Garden Happenings: Edible Flowers, Basil-Blueberry Bubbles, & Friendship
#25: Summer Happenings @ Featherstone Garden
Welcome to Vol. #6 of Featherstone’s Summer Happenings Newsletter! Each week we will share a variety of garden updates, heirloom seasonal produce features, veg-ed(ucation) content, farm stand news, plant-centered recipes and more. As a subscriber, you will be the first to know all about our Garden Happenings. If you’re not a subscriber but would like do be, you can click the button below to signup.
Edible Flowers & Beneficial Insects
This week we are shining some rays on multi-purpose flowers in our garden. The flowers we grow are edible and make lovely garnishes for food and drinks, but they’re also important to the overall ecosystem in our garden. We strategically inter-plant our edible flowers (marigolds, snapdragons, violas, calendula, cornflowers, dahlias, zinnias, borage, nasturtiums, and many flowering herbs). For example: marigolds and nasturtiums are wonderful companions for nightshade crops (tomatoes, peppers, eggplants). They deter white flies, root knot nematodes, and root lesion nematodes. Marigolds also attract beneficial hoverflies and parasitoid wasps- the arch nemesis of the dreaded tomato horn worm.
Other flowers in our garden feed our pollinators and attract predatory insects that prey on common garden pests like aphids, flea beetles, and pesky hungry caterpillars. We try to spray organic pesticides as infrequently as possible, and this year haven't had to spray at all. We believe that companion planting with flowers is not only beautiful, it’s necessary for our co-workers/beneficial insects to be happy and healthy.
Try these at home!
Shortbread Cookies with Edible Flowers
These edible pressed flower cookies were inspired by Loria Stern’s floral filled instagram. We went for a traditional glutenous, buttery shortbread cookie recipe when baking these at home, though Loria Stern has a recipe for a gluten-free pistachio version for anyone interested. Quick baking tip: if you’re making these at home, we highly recommend that you freeze the flower pressed cookies for up to 24 hours prior to baking. This will help preserve the colors of the petals, and prevent them from burning or browning too much. Edible flowers are available at Featherstone’s Farm Stand this week!
Stir Fry Kits + Breads & Spreads Round 2: SIGN UP NOW!
*This is the final week for our first Stir Fry subscription!
Our next 6-week subscription of Summer Stir Fry Kits runs from September 7- October 12 and will feature six new sauces: Sesame Ginger, Szechuan, Bibimbop, Sage Hazelnut Pesto, Okonomiaki, Chinese Garlic.
Kits include 3-4 servings of chopped stir fry veggies, fresh herbs or microgreens, crunchy bit toppers, grains or legumes (rice/quinoa/lentils etc.), and a homemade sauce + sauce recipe card for recreation.
We are also offering a second round of our Breads & Spreads Subscription (a collaboration with Well Worth the Weight). This next round of breads and spreads will include: zucchini bread + chocolate tahini spread, blueberry loaf + lemon butter, banana bread + honey butter, soda bread + herb butter, cinnamon apple bread +apple butter, and pumpkin bread + pumpkin butter.
Our next 6-week subscription service for Stir Fry Kits and Breads & Spreads runs from: Sept. 7- Oct 13, 2021
Pickup and Delivery options available.
Visit our website to sign up today!
Blueberry Balsamic Basil Bubbles w/ Edible Flowers
This week, we’re making a bubbly, herbaceous summery mocktail with fresh basil and edible flowers from our garden (both are available at our Farm Stand this week). Check out Featherstone’s very first Instagram reel of Renee and Annie making this mocktail, here! Here’s the recipe to make it for yourself at home:
Ingredients:
6 oz fresh blueberries
3 Tbsp balsamic
2 tsp maple syrup (3-4 tsp if you prefer a sweeter drink)
zest from 1/2 of a lemon (about 1/2 tsp)
pinch of salt
basil leaves (1-2 torn leaves per drink)
sparkling water of choice (we’re using apricot LaCroix, and highly suggest it!)
fresh lemon juice
Directions:
To make the blueberry balsamic reduction: In a pot on the stove, bring the blueberries and balsamic to a light simmer, then turn down to medium/low. With a wooden spoon, mash the berries, add maple syrup, lemon zest, and pinch of salt. Continue to cook down until the sauce is reduced to about half, about 10-12 minutes. Take off heat and allow to cool completely. Tip: This is also a wonderful spread on toast!
To assemble the drink: Add 1 Tablespoon of blueberry balsamic reduction to a cup of ice. Add freshly torn basil leaves, a squeeze of lemon juice (about 1 tsp), and 6 oz sparkling water of choice (we’re using Apricot LaCroix). Top with edible flowers as a garnish. Stir well & serve.
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Creamy Corn Pasta (Vegetarian/Vegan Friendly)
Looking for a bright seasonal dish to go along with this summer mocktail? We’re looking forward to trying out Melissa Clark’s Creamy Corn Pasta recipe, which actually contains no cream! The creaminess comes from pureeing fresh sweet corn with scallions. The only non-vegan ingredient is browned butter, and you can easily swap that out with your choice of oil to create a vegan dish, (we suggest coconut oil or avocado oil).
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Egg + Tomato Sammy w/ Muhummara Spread
If you’re part of our Breads & Spreads subscription and have leftover muhammara from last week, we highly suggest spreading a generous amount on toast and building a breakfast sandwich with egg (seasoned with salt & pepper), sliced tomato, and fresh basil. Consider an edible flower garnish!
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A note from Annie, about Renee:
This past weekend Renee, my dearest friend and Featherstone’s designer/recipe developer/blogger, was in town visiting from Ridgewood, New York. Renee and I met back in 2016 when she was still living in Detroit. We particularly bonded over our love for thoughtful, farm-fresh, homemade food. We enjoy cooking together and aspire to one day turn our recipes (Featherstone Garden x Woodbine Street Kitchen) into a cookbook. Since Featherstone launched in 2017, Renee has designed so much for our brand: everything from our very cute bee logo (inspired by my nickname, Bee) to the website, recipe cards, labels etc. She constantly inspires me and continues to help grow the business into the plant-centered food education organization that we envision. We launched this Garden Happenings Newsletter last winter and co-write it together remotely on FaceTime and Substack each week.
We went out for drinks at The Oakland in Ferndale, and their non-alcoholic bubbly grapefruit cocktail inspired our effervescent blueberry-balsamic drink recipe that we are featuring this week. We hope you enjoy it!
Featured Stir fry recipe:
Savory Caponata with Chickpeas
Our newest recipe feature was created by our Stir Fry Kits developers, Jessi Patuano & Phoebe Zimmerman. You can find the full recipe & serving suggestions on Garden Goodness blog.
Assembly Instructions
*Heads up: an overnight chickpea soak is required!
For Stir Fry Kit Subscribers…
Pre-Assembly Notes
To cook the dried chickpeas: soak 1/2 cup for 12 hours. Drain, rinse, and add to a pot. Cover by a few inches with water, and add 1/2 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and cook at a simmer until tender, about 1 ½ to 2 hours.
Step 1
In a large pan, heat 2 Tbsp of cooking oil and sauté pre-cut stir-fry veggies until slightly translucent and edges begin to crisp, adjusting the heat as needed. Try to avoid overcrowding the pan to prevent veggies from steaming. Once veggies are sautéed to your liking, remove from heat and set aside.
Step 2
Heat caponata in a large pan, add your cooked chickpeas, sautéed veggies, and toss until warmed through.
To serve
In a bowl serve yourself the chickpea & caponata with sautéed veggies. Garnish with toasted almonds and fresh herbs.
Enjoy!
Stir Fry & Breads and Spreads Kit Pickup/Delivery Reminders
Kit delivery is on Tuesdays between 4-7pm.
Subscribers, Please leave your insulated grocery bag on your doorstep on Tuesday. If you have an extra ice pack, we suggest putting that in the bag too!
Kit pickup is on Wednesday from 2-6pm at Featherstone’s weekly Farm Stand at 4178 Lakepointe Street, Detroit
Thanks for reading!
For more about our garden, follow us on instagram (@featherstone.garden), and check out our website. Don’t forget to share our newsletter with a friend by clicking the button below.
Have a great week,
Annie, Aaron, Renee, Jessi, Phoebe + Chili, Pepper & Bean (our farm cats)
Please note: Featherstone Garden is neither paid nor sponsored by any brands, organizations or blogs we feature in our newsletter. We share this content because we found it to be valuable and thought you might, too.