Now Is the Time to Preserve Your Herbs for WinterIf you have herbs in your garden, now is the time to start thinking about winter. Harvest what you think you will need for the colder months and dry it now while the plants are fresh and full of flavour. It is best to harvest in the heat of the afternoon to have the highest amount of beneficial oils. However anytime of day is still good.  📷 by Emily Rozema We try to use our dried herbs within one year of harvest. Dried herbs do not suddenly go bad after a year, but their flavour, aroma and quality diminish over time. This is one of the reasons our Mingle Hill spice blends and loose leaf teas are so potent and flavourful. We grow and harvest our herbs here on the farm and use them within one year.  📷 by Emily Rozema With many grocery store spices, you simply don't know when the plant was actually harvested. In Canada, shelf stable foods that last longer than 90 days generally do not require a best before date. That means the jar may tell you very little about the actual age of the herbs or spices inside. How to Dry Your Own Herbs Drying herbs at home is incredibly simple. Gather your herbs into small bundles and place an elastic around the stems. Take a paperclip, open it up and use it as a little hook to hang the bundle upside down. Hang your herbs in a cool, dry, dark place with good airflow. A spot in your kitchen or large pantry away from a sunny window can work well. Sunlight can break down the colour, aroma and quality of dried herbs, so keeping them away from direct light is important. Most bundles will take around two weeks to fully dry, depending on the herb, humidity and size of the bundle. The most important part is making sure they are completely dry before putting them into a jar. Any moisture left in the plant can encourage mold. If you aren't quite sure they are dry enough, you can finish them in a dehydrator on a low setting. A dehydrator is also a great way to speed up the entire process. Once completely dry, remove the leaves from the stems and store them in a clean glass jar in your spice cupboard, away from heat and sunlight. Then enjoy your own homegrown herbs all winter. Use them individually for cooking, make herbal tea, or start experimenting and create your own custom spice blends.  📷 by Emily Rozema Homegrown dried herbs and homemade spice blends make brilliant Christmas gifts. A little glass jar, a handwritten label and herbs you grew yourself. Simple, useful and actually made by you. There is something pretty satisfying about opening a jar in January and smelling the herbs you grew in your own garden the summer before.  📷 by Emily Rozema
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Garlic scape season is here! These whimsical, curly green stalks are the flowering shoots of garlic plants. We harvest them early so the energy goes into growing a big, beautiful bulb below. But while they’re here, they’re one of the tastiest short-season treats from the garden. Think of garlic scapes as garlic’s milder, greener cousin, like a cross between green onions and fresh garlic, with a lot of personality. We dry them and mix them with our dried parsley and salt to make our Farmstead Salt Seasoning Blend. Great to sprinkle on pasta, eggs, chili, or anything you would sprinkle salt and garlic on. If you’ve never tried them, start with this quick pesto recipe. It’s bright, peppery, and versatile delicious tossed with pasta, spread on toast, spooned over grilled veggies, or swirled into soups. And of course, we finish ours with a dash of our house-made Mid Summer Heat chili oil for a little farm-grown fire. 🌿 Garlic Scape Pesto with a Kick You’ll need:
 photo by Oleg Gapeenko
Upgraded Mr. NoodlesThis is a quick and easy lunch for myself and Ashley when we want veggies, warmth and immune boosting meal. This simple, immune-boosting soup comes together in minutes, costs less than a dollar per serving, and can be changed up based on whatever’s in your kitchen. It’s become one of our favorite ways to sneak extra veggies into the day — and we hope it becomes a favorite in your home too.  This can be adjusted any sort of way, each time a little bit different. The main ingredients I use each time are carrots, cabbage, radish, green onion, garlic, turmeric and ginger. These vegetables are inexpensive and store for a long time making this meal cost less than a dollar per person. Ginger and Turmeric can keep in the freezer for months. An even easier way to prepare the garlic, turmeric and ginger is to grate them into ice cube trays with chicken or vegetable broth or water. Once frozen take out and put in a container or baggie for and easy drop in flavour bomb.  How I change it from one week to the next; Sometimes I use home made chicken broth (will provide recipe on our next email newsletter), a hard boiled egg, left over rotisserie chicken, soy sauce, and hot chili oil. Ingredients:
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 The Foolproof Bread Recipe That Won Over My Picky Husband (And Why Store-Bought Bread Just Doesn’t Cut It Anymore!) Remember the COVID bread-baking frenzy? I jumped in too—but my early attempts were disasters. Every internet recipe failed to impress my sourdough loveing husband, and let’s be real: keeping a starter alive felt like adopting a pet  After years of tweaking (and a few hockey-puck loaves), I finally cracked the code. This low-knead, honey-sweetened bread is now our weekly staple--airy, slightly sweet, and perfect for everything from sandwiches to pizza. Plus, it freezes like a dream! Why This Recipe Works ✔ No starter needed (RIP, abandoned sourdough jar) ✔ 18-24 hour rise = flavour without fuss (mix before bed, bake the next night) ✔ Adaptable: Shape it into loaves, buns, or even focaccia ✔ Local honey twist: I use Mingle Hill honey, but Willow Bee’s infused honeys (lemon? lavender?) would be next-level Easy Low-Knead Honey Bread Recipe (Makes 1 loaf—but I double it and freeze extras!) Ingredients
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Step-by-Step Instructions1. Mix the Dough (5 minutes!)
  2. Let Time Do the Work
   3. Shape & Final Rise
   4. Bake to Golden Perfection
Store-bought bread? Hard pass. Once you taste this crackly, honey-kissed loaf, there’s no going back. Tag me if you try it! @minglehillfarm   Making Rosemary Hair Water at home is easy and inexpensive. This is a different process than we process on our farm, however for the at home DIY enthusiast this recipe below is a great way to support your hair, create stronger, healthier hair along with assisting in hair growth. At Mingle Hill Farm we harvest our Rosemary at the heat of the day from July to September. We then dry our Rosemary in a warm but very dry dark space to prevent molding and to harness the highest oils in the plant. Once the Rosemary is dried, we then infuse it into our hair oils, crush it into our spice mixes and teas and we steam distill it using our cooper distiller from Austria. Using steam distillation in a copper distiller is the optimal form of extracting the finest oils from a plant. On average, it takes 3 kgs of plant or flower to produce 20mL of oil. During the process of steam distillation, we are also creating a floral water. This is created by the passing of the steam through the plant materials, condensing the vapor and capturing the water soluble compounds from the plant. Our final product; Rosemary Water. Of course this is difficult to produce in the average home, but the next best thing can be made easily on your kitchen stove.  Rosemary Hair Water RecipeIngredients: Fresh Rosemary Water Things you will need: A pot A strainer or cheese cloth A spray bottle Place the fresh rosemary in a pot. Use as much or little as you desire. Fill the pot with double the amount of water. My suggestion would be to use at least 1 cup of rosemary to 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil and then take off the heat. Let cool to room temperature. Strain out the rosemary using cheese cloth or a fine strainer. Pour carefully into a spray bottle. This should be used within 3 month to avoid molds. Enjoy the wonderful smell of Rosemary in your hair and begin feeling the benefits of herbal healing. Works brilliantly as a perfume as well. Enjoy.  |
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