Farmer's Market

It's finally June and the farmer's market has opened.  I went to the market in my town last weekend and got so much cool stuff.  I haven't been to a farmer's market in several years and the last time I went I was underwhelmed.  It seemed like there were more craft stands than produce stands.  I like crafts as much as the next person, but they aren't what I'm going for.  So I tried out a different market this year and was much happier.

I was open to getting whatever they had there, but I was hoping to see lots of fresh strawberries.  I've been really wanting strawberries ever since mine got eaten by birds.  Fortunately, I was not disappointed.  Almost everyone had strawberries for sale.

These nice ladies let me take a taste so I knew I was getting really good stuff.  I could have gone crazy and bought way too many.  I controlled myself though and brought home three baskets like this.

Aren't they pretty?  Fresh picked berries like these go bad a lot faster than the berries you get from the grocery store so I knew I had to use them up right away.  Luckily for me, that wasn't a problem.

First, I made a strawberry shortcake using some of the leftover lemon thyme cornbread from the other night.  It might seem a little weird to use cornbread in strawberry shortcake, but it really works out great.  The cornbread is a little drier on the second day so it soaks up all the yummy juices from the sugared berries.  The lemon in the cornbread is a really nice compliment to the berries.  Plus, I got to practice my fancy plating skills and slice it into pretty wedges like this...

I still had berries left that I needed to use up so I decided to make jam.  Most jam recipes call for a ton of fruit and I only had about 3 cups so I decided to just make a really small batch.  I made a variation of the Strawberry and Lavender Jam from Canning For A New Generation by Liana Krissoff.

This stuff is so good!  Unlike a lot of jams it isn't too sweet so you can still taste the fruit.  The lavender adds just a little something in the background.

Strawberry and Lavender Jam

I only made a third of the real recipe so these measurements yield about 1/2 a pint of jam.

3 cups sliced strawberries
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 tsp dried lavender or heaping tsp fresh

Mash the berries with a potato masher.  I like to leave it pretty chunky.  Add all ingredients to a medium saucepan.  Cook over medium heat until mixture is thickened stirring often.  Let cool slightly and ladle into a jar.  Store in the fridge.

Last, but not least, the farmer's market also had several fresh flower stands and places to buy plants and herbs to plant in your garden.  I resisted buying anything new for the garden, but I didn't come home empty handed.  My boyfriend bought me this lovely bouquet.

This type of flower is called Sweet William and in Victorian times it symbolized gallantry.  Sounds good to me!

Strawberry Fields Forever

Let me take you down,
'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields.
~The Beatles

OK so I don't have a strawberry field, but I do have one strawberry!  I noticed that one of the strawberries was ripe today and because I apparently have no impulse control (and I didn't want the birds to get to it before me) I picked it right away.  I did manage to pause long enough to take this picture.

Isn't it pretty?  I don't want to misrepresent anything though so I should mention that this picture makes it look slightly larger than it actually is...

If I've learned anything from watching way too many episodes of CSI its that you should always have something for reference in a picture to estimate size. My strawberry is pretty tiny compared to the berries you get at the grocery store.  But what it lacks in size it made up for in flavor.  This was the 'strawberriest' strawberry I've ever eaten.  This is one of the main reasons I garden.  The food you grow or pick yourself is always going to taste so much better than what you get in the grocery store and it makes all the work in the garden worth it.

Garden Update: Late April

Inch by inch, row by row
Gonna make this garden grow
~Peter, Paul and Mary

It's been about 3 weeks since I planted my garden and I'm already getting excited by how well it's growing.  Although it is still pretty early (i.e. cold) in the season for gardens in Illinois, I'm very encouraged by how well my little plants are doing.

What growing now: Late April

The biggest change in the garden is that I had to replant my herbs in bigger pots.  I had planned to keep them in this cute little 3 pot planter, but they were already getting too big for it. The parsley especially wasn't doing very well in the small pot.  The leaves kept wilting and turning yellow.  Its doing much better since I moved it to a bigger pot and has a bunch of new leaves coming in.  All of the herbs have been growing well and they seem big and sturdy enough now for me to start harvesting some to cook with.

Parsley

Chives

Orange Mint

Dill

Thyme

You can really tell in this picture of the thyme how my plants have been growing in the direction of the sun.  I have been turning the pots fairly often to try to help them get sun on all sides of the plant.

The strawberry plant has been growing a bunch of new leaves too.  And 2 tiny berries and a flower!  Serious gardeners tell you to remove the first couple berries to help the plant grow stronger and have a bigger yield later, but I haven't been able to bring myself to do it yet.

The lettuce and spinach seem to be doing well.  They still seem very fragile and delicate (actually 'wimpy' is the word I keep using) so I'll be excited when they get stronger and more substantial.

Lettuce

Spinach

The cubanelle pepper plant has been my 'problem child' in the garden so far.  It has been extremely finicky.  It hasn't been growing as fast as all the others and it wilts constantly so I have it water it more often than the rest of the plants.  In the last few days though it has seemed more stable so hopefully it won't give me much more trouble.

Finally, the tomato plant has been growing very well.  It also seems very hardy so far which has been nice.  I don't have to do too much to it and it just keeps getting more leaves.

Black cherry tomato

The tomato plant also is getting these little buds, which I'm pretty sure are going to eventually open up into flowers.

Coming soon...updates on the flowers in the garden!