MORE ABOUT BASIL

by Virginia Schafer

I Love Basil!  And I am glad cause Basil has gone wild.  I arrived here late summer so I planted my basil in plant boxes and hydro-planted. I can say that they were quite happy!  Did you know that Basil is part of the Mint family? Basil is not only delicious in many recipes – including infused oils and  many other products. Many essential oils contain Ocimum sanctum L. or Ocimum tenuflorum L. ( Holy Basil). Yep there are over 35 varieties  of this plant.
Basil’s antioxidant rich essential oils are light and small enough to be airborne (thus fragrant). Because of this and their porous, anti water solubility – they are also great for healing. They are considered  a great herbal medicine for an immune booster, great antioxidant and anti inflammatory, great for stress reduction,, antipyretic (good for fevers), analgesic (pain reducer) and even good for sugar control (diabetes).  Italian basil is also high in magnesium and vitamins. So bring on the spaghetti in Marinara sauce and basil pesto , grandma!

Basil  Pesto recipe

1 jar (8oz) sundried tomatoes
2 cups loose basil leaves
2 cloves of garlic
¼ cup olive oil (virgin)
¼ cup pine nuts (I like to lightly toast them)
¼ cups of parmesan or pecorino cheese
Blend until the consistency that you like (I like mine a little chunky)

MARKET CHITCHAT

We’re glad to announce the addition of another person to our lineup of speakers during the Fall Farmer’s Market. “Smart Doc” Virginia Schafer will be doing a Healing Seminar at 12:00 pm in the Market Shed on October 13. This is a very recent development so that’s really all the info available now but we’ll tell you more very soon. SOOO EXCITING!! That’s four fabulous classes (so far)!

DALEVILLE & ENTERPRISE CUSTOMERS – Don’t forget there will be no delivery on October 5 or October 12.

New & Relisted Products

• Banana Leaves from Bain Home Gardens

THIS WEEK’S GROWER NOTES

We have the best Growers in the Wiregrass! Please learn more about them on our Grower Page.

SMART DOC FARMS:What is Hydroponics?

Like the world of technology, the gardening sector is changing. Hydroponics makes sense to me. It’s a great way to control growing healthy, organic produce and quickly. For those with little space, these little water fed  plants(or if you are lucky enough to have a closed system – aquaponics which is usually fed by a fish pond) are easy, bug free, soil free and organic. I use organic nutrient additives, coconut based growth medium and special lights. For my herbs, lettuce and microgreens, I use the  deep water culture method which is simply seeds germinated and then the plants roots are suspended in a nutrient rich solution with continuous oxygen saturation via air stones. With this technique, I usually get sprouting within 24 hrs and nice micros within 10 days! Later we will be using a different technique for the tomatoes and peppers.  Look forward to seeing you soon!

BAIN HOME GARDENS: Good afternoon,
   It’s the first day of fall! Admittedly, I’m super excited to feel the Fall. Fall morning air quickly dissipates however we are hoping that will soon change.
    This week we have some adjustments to our listings. We are adding Banana leaves. If you follow us on Facebook, you saw our Fancy  Luau Dinner (what the Terry called it). It was a fun way to step outside the normal routine . We enjoyed it.

A second adjustment is we will be removing our Summer Salad Blend this week. As temps start to cool (though they haven’t yet) the Malabar Spinach will slow in producing new offshoots. Since we use the leaves & stems in smoothies, now is the time for us to store up for the winter. We have planted for Fall Salad blends but with Summer temps in the forecast it may be awhile before we are bringing our Kales, Chards, and Fall Salad blends back to the Market. In the meantime, Danny’s Greens has some beautiful lettuces already available of which we may snag a few ourselves and I’m told that Hawkins Homestead may have some available on a month or so.
  For those who haven’t already, be sure to follow our Facebook and/or Instagram pages. Those followers are the first to get updates as to what is growing, what’s available, and what’s new. Also for funny anecdotes you should also check out our website: https://bainhomegardens.wordpress.com
    You could shop anywhere but you come to the Market at Dothan. Please know we appreciate your support. You are the best! Sending a cool Fall breeze – from our family to yours.

HAWKINS HOMESTEAD: It’s here! It’s here! My favorite season. Happy Fall! Oh wait….it’s still 90 degrees! Living in the South it sometimes seems as if we only have one season and that’s HOT! The good thing though is this means we have we can plant year round.

So we have radishes coming up soon, salad blends, and our kale is coming back. Oh and this week stewing hens are coming back! Remember to cook them low and slow! A crock pot is best!

Of course we still have our organic basil available! Plus basil pesto. Have you tried it? How about our lime basil pesto? Yum! Don’t miss out. Until next week…..