LearningHerbs Blog

Blackberry Ice Cream

I made the blackberry ice cream today. It came out great! I had two guests arrive just as it finished up in the ice cream maker, and it was fun to be able to offer them such a delicious summer treat.

I wrote a couple of days ago that I would give instructions about the soda making in HerbMentor News, but we've decided the process is a bit complex for that, so look for a video coming soon on HerbMentor if you're interested in those step by step instructions.

If I can find some more blackberries to pick before the season is over I'm going to try making a blackberry soda as well. The blueberry was delicious and I've got my peach soda in bottles now.

Happy fruit season!

Kimberly

Our CSA farm

Tuesday is my favorite day of the week in the summer time. It's the day we go to the farm and to the farmer's market. Today Rowan and John went to Wild Waves together so it was just Hailey and I at the farm. The two owners of our local CSA, Eric and Wendy, do something they call "Farm School" on each of their pick-up days. During this hour they provide some kind of activity for the children that come to the farm. This was the last farm school day of the season (since school school is about start again).

Eric took us on a hay ride out to the fields to taste melons and harvest potatoes. Hailey enjoyed digging in the dirt after the potatoes even though she'd dressed herself in a cream and blue dress with bright white tennis shoes. :) The kids and I really love the hay rides. There's just something really special about them. As we rode along today I was reflecting about the fact that I've been taking my kids to the farm in the summers every week since their births. It's part of the rhythm of our lives. I feel like it is so important for the kids to see where their food is coming from and feel so grateful that ours comes from such a beautiful local place.

These trips to the farm are part of my on-going effort to empower my children to make healthy choices about their food. Going to the farm, helping me harvest some of our vegetables, developing relationships with the farmers, participating in farm school - all these things are creating brain patterns that I believe will stay with them throughout their lives.

Blackberry Jam and Blueberry Soda

Today I made a small batch of blackberry jam with honey. My sister loves this jam, so I make a small batch every year so I can give her some for Christmas. The blackberries are lovely here in Washington right now.

I'm going to make some blackberry ice cream when I get my cream at the farmer's market tomorrow. I just love my countertop ice cream maker. I make ice cream every week, because it's a maple syrup sweetened treat that my kids both love, and made with raw milk and cream it is pretty healthy.

I popped the top on my lacto-fermented blueberry soda today too. It overflowed the bottles it was so fizzy - guess I left it out a little too long. Anyway, I took precautions and opened it over a bowl, so I caught all the soda. Boy was it delicious! I've got some peach soda fermenting away on the counter right now. Maybe I'll have better success with the bottling of that one. I'm so excited about these live sodas - what a fun way to get healthy bacteria into my kids diets! If you're interested in more information about how to make these sodas there's a great article on the Weston Price website, and I'll do a step by step lesson for the blueberry soda in the next Herbmentor News.

Blessings,

Kimberly

Pesto and canned peaches

Well, I got another coat of varnish on the boat today, and it even got to dry a little bit before the rain started.

And, I made pesto with fresh basil from the farm and we canned peaches too.

Our pesto recipe comes from EagleSong at RavenCroft Garden and is:

2 cups packed chopped basil (or chickweed or lambsquarter or...)
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
2 cloves chopped garlic
3 Tablespoons pine nuts (but I used sunflower seeds)
1/4 teaspoon of salt

I make big batches of it this time of year and freeze it so I can pull it out any time I'm in the mood for it.

We canned about 18 quart jars of peaches. 12 will go for Christmas gifts, so I may have to can some more later in the week. Our whole family loves the canned peaches. They are like a little bit of sunshine during our rainy Washington winters.

Fermented Pickles!

Sorry to have been so silent for so long. Life is FULL for me this time of year. There's all the end of summer herbal and food preservation projects, plus the "back to school" schedule changes that always require some planning for me. AND this summer Rowan and I built a small sailboat at a family boat building workshop, so I've added sanding and varnishing to my already full end of summer line up. YIKES!

Still, today, I managed to get my fermented dill pickles going, and that feels great. Even Rowan is looking forward to them. The process we use is to layer grape leaves, pickling cucumbers, onions, garlic, and dill in a gallon jar, then pour a warm salt water bring over them putting a plastic follower and a weight on the top to be sure they're covered with at least an inch of brine. Then we let them sit out for 4-7 days and ferment. At that point they're very tasty and can be stored in the fridge as one more live, fermented food even the children love!

Today I also bottled my lacto-fermented blueberry soda, started a peach soda, picked peaches for canning tomorrow, and blackberries to make into jam.

Wow, what a day! (I also put a coat of varnish on all the various pieces of the boat.)

Definitely time to give myself a rest and watch an old episode of Northern Exposure with John. :)