Carolee’s June E-Newsletter 

   Last year at this time we were wishing for rain; this year we have plenty.  That’s Indiana weather!   I’ve been planting and mulching the gardens, and can’t believe that it is mid-June and I’m not nearly finished!   The gardens that have been planted actually look pretty good, except where the deer or rabbits have been munching!   Wicca just doesn’t run all over the farm leaving scent the way she did when she was younger.
   Although the season began late with both April and May being cold and rainy the perennials are about on schedule.  Last year everything was early; the year before they were late, so it felt good to see the peonies bloom around Memorial Day and the coreopsis flower in mid-June.  The hummingbirds are devouring the tritoma, nicotiana, and comfrey nectars, as well as the many other plants they adore, so they are barely even visiting the feeder.  The butterflies are enjoying the early zinnias and the first strawberry gomphrena blooms.  And, we’ve been picking a variety of salad ingredients from the Cook’s Garden every day, so the gardening season is truly underway.

 Lavender Daze
     Mark your calendar for July 9th and 10th.  Lavender Daze at the farm is always a special event.  This year, I’m doing “Culinary herb containers”,  “Growing Lavender”, “Cooking with Lavender”, “Quick Treats with Herbs”,  and garden tours.  We’ll have lavender wand-making classes at 11 and 1, and complimentary Lavender refreshments.
We’re working on a special treat for the day, so watch the website and look for the July E-newsletter to see if it works out!
   As always, all remaining annuals will be 50% off.  That’s basils, arugula, calendulas, zinnias, veggies, nicotiana, sweet annie, and lots and lots more!  What a deal!  There are also some vendors coming, so be sure to check out their booths.  We have lots of new products in the Big Barn Gift Shop, including beautiful freshly-made lavender wreaths and hopefully new herbal linens.

U-Pick Lavender
All of the lavenders are beginning to show color, although the bees aren’t working the buds yet so we haven’t begun picking.  We’ll probably begin limited harvesting and U-Pick late this week.  If you want to pick lavender, come soon.  The lavandins are just beginning to bud and normally are about two or three weeks after the lavenders.  Often garden club members pick and dry lavender for their plant sales.  Brides harvest for wedding decorations, and thoughtful friends pick to take small bouquets into nursing homes or to make lavender wands for Christmas gifts, wedding favors, or gifts for secret pals.  No reservations are required for picking.  Just come during regular business hours.  We’ll give you scissors & a twist tie, you give us $5 and enjoy time in our fragrant field, harvesting a beautiful bunch of lavender to take home.

BIG Rosemarys
I’m ready to release some of the larger rosemary stock plants for sale, so if you’ve been wishing for a BIG rosemary, now is the time to come.  We’ve added several new varieties of perennials, basils, and other plants to the sales area this week.

Basil
Speaking of basil, I harvested a big bunch for a batch of pesto this week and it was sooooooo delicious.  Basil is such a versatile herb.  The Genovese, Caesar, sweet, and spicy globe are all wonderful in Italian cooking.   We grew Italian cameo basil this year, and it is really a compact, tasty variety.  Cinnamon, clove, lime and lemon basils are lovely in desserts and fruit salads, or added to teas to give a boost of energy and flavor.  The opal and purple basils turn mayonnaise or yoghurt a pretty pink to dress fruit salads.  Mammoth leaf basil can become a tiny wrap to hold a bite of appetizer.  The beautiful red lettuce leaf basil just makes a garden or container look elegant.  And, tiny Aristotle can be a perfect shrub in a fairy garden!

Garden Tidbits
June is a lovely time in the garden, picking bouquets and strawberries, gooseberries and blueberries and enjoying lettuces, radishes, turnips and the first purple beans.  However, to keep things happy you may want to:
1.  Hang Japanese Beetle traps…it’s time for these destructive pests to hatch.
2.  If you haven’t trimmed your iris foliage, do it NOW.  If you see small round spots on the leaves, the dreaded iris borer has laid eggs there.  When the little larvae hatch, they will eat their way leaving a streak or trail down the leaf and into the corm, where they will eat and grow into an ugly 1” long worm almost as big around as a pencil.  They will happily munch the corms all fall, destroying your beautiful irises. 
3.  Dead-head coral bells, coreopsis and other perennials to encourage the plant to produce more blooms.
4.  Continue to keep a keen eye on hollyhocks and roses.  There is a tiny, tiny worm that will skeletonize the leaves overnight.  Spraying with insecticidal soap after each rain (being sure to get the undersides of leaves) will keep them at bay.
5.  Check tall lilies (the Asiatic and Oriental types) to see if they need staking before their heavy flower heads open.
6.  Dead-head lambs ears soon, or they will self-seed everywhere!
7.  Cut the flower buds off garlic plants as soon as they form…..they are a gourmet delicacy, raw in salads or lightly sautéed as a side dish or in stir-fry.  If you don’t cut them off, the plant will use up loads of energy trying to make flowers and seeds rather than making a nice big bulb!
8.  Cut off lemon balm and put it in a sun tea jar, by itself or with other herbs and mints to make a delicious tea.  It will soon grow a new batch of foliage.  This will keep it from self-seeding everywhere.
9.  Now that it’s getting hotter, move containers of nasturtiums, mint, violas and pansies into semi-shade to protect them from the hottest midday sun.
10.  If you used a 3 month time-released fertilizer when you planted containers in April you’ll need to start using a liquid fertilizer now.  With all the rain we’ve had, much of the fertilizer has just washed out of containers and hanging baskets.
11.  Continue to cut back mums and asters until July 4th to promote bushy growth and more flower buds.  I cut back sedums to keep them from flopping over, too.  With all the rain, they’ve grown taller than usual, so flopping may be a problem later.

Capers
    For the first time, my 3 yr. old caper bush bloomed this week.  The flowers are absolutely beautiful and much larger than I expected them to be.  The 2 ½” creamy white blooms have very long bright purple stamens and several flowers opened at the same time.  I hurried to the house to get the camera since I didn’t know how long the blooms would last.  I was glad I did, since the flowers were limp and folded by mid-afternoon. Apparently, the flowers only last a morning but while they are open, they are magical.  The caper bush is native to the Mediterranean, where it enjoys a warm, dry climate.
   Caper bushes are not generally grown for their flowers, or for the unusual rounded leaves.  They are grown for the tiny buds that are painstakingly hand-picked.  These buds are the size of a BB so you can imagine how long it takes to pick enough for a jar.  Workers check every bush each day, picking them before they swell. Then the buds must be dried in the sun for one day so they will develop the unmistakable spicy flavor that makes capers famous.  After the drying process the capers are pickled in salt and vinegar.  Capers have been used since biblical times.
     Caper’s botanical name is Capparis rupestris.  There are apparently two types, the most common being C. spinosa.  However, since mine does not have spines, it must be C. inermis.  The rounded leaves make it an attractive potted plant even when it is not in flower.
     Capers are essential in many famous sauces, such as tartare, remoulade, ravigote and often in Italian tonnato sauce which is classic with cold veal.  Caper sauce is commonly served with boiled mutton in Britain, and often with salmon or other grilled fish.  They are tasty additions to pasta salads, on pizza, and with antipasto platters and other Italian dishes.  In Northern and Eastern Europe capers are found in vegetable or fish recipes.
     Capers are a special ingredient in the famous New Orleans sandwich, Muffuletta.  This is my version, which uses lovage leaves instead of the usual celery and pickled onions, and a long baguette instead of the traditional huge round loaf.  It’s much easier to eat!

Rafe’s Muffuletta
Peel and slice 1 carrot.  Place in food processor along with ½ c. lovage leaves (or 1 stalk celery), diced coarsely; 1 clove garlic, chopped; leaves from 6 stems of parsley, and 2 T. fresh oregano leaves.  Process until coarsely blended.  Drain the juice from a 3 oz. bottle of pickled onions and reserve.  Drain a 5.75 oz. jar of salad olives, mixing juice with that of the onions.  Drain a 6 oz. can of black olives, discarding juice.  Add onions and olives to processor with 2 T. capers, and 3 T. olive oil.  Process just until blended.  Mixture should be coarse.  Taste for seasoning, adding 6-8 grinds of freshly ground pepper and a little of the reserve juices if it seems dry.
     Slice the loaf of white bread in half horizontally.  Sprinkle both cut areas with good olive oil.  Spread half of the olive salad on the bottom.  Layer sliced Provolone cheese, Genoa salami, Mortadella (or Cotto Salami), thinly sliced ham, and sliced Mozzarella cheese over the salad.  Spread the remaining half of the olive salad over the cut side of the bread top half.  Carefully put the top back onto the loaf.  Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator with a heavy weight on top for at least four hours or overnight.  Cut into wedges and serve 6-8 hungry people.

The Herbal Stillroom
     Once the gardens are planted, my focus turns to harvesting and playing with the herbs I’m growing.   I was too busy to harvest violets or roses to make floral waters, but I’m planning to harvest some elderblow this week to dry for cosmetics.  I did harvest lots of chamomile flowers for calming teas (Try ½ c. chamomile flowers, 2 T. lavender flowers, 2 T. rose petals, and ¼ c. lemon balm.  For even more calm, add 1 T. chopped skullcap.) I’ll definitely make lavender vinegar and I love making herbal incense from patchouli leaves. 
     I’m enthralled with the vision of medieval ladies harvesting petals and leaves and blending them into fragrant products, medicines, potions, lotions, and beautiful potpourris.  I wish more of these traditions had been passed down through the generations to today.  It seems that once there were Apothecary shops that supplied every town and village, the need for the herbal stillroom evaporated.  Just as sad is the loss of those very Apothecary shops, a few of which still operate in Europe.  Somehow, a CVS or Walgreen’s just isn’t the same!
     Once the farm closes for the season, I intend to use the Cottage as my herbal stillroom and play with some of the recipes in old books I’ve collected.  I want to make even better use of the magical plants I enjoy in my gardens, and bring them into my everyday life in more ways.  I’ll be reporting here in the E-newsletter, so keep watching.

That’s all for June.  I’m heading off to Pittsburgh for the Herb Society of America’s National conference this week, with a few fun stops on the way.  Hope to see you at the farm before we close on July 10th.  Until then, Herbal blessings, Carolee

**********************Carolee’s Plant E-Coupon***************************
Buy one-get one free on all vegetable plants.  Choose from heirloom tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins, squashes, cukes, and more.  Cannot be combined with other discounts. Valid through July 2, 2011 or while supplies last

**************************Carolee’s Barn E-Coupon************************
20% off any gazing ball for the garden.  Choose colorful stainless steel balls or glass “bubble” balls.  Cannot be combined with other discounts. Valid through July 2, 2011

***********************Carolee’s Cottage E-Coupon*************************
10% off any item for sale in the Cottage.  Cannot be combined with other discounts.  Valid through July 2, 2011.