Blossoms on the Menu?

Happy belated Independence Day to you all. Hope your weekend was wonderful. Bill and I had a great weekend. My son, Zack graduated last weekend and we had a small family party to celebrate. And we are also celebrating a visit from my mom from Florida who hasn't been up to New York in 7 years.

In the past few posts I have been bragging about our vegetable garden as well as our new Serenity Rose garden. Well, I am happy to report that the rose garden has a multitude of buds and we are expecting a floral explosion within the next week.
The veggie garden has been showing signs of all kinds of produce. Our tomato plants are bursting with fruit and our peppers are getting huge. What a great omelet that is going to make. Our lettuce is sweet and tender. But our pride and joy are our zucchini and squash plants. The plants produce two kinds of blossoms before they bear fruit. The female blossom produces the squash and zucchini and those should not be disturbed. But the male blossoms produce a large orange/yellow blossom that is most definitely edible and very delicious. Bill takes the blossoms and after cleaning them thoroughly, he dips them in a tempura batter and fries them. We serve them at breakfast with maple syrup and the guests love them. They can also be served as an appetizer with a honey mustard or mango sauce. Yummmmmmmmy.

The garden, however, does come with its share of headaches. We thought at first that we would just be battling weeds. We didn't realize how hard it would be to keep the critters like rabbits and groundhogs away from our labors. We have tried everything. We have a 6 ft. fence around the whole perimeter with chicken wire at the base. But we have a ground hog that is intent on digging his way in from under the adjoining shed. If you have any ideas, please share them with us.

Well, summer is in full swing and vacation time is here. Warwick and the surrounding Orange County have lots to offer in the way of sightseeing, wine tasting, great restaurants and history, history and more history. So if you have a mind to be up in this area, come see us at the Inn at Stony Creek. We would love to see you.

Bye until next time

A Rose by any other Name

Hi folks. Joe here. Well, Bill and I finally finished establishing our gardens for the 2009 season. Our vegetable garden is abound with all kinds of plants. Tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, lettuce, cucumbers, beans and all kinds of herbs are just some of the things that we have incorporated in the garden. Our guests are in for quite a treat during harvest season when we will be including these veggies in our morning meals. Whether it be a strata or a frittata or just a vegetable omelette, our guests will be sure to enjoy our bounty. One of our specialties will be zucchini blossoms in a tempura batter with maple syrup. Yum, makes me hungry just thinking about it.

But, vegetables and herbs aren't the only thing we planted this year. We have established our new Serenity Garden complete with a natural stone bench and an umbrella covered table for those quiet mornings where a guest or two might want to be served breakfast amidst our beautiful array of roses. Of course the roses aren't in bloom yet, but they soon will be and what a variety we planted. We have the lovely Elegant Lady rose. This is a orange tinged pink rose that is aromatic as well as beautiful to look at. We also planted the Memorial Day Rose which honors the men and women who served to protect our great nation. A special specimen, the Pope John Paul II Rose is a pure white rose that definitely lives up to its namesake's purity. There are a variety of others that just have to be seen to be appreciated.

You can see that Bill and I have been quite busy this season and we hope you will come see us soon. Have a wonderful late spring season and don't forget to visit the farmer's market in Warwick to sample some of the Hudson Valley's wonderful produce.