Introducing.... Bee Pollen!

We are offering a new product this year and I am so excited about it! Bee Pollen! So... what do you do with bee pollen, you ask? Eat it! Pollen itself is the male seed of flowers, required to fertilize the plant. It is used as a nutritional supplement that some people swear by. It contains an abundance of vitamins, minerals, proteins, amino-acids, and more. We have seen claims for using it for energy, weight loss, alleviating depression and migraine headaches, preventing cancer, etc...etc...etc... We won't make any of those claims here, but I must say I think this fresh pollen is quite tasty. Other times that I have tried pollen I thought it tasted like hay, in a chalky form that is kind of hard to swallow. The pollen we have been harvesting still has the chalky texture, but it has been surprisingly sweet and flavorful. It is great for adding to smoothies, sprinkling on salads, or just eating by the spoonful (followed by a drink of OJ).Here is a close-up picture where I tried to capture all the colors and textures of the different kinds of pollen. The bees gather pollen in little 'pollen sacs' on their legs. They use the pollen to feed to the baby bees. (Don't worry, we make sure there is plenty left for them).
It is harvested through the use of a pollen trap that goes on the bottom of the hive where the bees enter. See the unpainted wooden part where all the bees are trying to enter? As they enter through the pollen trap, the pollen is knocked off their legs and lands on a screen below. We empty the screen daily, and it is amazing to see the varieties of colors that accumulate throughout the day. You can tell the bees are gathering from different sources throughout the day, as the colors form in layers throughout the trap.
As I type, Isaac is out in the apiary pulling honey supers that will be extracted later this week. We are hoping to get a good harvest of Black Locust honey this week, which will be ready for market by Saturday. Maizy loves to help us "sort" honey as we bottle it. She is only 10 months old so honey is not a regular part of her diet yet... but we can tell she is counting down the days. She watches us eat honey with a look in her eyes that says, "I know that's something good... and I am going to get it." Until then... keep sorting those bottles Maizy. We will have a nice honey cake for you when you turn one!

A meal inspired by... Garlic Scapes

Now let me preface this post with saying that I do not consider myself a great cook, but rather someone who may have a few ideas to share about how to cook up some of the more unusual types of produce that is out there. If you go to the farmer's market tomorrow, you may find Garlic Scapes for sale. These are the tips of the garlic plant that form a white swan shaped neck, which emerge right around early June in central Ohio. The garlic plant forms this scape to produce seeds, however, by cutting the scapes we can encourage the plant to put more energy in creating bigger garlic bulbs. Thus.... the edible scapes can be added to a delicious stir-fry, giving a touch of garlicy flavor without too much spice. Just dice them up like you would scallions, throw them in with your other favorite vegetables for stir-frying, there you have it! I used whatever veggies I could find in our fridge, and I also added some pre-cooked turkey I had in the freezer. To add some flavor, I combined some soy sauce with our own fall honey, sauteed it all together, and served it with rice.
This meal will only take 20 mins, unless you have one of these clinging to your leg the whole time... which makes it harder to move around the kitchen quickly.
Have any other creative ideas about how to cook with garlic scapes? Post it in the comments section!

What's blooming at Honeyrun...

Gorgeous peonies from our neighbor Irma Fenstermaker... technically not blooming at Honeyrun... but just down the road. These flowers smelled amazing!Wow... is May almost over already? I try to post at least once a month, and I can't believe my time is almost up. I thought I would show you what is blooming around the farm, and save an update on what is growing at the produce farm for next month (read: I have been too busy to go over to Becky's fields to take pictures!). I finally got all my cut flowers in the ground, watered in... and now the weeding begins. We are also putting in a pumpkin/squash/gourd patch that needs planted, but there is still time for that, right?
This is a "Flamenco Red Hot Poker." Only one plant is blooming so far and I hope to eventually be able to sell them as cut flowers. Below is my sage and lavender, side by side in their splendor. The bees have been so happy with these two plants, and I am quite proud of their performance this year. Soon I will start snipping the lavender buds to make our herbal infused honey.
The picture below are... yes, you guessed it! Strawberries! But they are a special kind of strawberry: Alpine Yellow Wonder Strawberries which I started from seed from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. I was under the impression that they were annuals, but they came back stronger than ever. I enjoy looking at the dainty little flowers almost as much as I enjoy the fruit. I would describe the taste as 'tutti-frutti." It is a blast of flavor, in such a small, tiny, morsel that it is hardly even comparable to a regular red strawberry.
The berries are so tiny I have never actually picked a pint to bring into the house. I simply go out to the garden, find a few and eat them right there on the spot. It is tricky to know exactly when they are ripe because they stay yellow. Usually the insects know the perfect ripeness, because there are sometimes small indentations on the surface of the fruit. Those are the tastiest of all. If any of you readers out there want to try these, I would not mind digging up some of my plants and giving them away (you have to come to the farm or market to get them, though). Just send me an email or post a message.
Okay, so you can call this a rushed, uneventful post... but it is May after all and we aren't even done planting everything yet! This summer I plan to add a lot of great posts with recipes, beautiful pictures of Becky's produce, and information about the benefits and uses of Naturally Granulated Honey: a new product we are selling at the market this year. Come see us at market this weekend... it is going to be beautiful!

Honeyrun Farm Open House! Sunday May 2, noon - 7 pm

We will be hosting our annual open house for those who want the first chance to see our selection of herbs, hanging baskets, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, as well as some annuals and living wreaths. This year we are giving away three door prizes and free homemade ice cream!

If you can't make it down to the farm, maybe you can catch us at a market in the upcoming weekends. We will be at Clintonville for the Sprout Swap on Saturday May 1st from 9-12, and at the Worthington Plant Fest on May 8th from 9 am - 4 pm. Come join us!

Ladybugs, Asparagus, and Earth Gathering!

The ladybugs are here! We have been releasing ladybugs in the greenhouse every night to control the aphids that usually appear this time of year. The funny thing is, we haven't really seen any aphids yet... so now I am worrying that the ladybugs won't find enough to eat. Kind of weird to actually want aphids so the ladybugs don't starve. I'm sure they will just roam outside into nearby fields if they don't find any in the greenhouse.

Have you ever wondered what an asparagus plant looks like underground? I think they resemble octopus tentacles. These are the "purple passion" asparagus I planted on Saturday. They are supposed to be more tender than the popular Jersey Knight asparagus, and emerge purple, but turn green when cooked. I really enjoy the tiny, slim, tender asparagus so I decided to give them a try. They are planted 6-8 inches deep in trenches (I dug holes because I was too lazy to use a hoe to dig the trench), and covered with 2 inches of compost. Asparagus cannot be harvested the first year, and for only 2 weeks during the second year. So these little guys won't be enjoyed until 2012. Asparagus is only for the most patient gardeners.
We also received 25 Golden Buff chicks in the mail last week. Here is our nephew Owen pondering the meaning of life while watching the baby chicks play.
This weekend marks the kickoff of our market season! We will be in Chillicothe for the annual Earth Gathering event. It is at the beautiful Yoctangee Park - Pump House Center for the Arts from 11 am-7 pm. Great food, music, art for sale, and kids activities.... and the weather is supposed to be great! We will be selling honey, soap, as well as a few cold-hardy flowers and herbs. Come join us!