For past several weeks I’ve been beginning to harvest Elderberries as they have become ripe. Some up (very) high with letting the bushes run wild in their first few years of growth and needing a ladder to reach, and a few lower that I was able to harvest from the ground. There were even a few low enough that the barn chickens were able to jump up and grab, or they just waited for ripe berries to fall to the ground. All in all, I’ve just tried to keep up with harvesting before any birds (domestic or otherwise) get to them before I do.
That being said, I have begun Pre-Orders as I did last year for Elderberry Syrup. I will be doing pre-orders through the end of them month to make sure everyone has a chance to get their order in before I start ordering my supplies and making syrup. This year, I plan on using not just one as I usually do, but 3 different local honey producers. I want to support local as much as possible, as well as widening the impact of immunity from using different apiary’s honey and the travel of their bees to local pollen.
If you are new to Elderberry Syrup, you can check out our information on it here. You can Pre-Order with cash, check, or card every Saturday for the next 3 weeks until September 30th at our tent at the Broadway Community Market, or by shopping our online store. *Please note when you go to checkout and select which pickup location, this will be the option you are choosing for when the syrup is ready next month. I anticipate Syrup being ready by mid-October and will reach out once it’s available for pickup!
This past Sunday following the Broadway Community Market I caught up on some much overdue to-dos. As is normal for this time of year for most people, life is super busy. Keeping up with the farm and working I had neglected cooking other than breakfast with our pasture raised eggs and the occasional green smoothie so I was really lacking on lunches and dinners and resorting to getting something quick while out.
I thawed out some of our ground grassfed and finished beef and during one of my recent monthly auto ship boxes from Thrive Market had added a jar or two of enchilada sauce so I thought this was the perfect time to try it out!
As usual I searched for a recipe, but ended up using the basic outline of the recipe (temp & time mostly as well as ingredient volume) while using what I had in the fridge to make up the rest of the recipe as I went along.
During a trip to Costco a couple months ago I bought a large container of some dehydrated mushrooms from The Wild Mushroom Co, so I decided to try those as well as some home grown dehydrated cayenne peppers from the garden from several years ago (if I had fresh or dehydrated jalapeƱo peppers I probably would have opted to use those instead but I used what I had on hand at the time). It’s definitely a spicy dish but you can adjust to your liking!
Kettle/Pot For boiling water to prep mushrooms (optional)
Ingredients
1tbspolive oil
1md/lgwhite oniondiced
4clovesgarlicminced
115 oz jarRed Enchilada Sauceor homemade
1poundgrassfed ground beef
4-6cupschopped mushroomsfresh or rehydrated
Ā½cupdiced cayenne or jalapenosfresh or rehydrated
1tspground cumin
8-10md/lgflour tortillasor grain/gluten free
3cupscheeseMexican blend or other (I used Havarti sliced cheese that I cut into shreds)
fine sea salt & freshly ground pepper
Instructions
Prep mushrooms/cayenne if using dehydrated and make your enchilada sauce if choosing to make your own. This looks like a great recipe from Gimme Some Oven.
Preheat oven to 350ā. While oven is preheating, begin preparing the baking dish by spreading about Ā½ cup of the enchilada sauce across the bottom. Begin assembling the enchiladas by adding about 2 tbsp sauce in the middle of the tortilla, followed by the filling, and about Ā¼-ā cup cheese. Roll up the tortilla and place in the dish starting from one side, and repeat the process until the dish is full. Pour remaining sauce over the top of the enchiladas and sprinkle with remaining cheese.
Bake enchiladas uncovered for 20-30 mins, until cooked through and cheese is melted and tortillas have a slight crisp on the outside.
Serve and enjoy with toppings of choice!
Notes
This recipe should also freeze really well (if you make extras, if not I dare you to not eat it all within a day or two).Ā Just prep everything as you usually would and freeze instead of cooking them.Ā The instructions for cooking are basically the same as they would be while making them, 350 F for about 30 mins until warm all the way through.
If you know me, you know its no secret that I LOVE essential oils. My favorite by FAR has and continues to be Plant Therapy. Not only because of the fact that they partnered with Robert Tisserand to help formulate their KidSafe line of essential oils, but they are continually focused on education, and have a rock star team of customer service employees! Their principles and practices are in line with mine, and I just can’t say enough good about them!
I have been a customer of theirs for 6 years now, and in that time I have I slowly build up a small apothecary of essential oils. Recently I decided maybe I needed to reign it in a bit as it felt a bit like hoarding š ha! My essential oil peeps know what I’m talking about! Some of my favorite individual oils are Lavendar (of course…who doesn’t?!?), Patchouli, Cedarwood, and Citrus oils especially for cleaning. My favorite blend (synergy) of theirs is hands down their Relax synergy, which combines many of my favorites into one amazing powerhouse. I add this to the diffuser almost nightly, and other than magnesium oil, puts me to sleep faster than I can count sheep. Coming in at a close second though, is their Germ Fighter synergy…because I have been using it recently in my diffuser necklace (similar to this one) to ward of a beginning cold. It good stuff!
Another company that I have been following for quite sometime is Sew Grown. Like Plant Therapy, they are a small family owned business that has amazing customer service. Their main products are a line of essential oil cases and purses with essential oil holders inside. They put thought into every detail of their purses, clutches, and essential oil cases, right down to the fabric which is a beautiful and vintage, quality fabric brand. You can see some of the pictures below from their collection. They even have a wooden diffuser tag on the outside of each of their bags, how cute is that!? Another thing that makes Sew Grown Sew Special (see what I did there) is that most of their cases are handcrafted in the USA by American’s with disabilities!
EO Diffusing Bracelet-Eden
Tresco EO Purse
Inside details of the EO Purse
Louis EO Purse
Francine Crossbody
EO Diffusing Bracelet-Eva
Francine EO Purse
I love both of these companies so much that I decided it was time to start carrying their products! Once we have our on-farm store open and running (which is still quite a while away) I will be able to carry more of their products, but for now I will be ordering a limited amount of product to see what has the most interest and popularity! You can now shop the online store for these products, and if you check out either companies individual site and see something you’d like to see us carry, please let me know and I can order it!
New promotions! Valid now through Valentines Day February 14th on order through our online store:
For any order that contains one (1) bottle of Plant Therapy Essential Oil and one (1) Sew Grown Dream Chaser EO Diffusing Bracelet, get 2 free Starwest Botanicals Herbal Bath Bags, one for you and one for your Valentine! Bath Bag Ingredients: Sea salt course, organic orange peel, organic chamomile flowers, organic lavender flowers, organic rosemary leaf, organic raspberry leaf, organic rosehips, organic peppermint, organic sage leaf, organic lemongrass, organic red rose buds and petals, organic bay leaf, and organic cloves.
Any order of a Sew Grown Essential Oil Purse will get one (1) 4oz tin of Herbal Healing Salve, free!
Orders can be shipped or I can meet anywhere local to New Market/Timberville!
