touchtheearthfarm.com Blog

Sorrel is an ancient potherb—a perennial herb used to flavor many dishes, especially poultry or fish based soups and stews with its slight lemony bite. Medicinally, sorrel has been used as both a cooling herb and a diuretic/ laxative. The second link below has some simple recipes, but there are many more wonderful recipes available [...]

We have both blue and white borage planted here at Touch the Earth farm, adding another edible flower and medicinal plant to our growing list.
The bright blue, star-shaped flowers make borage a lovely addition to dishes and a particularly beautiful cake garnish. They impart a slight cucumber flavor to dishes, making them a light and [...]

Also known as pot marigold, calendula officinalis is both an edible flower and herbal remedy used at least since the 12th century. The petals make a lovely garnish for dishes from salads to breads to desserts, and because of its natural dying properties, it can also be used in lieu of saffron.
If you choose not [...]

Old Time Tennessee muskmelon is an heirloom muskmelon with intense flavor and fragrance. Oblong and deeply scored, the melon can be cut into beautiful flower shapes sure to delight even the fussiest child. Many gardeners find Old Time Tennessee to be the tastiest variety for backyard melons.
Another heirloom, Hale’s Best is a round, webbed muskmelon [...]

A blue, slipskin, seedless grape variety that is delicious for processing or eating fresh and resistant to diseases like powdery mildew and black rot. Scientists have identified important phytonutrients in grapes—anthocyanins, catechins, quercetin and resveratrol—that are strong disease fighting allies.
Table grapes like [...]

In this week’s market bag there’s a specialty green with which many folks are unfamiliar, yet purslane is an age old edible green that fell out of favor with American gardeners, perhaps because of its invasive nature and ability to root easily from bits of stem left in the garden.
Long used in Indian and Middle [...]

This heirloom radish from France has been popular with gardeners at least since the 1880s. Tasty in salads, these radishes with their delicately pungent flavor are also delicious made into an herbed spread on a baguette.
Combine half a stick of warm butter with 4 oz of cream cheese.
Blend in fresh herbs like parsley, thyme, rosemary, [...]

“Chioggia” is an Italian heirloom beet with a distinctive target pattern, making it a beautiful addition to salads. It has a sweet, mild peppery taste, and roasted whole, it can be sliced to show off the rings without bleeding, though raw shows off the best color contrast.
Beet greens are delicious, too, so don’t discard them! [...]

Royal Burgundy is a 5″ purple bean that adds glorious color to salads and is just plain fun! Kids love these “magic” beans—blanch for 2 minutes and watch the pods turn green. Great for picking, eating and learning to cook: this bean is the child’s summer vegetable.
Royal Burgundy beans are delicious raw, sautéed, [...]

A slender, yellow “haricot vert” or French fillet bean, Isar is about 4″ long. Straight and tender, these beans are meant to be harvested early and often. Served at many of the finest restaurants, French fillet beans are a tender, stringless variety of snap bean. Ideally, boil them for about 4 minutes, then shock them [...]