Being Green
Wow! Thanks so much for all the chicken love from my last post. Greg was really excited to reply to your comments over on the Red Comb Farm blog. Blogging is new to him despite his history as a computer consultant. It's great to have support and feedback so it means a lot to be able to share this process. We hope too that we'll learn valuable lessons which we will be able to pass on.
It is our hope to contribute to our family through a sustainable business. That is part of what I love so much about selling vintage on Etsy too. Literally everything is recycled. The packaging I use to ship my orders comes from a partnership with my local health food store, who save all their packing materials and boxes for me (most of which are 100% recycled already) and of course, vintage is in and of itself recycled goods. For those of you have have found a treasure or two in my shop before you know I always include a little extra gift that is recycled vintage as well. In any case, I know that raising chickens becomes a different type of venture when you go from 8 to 60 hens. So, I hope we are able to recycle our knowledge as well to help others who might be thinking of starting something in the future.
Today I want to share a recipe with you. One that is very new to me and absolutely delightful because it's from the garden and it takes a whole whopping 10 minutes to prepare. Last week Soulemama had a post about her pesto. Well, of course we've been there and done that, but one of her readers Zoe mentioned in the comments that she uses Nasturtium for her pesto! Nasturtium! We have always grown Nasturtium in our garden for it's beauty, edibility and tendency to crowd out weeds but never before have I thought of using it for pesto. Let me tell you it is amazing! And so simple.
You'll need:
Four tightly packed cups of Nasturtium leaves
1 1/2 Cups of Olive Oil
1 Cup of Walnuts
5-6 Cloves of Garlic (or more or less to suit your taste)
Once you have all that together in a food processor, just process until smooth and voila! Add some to your perfectly cooked al dente pasta and sprinkle with cheese. Done! This made about 32 ozs of pesto. So some went straight to the freezer. And we have so much more Nasturtium left. Lovely!
I really can't say enough good things about Nasturtium. We plant it in between our hot peppers, beets, along with our chard anywhere there is a spot we don't want to weed. They add beautiful color both from their foliage and their blossoms and they just taste great. Whether you are using the leaves and flowers in a salad or spreading this delicious pesto on a fresh mozzarella sandwich. Grow some if you don't already!
**original recipe found here with more great info about Nasturtium.
