Adventurous Apothecary

The freshest salad greens are the ones you grow yourself. Yummy!!

This is my first harvest from my hydroponic planter.

Today is the perfect day for canning those veggies.
Use your home-grown herbs if you have them.
Yum!

Today’s adventure involved jarring quarts of Amish Penicillin.
If you haven’t heard of this, it basically involves making a veggie soup with chicken broth then blending the whole thing to make a puréed veggie soup.
I’ll admit, I may have over-spiced it, so I had to cut it with some of my extra chicken broth.
However, we now have it for if ever sickness hits.

It’s been a while, and my garden is a MESS!

Meet Panda. She’s visiting for the week to help me tame these crazy gardens. Blackberry bushes have overtaken the veggie garden and mint has exploded in the herb garden. No worries, though. Goats are great at clearing brush. And this one is so sweet and cute!

However, I did manage to harvest some of that amazing and healthy mint before she went to work. 😊

You should definitely go make this basil cucumber lemonade. You won’t regret it!!!

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/238741/bethys-cucumber-basil-lemonade/

Plus, basil is super beneficial to your tummy. It helps reduce bloating, decrease stomach cramping, and acts a diuretic!

Bethy's Cucumber Basil Lemonade Cucumber and basil lemonade is a refreshing twist on the traditional summertime beverage.

After today’s rain, I went walking through the garden and noticed that my stevia plant was super happy. I decided to trim her up and dehydrate the leaves.
I then did some research about the benefits of stevia (the plant, not the product). I was surprised to find that it is used for more than simply sweetening.
The stevia plant and the stevia product are NOT the same thing.
Check out this link to learn more about this super sweet plant.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/287251 -are-the-risks?

The power just went out, but we are making the best out of a rainy day.
Stay safe and dry.

Fun story…
I bought a small bunch of green onions about 6 months ago for a recipe. I replanted the roots and have had fresh green onions ever since.
No fancy setup. Simply two solo cups and some soil. I use two solo cups so the water drains into the bottom one.
I forget to water them all the time and they still grow for me. If I don’t need them right away, I go ahead and dehydrate them.

In addition to using them to flavor foods, they also offer some health benefits.

https://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/scallions-health-benefits

I just got finished harvesting this crop of mini marshmallows. I like to pick them when they are small because they taste sweeter.
April Fools!

However, dehydrated marshmallows are one of our favorite sweet treats. They contain less sugar than traditional candy and are fat free. I can’t keep them in stock when my kids know we have them. 😏

However, these little marshmallows don’t actually contain marshmallow root.

Check out the information about the origin of marshmallows. I found it very interesting.

https://www.verywellhealth.com/marshmallow-root-7485537 -7-marshmallow-root-benefits

Look how gorgeous!! I can’t wait!

But what about the green tops? Why do I dehydrate those?

Well, I had three options. I could give them to the chickens. (The chickens voted for that option.) I could compost them. (The worms voted for that option.). Or I could dehydrate them and use them as a SUPERFOOD in my teas and smoothies!
Don’t worry. I still shared with the chickens and worms. 😉

https://greatist.com/eat/strawberry-leaf-benefits