Learnin' the Lingo

A very important part of being a good farmer is learnin' how to speak like a good farmer.  The best place to start is by droppin' the "g" at the end of words that end in "ing".  I have been practacin' the last few days and now I have the vocabulary to go with all the new skills I am learnin' on the farm.

A few days ago I mentioned the lemon balm I planted, I finally got around to using it.  I first made some iced lemon balm green tea.  I just used some loose leaf green tea and ripped up about 5 lemon balm leaves, then let it steep for about 3 minutes.  It was about 85 degrees today so I chose to ice the tea and garnished with some more lemon balm leaves.  The flavor was great and it was very refreshing.  Later that night I muddled about 3 lemon balm leaves with a 1/2 tablespoon of sugar, poured the last of my tea and two shots of vodka...I will be drinking them all summer. I also made some lemon balm chicken salad, it was actually everything I had in the fridge chicken salad but those are usually the best chicken salads anyway.  I had some sun-dried tomatoes (that Christy dried last fall), walnuts, parsley, celery, onions, and then added about 1/3 of a cup of finely chopped lemon balm.  I seasoned the chicken with lemon pepper and garlic salt and cooked it in a pan with a little olive oil. Both the tea and the chicken salad were very good and I am looking forward to making more things with my lemon balm.  It grows really fast, I was surprised to see how quickly it filled out the pot I planted it in.  I also stumbled across an article that explained the medicinal properties of Lemon balm, most importantly it is used as a mosquito repellent.

I planted some sunflowers on either side of the stairs of my deck, they are the mammoth variety and should grow to be 8-10 feet tall.  I will have to roast and salt the seeds at the end of the summer.
No baby robins yet, but I am checking the nest everyday.  I can't wait to see the little guys.