake.

5.      Spray plants. 

      After spraying the vegetables, I finish off the spray on my roses; it effectively repels the insects that eat the leaves and nibble the buds before they're able to bloom.