water-bath canning recipe: dilly beans

hello, friends! while we're away soaking up the sunshine at the beach, i wanted to share my dilly beans recipe.

this dilly bean recipe is a staple recipe in our home during the summer months. 

so grab your green beans & head on over to my blog for my dilly bean recipe! 

- natalie

putting up tomatoes: crockpot tomato base & canned tomato jam

on any given day this week, if you were to walk into my kitchen, you would find tomatoes.

lots of tomatoes.

tomatoes chopped & tomatoes simmering in pots. tomatoes in crockpots & tomatoes roasting in the oven. tomatoes in the freezer & tomatoes put up for the winter.

it's the season of tomatoes & we are oh so thankful for the bounty!

today i want to share with you two new ways i preserve & put up tomatoes for the winter:

1. crockpot tomato base - a simple way to preserve your tomatoes when you're running short on time is to chop them up, skin & all, & place them in the crockpot. i add frozen or fresh basil for flavor. i put the crockpot on high & allow the tomatoes to simmer for around 12 hours. halfway through the cooking process, i remove the lid to allow the liquid to evaporate. once it's formed into a thick tomato base, i add two cups of tomato base to labeled ziplock bags & place them in the freezer. during the winter months, we add tomatoes to soups, chills, crockpot meals & more. this is the perfect base for adding to almost any meal. 

2. tomato jam - tomato jam is a lengthy process, but your home is sure to smell amazing! to make tomato jam, i followed this recipe. for extra flavor, as recommended by a friend, i added a hint of smoked paprika. it is delicious paired with bread & cream cheese!

happy tomato season!

- natalie

harvesting potatoes from the garden & our favorite varieties

in our neck of the woods, it's potato harvesting time! 

we missed our window of opportunity for planting sweet potatoes (tis the farm life sometimes) so we're savoring our apples of the earth. 

early one evening, during the golden hour, we harvested our potatoes from the garden. we dug into the soil with our digging forks, sticking our fingers deep into the soil, & pulled out the most beautiful red & purple potatoes.

little chip & sweet ginger were happy to snack on the potato tops. nothing goes to waste around here!

we planted purple potatoes, red potatoes & russet potatoes. the russet variety was by far the most productive, but we were thrilled with the variety in color. 

sometimes color wins over productivity on the farm. gardening should be an experience that charms all of the senses, yes?

my handsome farmer grows some beautiful potatoes!

we harvested a big basket full of potatoes from our one row. we have been sharing them with farm customers & our neighbors. they're so delicious! 

luke has been thinly slicing them into chip-like size & roasting them in the oven with a bit of s&p, fresh garlic from the garden & olive oil.

during our garden harvest, we even found a little friend.

have you ever grown potatoes in your garden? what's your favorite variety?

- natalie

full baskets & full hearts

first, i'm rather giddy to announce that registration is open for our canning & preserving workshop! we're offering a series of "freckled hen farmhouse ec" workshops to inspire, share knowledge & cultivate the home. 

if you're in the northwest arkansas area, we would love to have you join us! if you're anywhere really, we would love to have you. our little pocket of mountains & rolling hills really is the best kept secret. 

in other news, i dug this wire basket out of a trash pile at an estate sale this past weekend. it has accompanied me to the garden most evenings this week. 

it's that time of year again. that time when we say see ya later to the grocery store & eat only from the garden. it's that time when we fill up baskets of garden beauties for gifting to neighbors & dear friends.

flowers as unique as snowflakes & pink skies at sunset.

the garden is oh so beautiful this time of year. full baskets & full hearts define this time of year.

- natalie

gift idea: basket of garden cheer!

i love giving gifts. simply put, it's my favorite way to love.

 i also really love giving gifts that are homemade, meaningful & fit within our budget. on my personal blog, i share several ideas for creating thoughtful, unique gifts that are affordable. today's gift idea is no exception! it cost us nothing but a little bit of our time.

walking through our garden, i began to think about our friends who just moved to town. you see, we have moved a lot. i know what it feels like to be completely exhausted, broke, unable to find the pans to cook dinner & instead just order pizza. 

sometimes you just need a bit of cheer to get you through the mountains of boxes. 

gathering bits from the garden, i set out to make a basket of cheer. 

i found a berry basket in our pantry & filled it with fresh cucumbers from the garden. 

i gathered a bouquet of flowers & placed them in a mason jar with a little fabric bow. we collected colorful eggs from the coop & put them in a recycled egg carton.

off to our dear friends & new neighbors with a basket of garden cheer, we went! 

what kind of goodies do you pull together from your garden for dear friends, new neighbors & family?

- natalie

oh, how quickly our gardens grow!

{garden journal from taproot}

a few nights ago right before bed, i was scrolling through instagram & as those things usually go, i happened upon our farm hashtag #freckledhenfarm. i love using instagram to organize photos & it's such a fun way to track the progress of a specific project or season. as soon as i came across the photo below, i was amazed! 

below is our garden just 8 weeks ago:

this is our garden this morning:

i am amazed at how quickly our garden has progressed in just two short months. this is our first year tending to this garden & it's been such a gift to watch it grow. 

i thought i would take you on a little tour of our garden happenings:

cabbage is ready to harvest & our flowers are doing so well. three weeks of rain does wonders!

we're harvesting small handfuls of sungold cherry tomatoes every day.

it's truly summer here with the taste of fresh basil! we've been a little neglectful on trellising our cucumbers. that's a project for another day, i suppose! 

we're slowly adding homemade tomato cages to our 48 tomatoes. the perennial flower bed is looking so lovely. friends, this is the garden of my dreams!

if you would like to follow along & share the progress of your garden, leave a comment with the link!

- natalie

our patio herb garden

hello, there! i want to take you on a tour of our newest garden addition- our patio herb garden! 

our patio was already built when we moved into the farmhouse. the previous owners were avid gardeners & included this raised garden bed in their patio design. when we moved into our home last summer, huge sunflowers were growing in this space. they were so pretty, but i knew this little bed would be the perfect spot for our kitchen herbs.

you see, i have a hard time remembering to harvest herbs for dinner unless they're close to the kitchen. an onion with a bit of olive oil will be sautéing in the skillet & i will completely forget to add  minced fresh herbs. having our herb garden close to the kitchen makes it easy for me to run out & grab basil or thyme.

in our kitchen herb garden, i planted:

- oregano

- basil

- dill

-cilantro

- lemon balm

- thyme

- sage

of course, an herb garden wouldn't be complete without an old stump, some nasturtiums & a chicken feeder with succulents. 

are your herbs close to the kitchen? do you have them in pots on the patio or in your garden? i'd love to read where your herbs grow!

- natalie

garden happenings

welcome to the garden on this misty, gray day. oh, how things have been growing after a very rainy week. we are in transition from spring crops to summer so i thought i'd share our garden happenings! 

below is our 1,000 sq. ft. garden. i cannot wait to watch it grow in size as we add a fig tree, asparagus patch & more. 

i have always wanted a garden of zinnias so this year we made that happen. we planted about 50 zinnia plants in the front row.  we also planted sunflowers, cosmos, queen ann's lace & a wide variety of perennial flowers along the other bordering row. i hope to sell flower bouquets to our egg customers this summer! 

we have been harvesting sugar snap peas by the basket full. we planted these peas months ago. with a few hot days mixed with a handful of rainy weeks, they shot up quickly & we're finally enjoying the fruits of our labor.

our basil is finally in. we've been pruning & adding the leftovers to egg scrambles in the morning. the true taste of summer, friends! our cabbage is slowly growing... kimchi awaits! my favorite variety of kale is lacinato & it is doing very well this season. we plan to gift friends with a few bundles this week.

of course, a garden is not complete without insect pests. luke has been pinching colorado potato beetles every morning. if you see these guys, pinch them! they will quickly destroy your potatoes if you don't manage them. 

we're also dealing with our share of flea beetles. luke applied spinosad, an organic pesticide, to help control the populations. it looks to be helping. 

the green beans are doing well. i cannot wait to preserve jars full of dilly beans. this weekend we planted more cilantro, summer squash, winter squash, corn & okra. 

what is happening in your garden?

- natalie

how to get more greens into your diet

if you're like me, you have good intentions to get those greens in. that is... until your precious head hits the pillow & you realize you haven't even touched one leafy green. here are a handful of tips to get more greens into your diet. enjoy!

1. prep greens ahead of time. i am often in-between tasks when eating lunch. having pre-washed greens on hand makes me more likely to grab the greens instead of last night's dinner leftovers. my husband or i will usually harvest greens once or twice a week from the garden. we soak the greens in water, strain them, chop them, add them to a reusable container with a lid, & place them in the fridge for easy lunch and dinner prep.

2. mason jar salads. my girlfriend & i were just talking about mason jar salads. they're cute & make lunches-on-the-go fun! they're also easy to prep. here's a fun tutorial on making your mason jar salad. simply add the dressing on the bottom & then layer. 

3. freeze your greens. thicker greens, such as kale & spinach, freeze well. simply wash & chop your greens. add them to cookie sheet & freeze. once your greens are completely frozen, remove them from the cookie sheet & add them to a labeled baggie. frozen greens are perfect in hearty soups!

4. add additional greens to recipes. i love experimenting in the kitchen. even if you're a recipe follower, adding additional vegetables, such as yummy greens, to a meal can make it extra delicious and healthy. i love chopping up wilty greens & adding them to my pasta sauce. 

5. green smoothies. green smoothies are a great option for a healthy breakfast or lunch. my favorite smoothie recipe - 1/2 can of coconut milk, 1 banana, 1 tablespoon almond butter, 1/2 cup frozen mango, 1/2 cup frozen greens (kale is my favorite!), & 1/2 cup frozen strawberries. add & blend until smooth. enjoy in a mason jar with a fun straw!

6. weekly challenges. weekly challenges to change habits are a great way to stay mindful. try a weekly challenge of eating a side salad with your dinner every night for one week. ask the family to join in or a group of friends. it's fun & you're one step closer to a healthier habit!

- natalie