Bedlam Farm Blog Journal by Jon Katz

4 May

Bedlam Farm Journal, Making Dandelion Tea

by Jon Katz

I recently learned that anyone who lives in the country, has a farm or walks in the woods can make tea from a hundred different plants and flowers, and it’s perfect. Maria makes mint tea all the time from things grown in the garden.

Today, Maria suggested making dandelion tea while we were reading and sitting outside looking at the birds showing up in large numbers (I’m taking my bird lens and tripod outside tomorrow if there is sun) for Spring. I jumped at it. I’ve never made my tea.

We spent the next half hour collecting a large cup full of dandelions and removing all of the green stems to keep the tea from getting bitter. Then we took the cup inside, dropped it into a pot of boiling water, put it through a sifter, let it steep for a few minutes, and had tea and scones for lunch (and tuna fish and quinoa).

The tea was delicious, and we had fun making it. I love learning things that lots of people know about but don’t. Anyone can do this; it’s much cheaper than buying those teas at the supermarket (which I also do sometimes).

I felt pretty civilized drinking tea that we made and scones that we love.

4 May

Maria Magnet: “I Have The Right To Be Happy…” Now For Sale On Her Etsy Page

by Jon Katz

A few months ago, I wrote in one of my spiritual musings, “I Have The Right To Be Happy.

Maria loves that line and has mentioned it several times. She decided to make it into one of her popular refrigerator magnets, which sell for $7 each (free shipping) and are available only on her Etsy Page.

The magnets arrived yesterday, and I already have one attached to the side of my car along with her other magnets. People often pause to look at them and ask me about them.

They are two by 3 inches, cost $7, and shipping is free. You can see them and buy them here.

We all have the right to be happy; this song has become one of my favorite anthems. It has done me a lot of good. Sometimes, I need to be reminded. We all do, I think.

4 May

Wild African Violets From Our Woods.

by Jon Katz

Maria was out walking in the woods yesterday, she says she lost her sox while walking (I’m suspicious) but she did come home with some wild African Violets, an incredibly delicate, beautiful and graceful wild flower.

They ended up in the Windowsill Gallery, and I got my camera on them first thing in the morning. Maria says she’s returning to the woods today to reclaim her socks if they aren’t a nest by now.

 

 

 

4 May

Learning How To Make Poached Eggs. Almost There…It Was Fun.

by Jon Katz

We got excited this morning about learning how make our own poached eggs, since we have fresh eggs every day in Spring and Summer. We watched several videos about it on You Tube and looked at some recipes online.

This is a fun thing for us, we’d like to learn more about cooking at home. It came out well, although not perfectly. The eggs were delicious but we forgot the teaspoon of vinegar for forming and it wasn’t as creamy and soft as we wanted it to be and as it should be.

It was successful for a first effort and we had a great time, but we’ll try again tomorrow and see if it we can get it just right.

The videos all said it was easy, but you know the story, It’s easy for them. But it’s not that complex, I think we can nail it tomorrow. It always suprises us how much better the eggs from our chicken taste than anything we can buy in stores.

 

The eggs came out a little too solid, we think.

Still, it was tasty. I had my egg over fresh goat cheese with some fruit. We’ll keep at it.

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