Eat Your Landscape

At Five Feline Farm we eat our landscape.

It’s not what you think. We are not grazing on grass or nibbling the bark off trees. But there are a lot of things we do eat from the land.

Wild Things

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Black raspberries and blackberries are abundant. In fact these are so plentiful, we have had to take some out to create pathways. The heavy rains this spring and summer produced plump berries. Most of the raspberries are now in the form of glistening jars of jelly. Blackberries are still on the cane but starting to ripen.

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Not So Wild Things

The gardens are on display in the front of the property. These contain all of the typical garden fare for our consumption. Green beans, corn, tomatoes, peppers, onions, carrots, kale, potatoes, limas, beets and cowpeas fill one garden. The second garden has asparagus, pumpkins, sunflowers, tobacco and gourds. Some of these are ornamentals and yes, you read correctly…tobacco. More about non-smoking and non-chewing uses for tobacco in a later post.

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Borders and Such
Around the edges of the driveway and back porch are the herb beds. Herbs are also in random landscaping across the farm. Basil, thyme and oregano are blooming now. The bees love the nectar and we use the leaves to season a variety of dishes. Other herbs include savory, lavender, mint, chives and curry. Herbs can serve an ornamental function as well as a culinary one.

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What kinds of plants in your landscape provide food?

eSCAPE to the Farm

Escape to Five Feline Farm to experience a GARLIC SCAPE.

Mentioning garlic scapes draws a puzzled look from many folks. They don’t seem to know about using garlic scapes. Or for that matter what these delectable little morsels are anyway.

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Scapes are the white end of the garlic plant that looks somewhat like it is about to bloom. It is best removed to encourage the plant to pour energy into developing the bulb under ground. The scapes can be used whole when picked young and tender. Snap the end of the stalk off as you would asparagus. Recipes are available on the internet to saute or pickle these.

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Here on the Farm we wait until the scape is filled with bulbils and the papery covering starts to split. Peel back the papery covering and snap apart individual bulbils.

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How to Use:

~Add to fried potatoes for a light garlic flavor.
~Saute a handful with sliced mushrooms in olive oil to use as a topping for steak.
~Include in a soup or stew.
~Toss in a warm bacon salad dressing with fresh salad greens.

What other ideas would you suggest?