I’ve eaten Nasturtium flowers (and leaves) several times, and I’m growing some this year in my garden. Lavender flowers are also edible, and you’ll find them paired with lemons quite often, and I’ve seen several recipes for Lavender shortbread. Some scented geraniums are also have culinary uses; many jams and jellies that incorporate various Geranium “flavors”.

I haven’t tried fried squash blossoms yet, but they sure sound tasty. I was reading about wild Hibiscus flowers in syrup in a magazine the other day (Real Simple?) - that sounds like a great thing to put on top of vanilla ice cream. While we were preparing to get married, I saw loads of sugared violets and rose petals all over so many of the magazine cakes.

It’s a never ending festival of scents and flavors. I’m particularly partial to the idea of Lavender shortbread… hmmmm… I see some recipe testing in my future.

It was nice to get out of the office for a bit, and it didn’t hurt that I got lunch, a Canadian flag, and some flag “tattoos” for my trouble.

I changed up the recipe a bit:

Greek yogurt instead of the sour cream (slightly safer for E)
Lactose free milk
a few marinated sundried tomatoes
left out the Parmesan cheese
sprinkled a bit of fresh dill from our garden on top

Surprisingly, I didn’t miss the cheese or the salt and pepper that I thought I might need. The tomatoes and the dill were plenty. The eggs, garlic, and the yellow squash I used are all from the local farmer’s market.

Now I just need to figure out what to do with the remaining seven eggs that doesn’t involve large quantities of butter and sugar.

I’m trying to pay more attention to the bees… and to the smaller things in life that I tend to overlook because I’m busy or just plain not paying attention. Bees are on my mind more and more lately because of the news about Colony Collapse Disorder. I now have a number of veggie plants in the back yard, that won’t get pollinated unless the bees or other insects are drawn to the yard. Imagine what will happen if all of the bees die?!

So here’s to our slightly overgrown lawn, bees, and the other small things that might get overlooked.

The first basil harvest from this year’s basil plants. Kind of small, but it will be tasty with this weekend’s farmer’s market finds, including some lovely grape tomatoes.

It was fortifying to see such happy plants in abundance. It also gives me ideas for my own garden, the one in my head, that keeps morphing into different shapes. I don’t yet know when I’ll be able to plant my garden in the ground, but the garden in my mind’s eye is a beautiful place to be.

1. Eggplant ‘Black Beauty’, 2. Banana Pepper, 3. Tomato ‘Cherokee Purple’, 4. Tomato ‘Better Bush’, 5. African Daisy, 6. Herbs

I’m doing pots this year because we will probably be moving again. How far is anyone’s guess, but at least my tomatoes will be portable! 2 of the three tomato plants and some of the herbs (including the Genovese basil) are locally grown by smaller farms in the area. The rest of the plants were purchased at Home Despot, but they claim to be locally grown (all in the Maryland area, I belive). I don’t know how accurate it is that the HD plants are locally grown, as the pots indicate they are distributed by a local company but don’t necessarily say they were grown there.

Thank you.

I love to blog, but I haven’t been doing much of it, and I definitely haven’t been doing it consistently. I think I just need some direction, and a little bit of structure. I have a plan brewing… and I think it will work.

While I’m figuring things out, go read about the USDA Extension Program. It’s a really great program, and it’s incredibly useful if you are interested in gardening. Every state and U.S. Territory has an extension program - even the District of Columbia has one and they don’t even have voting rights. That’s a post for another day.

Last night I went walking with the dog just after the rain, and had the pleasure of walking past a large patch of lavender in a neighbor’s yard. I can’t quite describe the scent, but it was so lovely - spicy lavender and the sweet green smell of rain.