Handcrafted Signature Tea Blends by BHG

What is it about tea that says, “sophisticated” & “pinky up”? It just seems to have that air about it. I personally have not always been a fan of tea. I may lose my Southern card for this one but even the sweet tea just never really did it for me. I do like half and half (lemonade & tea) pretty well as it seems more refreshing and not so syrupy. So if tea is not my thing then why on earth are we crafting our own? In a word – WISDOM!

Wisdom could be defined as the application of knowledge. In this case, even an infant is wise. It comes to understand that if it cries needs will be met. Likewise, we have come to learn that certain herbs are particularly beneficial for our bodies & can easily be ingested in the form of tea. Now tea is not the only way to avail yourself of the wonderful antioxidants and free radical seeking benefits herbs and flowers can provide. Simply cooking with them may be useful as well as tinctures , salves, infusions, etc. We utilize many of these techniques as well. However tea is that soothing warm drink that soothes a sore throat and cools a burning tummy. It just feels good when your are ailing. Tea and healing have become synonymous with each other over the centuries. Likely it is because of the of wholesome nature they can be.

We started using herbal teas years ago at the suggestion of a friend who was also a holistic doctor. She of course recommended her favorite brands but her requirement was that it was organic. We followed her suggestion and as a result many years later tea is our first line of defense when we feel cold or flu symptoms coming on.

At some point we did begin to examine the ingredients closely and realized many of the ingredients could easily be grown right here on our farm. This is why perennial herbs and flowers are so important to us. The healing properties they contain just go on and on! Many can be use prophylactically without any negative effects unlike so many meds we take after the fact which cause a whole list of other issues! We definitely are not knocking pharmaceuticals because we depend on them! However, if we can avoid using them – WE DO!

Now that you know why we decided to get into growing teas and crafting them we would like to briefly explain the work that goes into each bag of tea that you purchase from Bain Home Gardens.

Selection

When it comes to our apothecary garden, we want every crop that can be used medicinally growing on our farm but that is wishful thinking and quite frankly impossible! We farm a very small space so we have to be very selective about what we chose to plant, especially in the way of perennial plants that will retain their space for years to come. So we love to use dual purpose plants. Such plants as muscadines, figs, and roselle all yield a fruit that is commonly held to be edible however in all three cases the leaves are also and are outstanding in tea form! Others such as rose, raspberry, fennel are also dual purpose and take up little space. These are definitely on our future planting list! Herbs like fennel, dill, and cilantro can be grown for their leaves and bulbs but also the seed! There are SO MANY MORE! Depending on your zone, your apothecary could be enormous if you have the time and space!

Much emphasis is also put on the durability of the plant. How will it hold up to Alabama Summer? Will it draw pests? Will it deter pests? Can we also use it as a trap crop? There are so many considerations!

The practical people that we are, we are more partial to plants that will add some type of décor to our home as well. The beautiful flowers of the Bee Balm Wild Bergamot for instance were strikingly beautiful and had the added benefit of drawing and feeding the pollinators. That is music to any farmer’s ears! Most of these are also utilized in our Flowers by BHG subscription.

In our quest for more sustainability we also strive to use herbs that can be used in spice blends for our family. This year we had to please of sharing a lot of these blends with the public at the Summer Farmer’s Market . These will definitely make a return next Summer so if you are local to Dothan then be on the lookout. If you are not local, no worries, our spice blends and our teas ship throughout the US.

Growing

As a Certified Naturally Grown Farm all of our produce is grown using NOP practices. From fertilizing to treating for pests all of our inputs are organic. This definitely comes at a cost to us but it yields a reliable product. There is definitely a fight with pests! They like organic produce too! As most of the organic pesticides are water soluble they need reapplying frequently. Much diligence is required. Often time you can find me in the garden squealing as I manually remove pests from our produce! Mr. Bain Home Gardener often teases me about being a farmer afraid of bugs. I am unique, what can I say?

Ensuring that we have organic compost/garden soil to plant in can often result in great expense as this is difficult to source. What we make here on farm is not enough at this time to sustain our planting space. We hope to attain that level one day however it is not today! What we are able to source we generally work into existing beds prior to planting. We find that if we plant in a healthy soil then our perennials do well with a quarterly fertilizing and of course being watered regularly, depending on the plant.

We have worked really hard to grow everything from seed on our farm. However in the way of some items as fruit trees and tea trees we have had to outsource. Doing this even needs to be done within the rules and regulations of CNG. It can be a lot to keep up with but it is rewarding to do things in such a way that is better for the environment and certainly better for us!

Because we are growing all the ingredients in our teas a lot of our blends once the produce is out of season generally we will not have the blend again until its back in season. The exception is if we had a bumper crop of said item and have some left over later in the season. That does happen occasionally. Another caveat is if that particular crop fails for the season then that ingredient will not be available for tea blends until the following year. This is why we encourage our customers to stock up on blends that they really enjoy because although we may plan to have it the following year there is always that unpredictable part of farming that no one can account for.

We have found recently that we actually have a lot of native plants that would be considered weeds because of their invasive nature. Of these is Goldenrod. Despite our attempts it comes back yearly so we have decided to make use of it!

Harvesting

Isn’t this the best part about growing food – the pay off! The interesting thing about a lot of items used in teas though is that you usually do not harvest all at once. You have to leave enough on perennial plants for the plant to remain healthy, grow, and store energy to return the following year. In a lot of cases it is even best to not harvest from the plant the first year (later for some varieties) at all. It can be a waiting game but it is worth it!

During the Summer a lot of herbs come to harvest at the same time so we generally give ourselves a week to deal with each as needed.

Preservation & Storage

Once harvested we have to figure out the best way to preserve the harvest. If you homestead then this is a common issue you may face each year. Some items dehydrate very well just hanging out of the way others need to be dehydrated. In some cases the way you plan to use the herb comes into play. We can infuse olive oil with rosemary, goldenrod, or lavender to use later in salves and or lotions. However if I want to make spice blends then obviously we need to dehydrate. If you have a freeze dryer you may find that to also be beneficial. We hope to be in a position to get one soon. For now our Cosori gets quite the workout!

Once our items are dehydrated we store them in one of two ways:

  • Mason Jar – When storing in a Mason jar we usually will vacuum seal the jar. Afterwards we place in cool dark location
  • Mylar Bag – When storing in a mylar bag we simply heat seal the bag. If you chose to do so you may include an oxygen absorber.

Crafting

This is such an enjoyable part of making your own anything – making it just the way you want it! Burger King has no idea what that phrase really means! Let me tone down the excitement …

When we are crafting tea blends one of the things we do is become familiar with the herbs we are working with. We learn what we can about what they are beneficial for and even what issues they may cause. We want to know because many of you ask and we want to be able to pass that information along. There is another reason too. Just because something is herbal or organic doesn’t necessarily mean it cannot have negative side effects. IE opiates, just saying. Having said that, we advise anyone purchasing tea blends to research! Make sure these herbs will not interact adversely with medications you may be taking, interact with health conditions, etc. For instance, some studies show that Goldenrod may reduce blood pressure. While that is an amazing benefit, one that is on blood pressure medication would want to be cautious or may chose to not use Goldenrod tea at all due to the risk of bottoming out their blood pressure. This is just one example so please my friends, DO YOUR RESEARCH!

The other side of becoming familiar with a plant is knowing what it tastes like. We generally run many tastes test on blends before we will release to the public. It is important to us that you have a very pleasant experience while drinking our tea blends. If we can give you healthy and appetizing, why not?!

There are so many other considerations as well. What flavors pair well together? Which flavors do we what to highlight? Which flavors take the backseat to be the undertones? In some cases we have not been able to get the flavor just right for you so we hang on to those herbs until another one comes up for harvest that may bring out flavors more interesting and palatable. That is a rewarding moment!

What Teas Are Brewing

Right now at Bain Home Gardens we are Brewing Roselle Hibiscus Tea and Bee Balm Bergamot Tea. This week we will also be releasing our Goldenrod and Goldenrod Basil teas. We are busy testing out more blends each week and hope to add more flavors of our home grown, hand crafted teas to the store soon! Till next time – PINKY UP!

The Goings On – October 2022

In just 2 more months we will be in a whole new year. It is quite hard to believe. They year isn’t over yet! There is still much to do!

Out with the old…

Rotting Raised Beds

At the outset of the year we knew we were going to need to replace our raised beds. As we have mentioned in pervious blogs, we used non-treated wood for these beds and knew their life would be short. The hope was that in the meantime we could grow our business and later be able to sustain purchasing cedar raised beds which would last longer. However COVID hit our farm hard! So we had to pivot and adjust. We began researching galvanized raised beds which seemed to be the most practical investment since this is a life-style for us now. We will grow food forever! When it comes to galvanized raised beds there are many companies out there. It can be hard to know which way to go. Well recently a fellow vlogger, Lazy Dog Farm, shared a video about the Olle raised garden beds and we were intrigued! The prospect of not having to replace the raised beds for 20+ years was very appealing! Although it really is a pretty large investment, we made the dive and received our first Olle raised bed just a few weeks ago. You can watch us put it together here. It has since been planted with beets, turnips, radishes, and Swiss Chard varieties.

One thing I really appreciate about the configuration we went with is the height. At 17 inches, it is the perfect height for me to sit on my stool and plant! On bad body days this will be crucial! Over the next year we plan to install these in all the places where our wooden raised beds were previously. At a minimum of $199.00 per bed it may take a while however we have time! If you would like to make the dive into galvanized raised beds you can purchase through our link and get a 10% discount.

Simba’s Pride

It has been a while since I referred to our rabbits with the above title and honestly it makes me a little sad. I really miss Simba! He opened my heart back to they young girl that had her first spoiled rabbit. I’ll always remember him for that. Lionhead rabbits in particular just have wonderful personalities. So when I saw the cutest Lionhead Angora YOU ALREADY KNOW MY HEART WAS ON FIRE! We are proud to add Sweet Pea to Simba’s pride! She is absolutely hilarious! Our boy Gizmo has been trying diligently to get her attention but as you can see, she cannot be bothered! The hope was to breed her to Gizmo but there seems to be a size discrepancy. Yikes! We haven’t given Gizmo the opportunity yet however if it doesn’t work out for Gizmo then Domino is also an option. Either way we will have some really cute babies hopping around and joining our fertilizer team!

Preserving the Harvest

I have complained enough about all the crop failures 2022 has had for our farm anyway. When the #everybitcountschallenge came around in August I was so discouraged that we really didn’t have much to preserve. Well that has taken a sharp change over the last month! We have harvested basil, bee balm, fig leaves, figs, goldenrod, grape leaves, roselle calyces and leaves. Once all of these are harvested then they have to be processed in one way or another for storage. Let’s just say that the dehydrator has not been off often. We are using these items to build our stash of teas, tinctures, and spice blends. Right now you can find two tea blends on our shop page. We are happy to be able to ship these to you if you do not live local to Dothan, Alabama.

Herbalism has become quite an interesting rabbit hole for us! Late nights spent on YouTube researching have proved very valuable! Along the way we have learned quite a bit about the benefits and medicinal uses of what may seem to be weeds growing right here on our property. Goldenrod is a great example! For years I have mistaken it for Ragweed and wrongly thought it was the culprit aggravating our allergies. How wrong I was! One thing Ive come to observe is that bees REALLY love Goldenrod. Turns out there is a reason for that! See, unlike Ragweed, Goldenrod contains nectar that draws the pollinators. Whereas Ragweed is wind dependent. Its literally blowing in the air which is why it aggravates us so much UNLIKE Goldenrod. We learned that it was actually just the opposite – Goldenrod actually offers relief to allergy symptoms when used as a tea or tincture! How ironic! We harvested a full basket from around just two of our raised beds and still have a section behind two more decommissioned beds we need to harvest. There is so much of it on our property. We have used some of it already to begin a tincture that will be ready near the end of November. Don’t worry though, we left plenty for the bees!

What About Produce

As we look back on last months blog we are actually pretty proud that we have planted nearly all we said we would and then some! The majority of the planting we have done over the last month has been in Hoopty primarily because of our raised bed issue. We have interplanted a couple of mustard varieties that we think will look quite beautiful growing together. We love the versatility mustard greens offer. Young greens are a fabulous addition to salads and more mature leaves are great cooked! More on the farmer side of things we can get multiple cuts from the plants as they grow.

Every year we push to make sure we have plenty of collard greens for the community come Winter since it seems to be the leafy green of choice for our area. We do struggle though with growing them for some odd reason. We always have a few, however, it is never enough! This year we are not taking any chances and we have planted triple the amount we would normally and thankfully we can say that we already see them coming up!

Snap peas are growing nicely and we are considering growing more outside of Hoopty but aren’t quiet sure if maybe we have waited too close to the first frost. In our zone the first frost is predicted to be around mid November. Although most of the peas we grow can handle frost, they do need to be well established. If we do plant any outside it will definitely need to be in the next day or so.

Fall snap beans just seem to have the very best flavor ever! We are harvesting the long beans from Hoopty and the standard green bean from the field areas. Both delicious! We have had to fight with the aphids in the high tunnel for every bean we get but it is definitely worth the fight!

Arugula is growing well and should be up for harvest by this time next month which means we are already behind in succession planting but what else is new! We will get more arugula planted this week. It pairs well with almost any green in our opinion and can hold its own! So we like to keep a steady supply of it!

Kale is also growing ! Then again no Fall garden is complete without it! We have planted a couple different flat leaf varieties thus far. Curly, Lacinato, and Red Russian Kale is on the agenda next. While we do have some Curly kale that has survived the Summer, we will not begin harvesting from it again until after the first frost.

Carrots, carrots, and more carrots! We have planted so many varieties of carrots over the last month! This is yet another item we can never have enough of! Over planting cannot really be an issue! We love to put carrots up for ourselves but we also love having them in the Spring for Farmers Markets. They are the most beautiful thing to see laid out on the table!

Kiwano Jelly Melons are coming on late this year as we were late planting them. We think we may get a few before the first frost arrives.

We experimented with growing Sorghum this year to get to know it a bit. We have been impressed with how durable it is. We definitely neglected it but it still thrived! We hope to use it as a trap crop next year but this year we may be experimenting with using it as a grain particularly for our chickens. Nutritionally speaking it’s close to corn. We plan to see how our girls enjoy it in the near future. It seems also that the grain and leaves can be used as fodder for rabbits. We are doing further research on that. Stay tuned for those videos over on our YouTube channel.

We thought we would sneak in a planting of dill before the weather got too cold. We used nearly all of our dehydrated supply in spice blends over the Summer! We are happy we had it! However, we don’t want that jar to stay empty too long so we interplanted some dill with our leafy greens. Additionally, if we can grow it now then we can dehydrate and experiment with more spice blends for you over the Winter having them ready come Spring and Summer when cucumbers and in full swing!

Fennel has also been direct sown in the high tunnel. We are growing a different variety this Fall and hope that this isn’t a mistake. We desired to find a variety known for larger, rounder bulbs. We hope that we find success. If not we have time to fall back to our OG variety.

We are continuing growing our microgreens and we also grow them for the birds and bunnies. Wheatgrass is definitely a favorite of theirs!

Roselle is STILL GROWING and we are STILL HARVESTING it! We are now offering the tasty leaves over on our shop page so you can enjoy this delicious treat as well. Our family has tried the leaves as a side salad and thoroughly enjoyed it!

As far as produce available to you now, we have our rosemary, oregano, roselle leaves, and microgreens available over in our shop. Oh and dont forget our CNG eggs!

Upcoming

By the time we talk again we hope to have set out our very own, grown from seed, onion starts along side the sets we will purchase. By the end of the month our garlic should have shipped out to us as well. Lettuce needs to be direct sown. Cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts, and cabbage will be set out. Chinese Pink and White Celery are nearly large enough to be set out so they will soon need a home. We also hope to get some sort of Asian green planted. If all goes well we hope to bring our Greens Box back no later than January 2023. This will be helpful in reaching those health centered new years resolutions! Stay tuned!

Balsamic Onion Pickled Eggs

Let’s talk eggs! This time of year we find the girls are super productive. It’s like the last push as the daylight hours decrease. Just what to do with all those butt nuggets?

There are many ways of preserving eggs – dehydrating, freezing, freeze drying, water glassing. Today, though, we are exploring a more tasty option – pickling.

As you search the internet you’ll find all kinds of techniques for pickling and canning eggs for shelf stability. However, the National Center for Food Preservation doesn’t not have a shelf stable recipe. The only recipes they have are for refrigerator storage and it is not recommended to store pickled eggs at room temperature. We store our pickled eggs in the refrigerator. There they can last up to four months but they never do in our home! Let’s get started.

The Ingredients

  • 1 dozen small – medium eggs
  • Balsamic vinegar
  • Small red onion
  • Pickling salt
  • Cajun seasoning

The Prep

  • Jars – this is not a sterile project but of course you’ll want to clean your jars well.
  • Eggs – boil eggs to your preferences. We use mix a tablespoon of baking soda in the water to make peeling easier. IT WORKS! We put aside any that are damaged while peeling. We eat those right away.
  • Onion – chop or slice to your preference. Whatever you choose you’ll want to make sure the size is compact so as to not take up too much space in your jar.

Let’s Cook

Since this is a small batch we are doing things a tad differently than if we were doing a large batch. Since the brine we will be using would be hot we did warm our jars in the oven. We do this by placing just a tad bit of water on to a baking sheet and placing our jars on top into a 170° oven as it heats up. We leave them there until we are ready to use. You could just as well use your dishwasher or use hot water.

We layered our ingredients into the jars as tightly as possible. We started with the onion. After the onion, we packed those eggs in as tightly as we possibly could! Using small to medium eggs makes this much easier. Of additional benefit is that of using wide mouth jars.

After the jar is packed as tightly as possible we then poured in our balsamic vinegar to about 3/4 of the jar. Then we poured our apple cider vinegar in the remaining 1/4 of the jar. Be sure to make sure all the eggs are completely covered. At this point we did have to remove one of our eggs.

Now, using a strainer, (since these are being prepared just for our family, I used my hand) cover the jar securely and pour liquid mixture into a sauce pan. Add Pickling seasoning and Cajun seasoning (always to taste). Bring to a simmer. Pour brine over eggs. Secure with lid & ring. Allow to cool before placing in the refrigerator. If you want to seal the jar flip it upside down. The heat of the brine will seal the jar. Keep in mind it will still need to be stored int he refrigerator.

The hardest part of this recipe isn’t the cooking but THE WAITING! Wait a minimum of 2 weeks before cracking open your home pickled eggs! Trust us, it’s well worth the wait!

The Results

Our family was very adventurous in trying this recipe. I recorded video but haven’t convinced them to allow me to share it with you guys yet. It ended up being closer to 3 weeks when we tried these. Out of 5 only one family member didn’t like the flavor at all and another simply preferred a different flavor (Jalapeño Ginger) pickled eggs. The eggs do take on an ashen grey color on the outside but in the the brief time they remained in the fridge the Balsamic color didn’t reach the yolk although we think that would be quite an interesting looking egg! The Cajun seasoning flavor is there and it definitely enhanced the flavor however the heat was lost. If you are wanting a hot pickled egg we suggest perhaps adding actual peppers instead of just the seasoning.

We would love to hear from you if you try this recipe. Tag us! We would love to see your results!