Calendula - Son may have Tourette's

[calendula]

I joined FreeCycle a few months back, and hadn't been all that impressed with it. People who said they wanted my stuff never showed to pick it up, and the offers were never anything I was interested in. Well, yesterday, someone posted an offer for free hops. I've never used hops, but I'm always interested in trying new herbs, so I replied, and they told me to come on over with some scissors and a container to put them in.

I got a big bag full of hops for free! I looked where I usually buy my herbs, and I see that it is $8.75 for 4 ounces of hops through them, and I'd say I got at least twice that, if not more. Plus, the people that I got the hops from were really nice, and avid herb-growers like me. They live in an apartment, so they are growing all kinds of veggies and herbs in containers that I was admiring, and we talked herbs for a while. So cool to meet like-minded people! The had the hops growing up trellises around their patio area, it was so pretty. I want to plant some now too.

I'm not sure what I will use them for. I know it's used for beer, but that's not something I'm really looking to invest in right now. I made a cup of tea with it last night, because sometimes I have trouble falling asleep, and wow did that ever knock me out! It's not something I would drink very often though, because, not only does it taste bad, but it just seems so potent.

So, anyone have any ideas for using hops?

 

[Britesea]

I did a search for hops and found all kinds of fun stuff. This is just a few
Hops pillow for insomnia

For a pillow about 32 x 23 cm:
4 handfuls dried hops flowers
4 handfuls dried lavender flowers

1. To dry the hops and lavender yourself, tie them in bunches and hang upside down in a well-ventilated space out of direct sunlight for 2 weeks. Alternatively, place in a low oven (about 100C) for 30 minutes or so until dry and crispy. Strip the flowers off the larger or harder stalks.
2. Put equal handfuls of dried hops and lavender flowers into a cotton pillowcase, and seal the end.


USE: Place the pillow under or beside your head to induce sleep.

You can eat the little hop shoots that come up in the spring. They are treated much like fiddleheads. Try blanching and sauteing the little shoots in butter. It is a springtime specialty in Germany and Belgium

Someone else made up a menu where every dish had hops in it:
The main dish was a pork chop covered in finely chopped mint, rosemary, Italian parsley and yes, fresh hop leaves. Add some birch syrup and extra virgin olive oil infused with hops (just put hops in warm olive oil for about 30 minutes). Bake the pork for about 50 minutes at 350.

For a side dish, make a hop broth and use it to cook barley and quinoa. Just put the hops in a nylon bag, and steep them in near boiling water until the water is green. Don't over do it, or it'll be very bitter. Once the barley and quinoa are cooked, add honey, cream and parmesan cheese.

For a simple salad, use water cress with balsamic vinegar and the hop infused olive oil mentioned above.

For dessert make a sauce to pour on top of pomegranate sorbet. Bring some cranberry juice to near boil, take it off the heat, then add the bag of hops for about five minutes. Then reduce the cranberry/hop juice (about 45 minutes). Add honey and currant jelly.

 

[Farmfresh]

How about Hops SOAP!

or Hop Cheese!

I have just heard of these - no experience with either. :/

 

[calendula]

Thanks so much for doing some research for me guys! You're swell.

Britesea, that hops and lavender sleep pillow sounds lovely. I'm a bit of an insomniac myself, so I will be giving it a try. I think those might make nice Christmas gifts too.

Farmfresh, I will definately be trying out that soap recipe. What a pretty color it has! Seeing that it can be used in cheese makes me wonder if I could incorporate it in bread or something, since that site said it has a slightly yeasty flavor. Hmmm, I may have to experiment a little.

I was reading up on hops, and apparantly they lose a lot of their medicinal properties within a few months of being dried, so I definately am going to make use of it quickly to preserve its relaxing properties.

I just harvested another basket full of yellow pear tomatoes last night. What will I do with this batch I wonder? I also got another half dozen cucumbers, which I just slice and eat raw. I love fresh cucumbers. It is the food I miss most in the winter.

I also have a bag full of kale in the crisper. I remember someone posting a recipe for kale chips, so I'll have to dig that up. I am also wondering if if is possible to freeze kale, since we will have more than we could possibly eat fresh. I have two varieties: flowering kale and some other curly kind, not sure exactly what it's called.

My husband blanched and froze massive amounts of sweet corn as well. I am very impressed at how well the corn did this year. We harvested around 24 ears off of a dozen stalks, and there are still some little ones on there waiting to mature. I always thought only one ear grew per stalk, but apparantly not--not that I'm complaining!

My poor little chicken Polly has been having a rough time with the other hens. We've been putting her in with them more and more often, but they still beat up on her. The last time, she had some blood on her face. I made my husband take her out, but I think he's annoyed with me. He doesn't understand why I'm such a softie with the animals. They're like pets to me (as well as little egg-makers) so I just can't stand to see her get beat up like that. Hopefully they'll get their pecking order worked out soon.

 

[Farmfresh]

You might try putting anti peck bits on the other chickens for a while. They look like a little "C" of plastic and go from one nostril through the mouth to the other nostril. The chickens can still eat and drink, but they can't grab skin or feathers. Usually if you leave them on a week all hostility is over.

 

[Bimpnottin]

My BIL grows them and freezes them - its a good thing they have a REALLY big freezer. The local microbreweries will buy from him through out the year and some actually prefer to buy the frozen, so they control the hop mix. But they take up LOTS of room. THey harvested for 20 hours last weekend and my sister didn't give me the final count, but a double-sized sleeping bag size roll only weighed 9 lbs.

 

[calendula]

Bimpnottin, selling hops seems like it could be quite lucrative, especially here in Wisconsin. I am really considering growing some, but I'm not sure how much you would have to grow to have enough worth selling. I'll have to look into it. I am interested in making beer too, but I'm not sure what equipment I'd need and how much it would cost to get started. Maybe someday!

We are beginning to get quite a bit from the garden. As I mentioned previously, we harvested lots of corn and there's still more coming. We also grew popcorn this year, but that one's not ready yet.

Here's our corn pyramid. Not quite as impressive as Egypt's pyramids, but exciting to us nonetheless:

And a pic of hubby removing the kernels from the cobs. He put a big nail through a board to hold the corn in place, and then uses this handy gadget we bought to remove the kernels. Not sure what this corn-plucker thing is called...

We have lots and lots of yellow pear tomatoes, cucumbers, and kale. I steamed the kale the other night, and then sauteed it in butter. It's not too bad. I have yet to make kale chips, but I will this weekend. Still looking for other ways to preserve kale, however, cuz we just have so much of it.

These are California poppies (Eschscholzia californica). I harvest the roots at the end of the growing season for medicinal uses. They weren't quite as abundant this year as others since we had such a wet summer.

These are some of my most favoritest flowers ever: Lavatera trimestris. A lady I used to work with gave me a handful of these seeds, and they are so easy to grow and so pretty, plus the seeds are very easy to harvest and save. I have tons of them!

And here's some more with the cosmos (birds love cosmos):

And these are my oriental poppies. They are so beautiful, but the blooms don't last long. I save the poppy seeds for baking, and planting more the next year.

We also just dug up a bunch of yukon gold potatoes, and our yellow crookneck squash is starting to produce as well. We have a small amount of green beans too, but they just aren't producing much this year for some reason.

Well, anyway, hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

 

[lorihadams]

Fantastic!!! Everything is so pretty!!!

 

[snapshot]

All of your flowers and vegies look wonderful!!!!!!

 

[TanksHill]

The flowers are just beautiful. I gave up on flowers a few years back. I just don't have time and energy for veggies and flowers both.

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