Baby Mums Have Begun to Arrive on the Farm!

My life as we know it is now officially over.

Not in a classic "death" sense. More like in the teenage overly-dramatic sense that's way more fun, right?

Last year we experimented by adding chrysanthemums to our farm venue. I ordered 800. 755 got planted. We sold every single one within three weeks...

So a smart woman would say "Wow. That worked. Let's do it again, just the same."

But then the smart woman thought "Wow. We missed five weeks of the selling season, so why not try some LATER MUMS because we don't already have enough work to do!!! BRILLIANT!"

So this year, God willing, we'll be raising about 1600 mums and 400 or so asters... The first 663 mums came last week:

 This is assembly line planting. First we lay black landscape fabric out and pin it to the ground. We did this last week.... Then we get out the hundreds of pots, the potting medium (soil), the hose hook up and folding tables to make production go quicker...

This is Logan, he was busily filling pots 3/4 full of planting medium!

 Assembly line planting! Brooke, Casey, Elijah and Dianna....

This is Elijah and Casey getting the pots situated on tables and marking with cute individual tags so we'll know what each flower is!

This is Brooke and Dianna... I kind of railroaded them into working because they had no school, they were here, and I bribed them with cold hard cash at the end of the day... The flower pots are set up so that I can hand-water them... (no fancy system here, just me.... but I'll pretend I'm fancy!) And so that when they are mature, there is space between them. They don't like to be squished.

When we were done, 663 happy little mums were safely in their pots... and they've survived several waterings and feedings. Today, 255 more will join them... they were a particular color that we loved called Jacqueline Peach Fusion, and they're just a total crowd pleaser! (I had to come in and change the number because I was wrong on the first one!)

Aren't they gorgeous? They sold like hotcakes last summer, so even with a one week delay, we're happy to be having this beauty rejoin us for a new fall season.

And then MacKenzie, Morgan and I made sorbet... now I'm an ice cream fan but Kenzie isn't and we thought we'd try something more to her liking....

and it was so easy and delicious! I realized that I needed more corn syrup (or more condensed evaporated milk) than I used because it was a little bit tart... but wonderful!

RASPBERRY SORBET

1 pkg. 16 oz. frozen raspberries
1/2 cup Sweetened Condensed milk

Add raspberries to food processor with chopping blade. Chop until fine... then add milk.

Continue to process until smooth, about two minutes....

Serve or freeze!

That's it. But I went to the cupboard and there was no Sweetened Condensed milk so I substituted 1/3 cup corn syrup and 1/3 cup heavy cream.... we blended those together, added to the raspberries and voila!

Amazingly delicious sorbet/sherbet!

And this was KITTY RESCUE MISSION when naughty Honey Bunny White Socks got herself onto the roof... and yowled in my window to get in around 2:00 AM... And then couldn't get down because we moved the ladder...

I had little sympathy, but the girls tried coaxing her into their "SAFETY NET"....

She was not to be coaxed, but a friend took pity on her and climbed up to get her....

But it did teach her a lesson so far, to leave my roof alone! :)

The Fresh Pioneer Takes Over Your Weekend. (Do not fear...)

Hello, everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I'm PRETTY sure I'm supposed to be here today. If not... Enjoy the double post, hahaha!

  Seriously, I'm taking over the weekends so now you'll get two full days of The Fresh Pioneer! (No gifts, thank you. If you feel moved, make a donation to your local charity. You're welcome.)

This means there will be more of this.

And blackberry cobbler like this!

And tarte tatin  like this!

And fresh mulberry sorbet like this! 

(This post was July 2012. I can't believe I've been at the cafe almost two years!)

And Italian secret recipe biscotti like this!

But there will also be more of: 

Farm fresh blueberries, and all the ways to eat them.

Crazy food like cactus

Picked from the side of the road blackberries and all the best recipes.

Fresh picked raspberries and simple recipes to highlight them.

Ok, there may not be a lot of salsa recipes

But I may do another round of ratatouille

Or another hash brown and ham quiche.

Or another cast iron cast iron roasted chicken with fresh mushrooms

Chicken enchilada soup.

And there will certainly be more...

Banana phone!

"waddya lookin' at" teens!

Waiting for the cinnamon rolls boys!

And crazy writer on a deadline posts.

So, as we go forward, I'm stocking up on posts. I have ready (tried and tested and maybe approved) for the next few weeks:

LILAC JELLY (Here's Edna, posing with our bounty, before we cooked it.)

(stockimages.com free use)

HOMEMADE PESTO (it wasn't that hard!)

(Doesn't this look delish?  Photo credit and recipe is from one of my favorite blogs: Yes They Are All Ours)

And fool-proof (oh yeah) sweet tea syrup that will fool all your friends and neighbors into thinking you are Southern! It's a secret recipe and I had to pry it out of my friend, so you KNOW it has to be good. (Secret recipes always are!)

So, stay tuned my friends! We're going to have a wonderful time together during the weekends!