Image by Chiot's Run via Flickr

We’re excited to announce that we’ll be opening an online herb and seed store in the next couple of weeks. Things are in a testing phase right now, but when we have the ‘all clear’ signal from the developers we’ll let you know.

To start with a few dried herbs and heirloom seeds from the garden will be available.

Stay tuned!

Strawberries bloomed in full the first week of May, but the fruit didn’t set. We only got 3 tiny berries this year from our plants. Don’t know if it was too much rain or the coolness, but other folks around us didn’t have a crop either. We were lucky that an Amish fellow’s field didn’t fail and we got to eat lots of strawberries anyway. The strawberry season was very short, about a week-long this year, so we felt lucky to get a flat.

Now, if you know that a flat is 8 quarts, that’s a lot of berries. Upon getting the strawberries in the house, we promptly ate the first quart right then and there! Since we had enough sugar and a box of pectin in the cupboard, we made a batch of freezer jam. Each batch makes about 5 cups of jam per quart. In total we made three batches of freezer jam. We like to share with friends, so when somebody comes to visit they might just take home a treat. The rest of the berries were eaten fresh in the next three days, so you could say we liked them a lot.

Be forewarned that most states have specific regulations regarding shipment of living plants across their borders. These are rules that need to be followed for the safety of crops and ecosystems. California and Hawaii are the most restrictive on what plants can be shipped there.

Some states recognize berry plants and any vine as nursery stock which would require permits and inspections to certify that no pests are present before shipping. Not something to be taken lightly. Other states aren’t as restrictive, but in most cases it is ok to ship seeds and carefully packaged flower and vegetable plants, including herb plants.

Check the laws in your state before you ship. The National Plant Board has a convenient listing of all 50 States with links to their state regulations on plant protection.

Shipping plants successfully requires that the plant’s roots retain moisture in such a way as to not get the packaging or foliage wet. See the best way to ship live plants.

The best method for packing green plants for mailing is to use damp newspaper to cover the roots and plastic bags to retain humidity around the foliage. Check these links for great explanations:

• Shipping Live Plants
• Mailing Plants

The best tip is to make sure not to get the foliage wet. If the greenery does get wet, tamp it with paper towels and let dry before packing in plastic bags. Any herb leaves that are wet during transport will rot.

Image via Wikipedia

A couple of weeks ago I started some seeds indoors. I was glad to see some sprouting going on already. It took 4 days for the first seeds to sprout and the temperature ranged from 62 to 65 degrees F. A grow lamp was hung a foot above the seed pots.

The first seeds to sprout were Chamomile. The seeds are miniscule, smaller than poppy seeds. As the days went on the little plants got stronger, but alas…they reached a point where damping off killed them. Perhaps it would be better to start Chamomile seeds directly where you want it to grow. Does anybody know? I’ll try it in a couple of weeks when the temps outside warm up a little more. Out last frost date is May 15, so maybe around then I’ll plant the Chamomile.

Nutritionally speaking, this 15 bean soup can be described as a low fat, no cholesterol, hi potassium, hi fiber and hi protein food. Each serving of 1/2 cup cooked beans (~ 35 g dry) has 120 calories with only 5 calories due to fat.

Per 1/2 cup serving:

120 calories
5 calories from fat

total fat 0.5 g
cholesterol 0 g

sodium 70 mg
potassium 470mg

total carbs 20g
dietary fiber 9 g
sugars 1 g

protein 8 g

calcium 4%
iron 10%
vit A 0%
vit C 0%

The 15 bean soup is a great dish for anyone wanting to watch their weight because it’s a low calorie food. This soup will help to increase fiber intake and it’s very filling. The low saturated fat intake is good for your heart, too!

• northern
• pinto
• large lima
• blackeye
• garbanzo
• baby lima
• green split pea
• kidney
• cranberry bean
• small white
• pink bean
• small red
• yellow split pea
• lentil
• navy
• white kidney
• black bean

The cranberry bean, pink bean, small red bean and small white bean were new to me. The others I recognize as vegetable dishes unto themselves or as ingredients in dishes like chili and other soups.

Check out the different varieties of 15 bean soups at Hambeens. By adding the herbs and spices that you like, you can make this soup your own! The chili peppers and chives in my version was probably like their Chili or Cajun varieties.

HOT SOAK: The Hot Soak is the recommended method for soaking beans, as it reduces actual cooking time and produces consistently tender beans.

1.      Place beans in a large pot and add 10 cups of water for every 2 cups of beans.

2.      Heat to boiling and boil for an additional 2 to 3 minutes.

3.      Remove beans from heat, cover and let stand for 4 to 24 hours.

4.      Drain beans and discard soak water.

5.      Rinse beans with fresh, cool water.

This method should make the beans more tender and that would be a good thing. For the best flavor remember to add the herbs and spices near the end of cooking.

Image by I Believe I Can Fry via Flickr

Chilly weather makes soup inviting. In the never-ending quest to find something good to eat, I picked up a package of Hurst’s Hambeens Brand 15 Bean Soup. Twenty ounces of the most colorful collection of dried beans you’ve ever seen.

The bean soup recipe from the package -

• one pound of ham or sausage
• 1 cup onion, diced
• 1 15 oz. can stewed or diced tomatoes
• 1 tsp chili powder
• juice of one lemon
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced

Soak the beans in 2 qt. water in a large pot overnight. Drain liquid and rinse beans twice. Put on high heat, stirring occasionally until boiling. The directions say to simmer, uncovered for 2 and a half hours, but that wasn’t long enough. It took several hours and some more cooking the next day to get the larger beans soft enough that they didn’t crunch a little. The package states -

Depending on water hardness, cooking time may need to be increased.

Well, I guess we have some really hard water! Anyway, the bean soup turned out great, even if it did take hours to make.

I added a small amount of chopped ham, about half a pound, a can of stewed tomatoes, a cup of diced red onion, 1 tsp chili powder, 1 T lemon concentrate, 2 cloves garlic, and 3 crushed, dried chili peppers seeds and all to the pot before the beans were thoroughly cooked. The added ingredients were cooked so long I thought the soup would have no flavor, but I was wrong. I didn’t add the “flavor packet” that comes with the beans. Only a sprinkle of salt was needed at the table, none was added in cooking apart from that added by the ham.

The next time I think I would cook the beans harder during the initial hour or two of “simmering” time, but realize that using beans of different sizes means that some will take longer to cook.

15 Bean Soup with a dollop of sour cream and cut chives

To dress it up a bit, I went to the garden and snipped a couple of chives leaves for each serving and cut them into small pieces. Added a dollop of sour cream and sprinkled the whole bowl of bean soup with fresh-cut chives. Enjoy!

Lettuce, peas and onion sets are already planted in the garden. Last night’s snow would be called an “Onion Snow” because it covered over the onions that were planted a week ago. The ground is still cold, but when it warms up the onions will start growing quickly.

Onion sets in the garden with a little snow on top. Photos taken 1APR2011.

Onions that were water-logged last year and whose tops died back have sprouted. I was surprised that any root remained for re-growth, but the greenery is already 4-6 inches tall.

Garlic and chives are re-growing and soon they’ll be on the dinner table. You could as easily call this a “Chives Snow” instead of an Onion Snow. The wild chives that we see growing in the woods are the only green thing growing under the trees right now, except for a rare fern here and there starting to green up.

Perennial chives under the April Fool's Snow.

I think I’ll snip off some chives for a potato and egg dish tonight. Here’s a quick recipe for Potato, Egg and Chives:

• Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet and add half an onion, diced.
• Cook the onions until soft.
• Add a couple of cubed potatoes, cover and steam until cooked through.
• Beat a couple of eggs in a separate dish or add them directly into the skillet.
• Cover for one minute and then flip the whole mess for another minute or just stir everything together.
• When the eggs are set, sprinkle with pepper and cut chives.
• Serve with toast. Yum!

Twenty-two Canada Geese flying North.

The Canada Geese I heard overhead this morning were flying due North and that was a happy sight!