Thanks to everyone who voted! If you are interested in knowing who won, click here!

In April the word I would have described how I felt before I started growing my Home Farm was apprehensive. I was after all the woman who killed a cactus and pretty much every other plant I have ever grown. But now here it is August and my word moved from apprehensive to amazed. I am seriously blown away by how well the majority of the plants did! It was certainly not the results I expected if I am being truthful.

I learned many a thing through all of this. Number one of course is that you really can grow your own food whether you live in a small apartment or on a spacious acre farm. Number two the kind of soil you use makes a huge difference. I think above all I feel this made a difference. My neighbors had given me a flower as a gift, it was a very pretty blue bell in a blue pot. That flower got the same treatment as my Home farm except that it was planted in different soil. Using the Gardner & Bloome BLUE RIBBON BLEND Premium Potting Soil: Natural & Organic Premium All-Purpose Indoor or Outdoor Container Mix and Dr. Earth Organic Vegetable Garden Fertilizer was the smartest decision I made (well, got talked into, the garden guys did that). For sadly my little blue bell plant did not survive. And I am starting to think that all these years it wasn’t that I have such a black thumb but bad soil and being uneducated. Like I had no idea until this Triscuit Home Farm project that you had to fertilize to keep things growing…now I know. It’s amazing what you can learn when you read.

Next to soil I think the most important things about container farming is the size of the container. I found that the larger the container the better my plants did. As an example all the herbs that I grew in smaller pots died, but all the ones in the larger pots flourished. So much so that I really did run out of room on the patio for my farm. Next year I know to plant a little less and in larger pots.

I think of all the crops I grew, nothing got used more than the romaine lettuce. I used it for sandwiches and salads almost daily. I would cut it down and it would grow right back. The parsley and chives got used often as well. Though I must say that both the snap peas and the broccoli were my favorite of all the crops. See I had been able to grown herbs in the past so I knew I could do it, I just didn’t know about the vegetables. Plus the broccoli plant started so small and each time I would go out I would be just so in awe and excited as to how much it had grown in a day. It was so fun to watch. And I loved the peas just because of my name…that and they are fun to watch from going to flower to veggie.

I regret that I never got my pallet garden up and going. I just didn’t have the space so that is the number one thing I want to do for next year. I think I will try cauliflower as well now that I know I can get broccoli to grow.

This has been one of the more enjoyable learning experiences in my life. I had to do a lot of research since grown living things was never my thing. But there is something so amazingly satisfying about growing your own food. And it really does save you money!!! If you didn’t start a home farm this year I highly encourage you to do one next year.

And now for the contest. Many of you have said over the past few months following my divorce how you wish you could support this blog financially to keep it running but didn’t have the money yourself. Well, this is your chance to help me! I NEED your vote. I need your mom’s vote. I need you mother’s sisters cousin twice removed VOTE! If my farm wins 1st place I can win $1000 and I can keep this little blog you like to read so much running for quite some time off of that. So please VOTE!!! Please help me spread the word to vote. To vote go here. By the way, did I mention to vote!!! You have from August 15th through August 30th, 2011 to vote for me! And I believe you can vote once every day!!!!  The winner will be announced September 8th.

I’ll leave you with a few recipes that can be used with the herbs I used in my Home Farm this summer. I can’t emphasize enough what a rewarding experience it was to not only grown my own food but to do it in such a small space. If Peabody can grow it….so can you!!!!

As always, Triscuit compensated me for this post, but the ideas, words, bad grammar, and opinions are all mine.

Cheesy Chive Bread

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt (it depends on what cheese and add-ins you’re using)
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1/3 cup whole milk, at room temperature
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 ounces shredded smoked Gouda cheese
3 ounces shredded smoked Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup minced chives

Put the flour, baking powder, and in a large mixing bowl and whisk the ingredients together to combine.

Put the eggs in another mixing bowl; whisk for about 1 minute, until they’re foamy and blended. Whisk in the milk and olive oil.\n\n3. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and, using a sturdy rubber spatula or a wooden spoon, gently mix until the dough comes together. There’s not need to be energetic beating the dough toughens it not do you need to be very thoroughly. Just stir until all the dry ingredients are moistened. Now, stir in the cheese and the chives. You’ll have thick dough. Turn the dough into the buttered pan and even the top with the back of the spatula or spoon.

Slide the pan into the oven and bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until the bread is golden and a slender knife inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a cooling rack, wait about 3 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the pan and turn the loaf over onto the rack; invert and cool to room temperature right-side up.

Adapted from Dorie Greenspan

Drunken Melon and Raspberry Salad

½ cup orange flavored vodka
½ cup orange juice
1 TBSP sugar
1 small ripe honey dew melon, peeled, seeded and balled (if you don’t own a melon baller just cut into bite size pieces)
1 TBSP finely minced fresh mint
½ cup fresh raspberries

In a large bowl, whisk together the vodka, orange juice, and sugar.

Add the melon and the mint and use a spatula to combine the ingredients.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature for 1 hour.

Fold berries in at last minute when ready to assemble.

Fresh Corn Bisque

3 ears fresh white corn (yellow works too), kernels removed
1 TBSP unsalted butter for sauté
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
salt and pepper (white) to taste
Herb Oil:

1 TBSP chopped fresh basil
1 TBSP chopped fresh Italian parsley
¼ cup vegetable oil

To make the soup:
Melt 1 TBSP unsalted butter in a large skillet. Add corn kernels and saute for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat.

Add corn to food processor and pulse 3 times. Slowly pour in butter while machine is running.

Add salt and pepper to taste. Pulse one last time to incorporate salt and pepper.

Pour into bowls and top with fresh corn and herb oil.

*If you would like your soup to be thinner, add water not chicken stock to thin it out. Using chicken stock or vegetable stock takes away from the corn flavor.

To make herb oil:

In a food processor, add all ingredients and blend until herbs are infused into oil.

Hard to believe that my Home Farm project is coming to an end (well, not really, I still plan to keep my farm up but the posts are coming to an end) and on August 15^th I will be telling youhow you can go and vote for my farm as your favorite (which I hope it is!). As you can see Crazy Cocker Spaniel is all too happy to celebrate the crops that my little patio home farm produced. She loves to go out with me every day when I water and try and steal snap peas when I am not looking. She is begging for one in the picture (and yes, she in on her hind legs).

Obviously my dog is not the only one celebrating my harvest. My friends have more than benefitted from home farm project. I have kept my friends (as well as myself) fully supplied in pretty much all the romaine lettuce, parsley, chives, and arugula one could possibly want. Seriously, I swear it grows as I am cutting it down.

One thing that I don’t have yet are strawberries, you can see from the picture though that they want to come out for me, just not quite yet. But my friend C already got hers and so we traded some of her produce from her farm to mine. So she gave me a few of her strawberries (she didn’t have a ton) and I gave her some red leaf lettuce. Which we then turned into a salad with the lettuce, her strawberries, some pecans, and a Lemon Thyme (also from my farm) and Blue Cheese Dressing. Quite tasty.

My broccoli seems to have slowed down production, as has my Swiss chard and peas. Right now I am just holding out for the strawberries and plan on planting sage this coming week because I love it in fall foods. I will never buy romaine lettuce in the summer again as I have learned that my little plant that cost me a whopping $1.50 has kept me in lettuce since April. And I eat a salad almost every day. Same for my spinach which I use in my smoothies every morning. Four months’ worth of food for $3.00 is pretty amazing!

Like I mentioned in the first paragraph, starting this coming week (8-15 through 8-30) you will be able to vote for my farm. I will be competing with two other bloggers for your favorite farm. For those of you who always say you wish you could help me out financially but don’t have the money yourself, this will be a great way for you to help me! And when you vote you will be entered into a sweepstakes. It’s win-win.

Hopefully those of you with a home farm of your own are having as much success as I am. And if you are celebrate that! If you don’t have a home farm, hopefully my little adventure can be inspiring to you! I know it’s been an inspiring journey for me.

If you are interested in seeing other ideas, please visit the other bloggers who are participating in the Home Farming Movement which you can find at the Better Homes and Gardens Home Farming Challenge Page.

As always, Triscuit compensated me for this post, but the ideas, words, bad grammar, and opinions are all mine.

Lemon Thyme-Blue Cheese Dressing

¾ cups olive oil
1/3 cup canola oil
1 ¼ TBSP loosely packed whole lemon thyme leaves, chopped finely
1 ¼ TBSP Dijon mustard
Pinch of salt to taste
Pinch freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 TBSP fresh lemon juice
¼ cup red-wine vinegar, or as needed
¼ cup blue cheese crumbles

In a medium pot over low heat, combine the olive oil, canola oil and thyme. Heat the oil to just short of bubbling. Remove from heat and set aside for at least an hour.

Meanwhile, in the work bowl of a kitchen mixer or a hand-held mixer, combine the mustard, salt, black pepper, and 1 TBSP lemon juice.

Begin whisking on slow setting. Slowly drizzle in about the oil. Whisk in the remaining 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Cut with a little red-wine vinegar if more acid is needed. Taste for seasonings. Fold in blue cheese crumbles.

Use a funnel to transfer contents to a standard 750-milliliter bottle (or a mason jar). Be sure to scrape in everything from the bottom of the bowl. Seal securely. (New screw-cap bottles are best for this.) Refrigerate. Remove 15 minutes before using. Shake well. Store in an airtight jar for a month or more.

Well, I am 3 months into my Home Farm project and even with some recent setbacks I can say that I am still overjoyed with what my Home Farm has taught me (and produced) this summer. Setbacks you say? Yep.

My first setback was one I didn’t account for as I always assumed that sun and warmth would be a good thing. And while they are to some degree, we had one really warm day which produced me a TON of snap peas (peas for Peabody!!!) but also caused my broccoli to form flowers. Once the broccoli grows flowers you can’t eat it. As you can see from the picture I got flowers. Luckily for me though I still had quite a few other stalks, though I panicked at the idea of not getting to use them. So I probably prematurely chopped some of them to make soup. But I wasn’t missing my chance to make Broccoli Cheddar Soup with broccoli from my very own patio! So even though many of my plants when planted said that they needed 5-6 hours of sun, they seem to like the rainy overcast weather better.

Setback number two I definitely did NOT account for was that my Home Farm is doing SO well that I am running out of space. Things are growing much faster than I can eat them or the plant is getting so large and mingling over with other plants. While I love the growth I only have so much space to work with, especially now that I own a grill that is out there as well.

Setback number three is that the majority of my plants that were planted in small pots have reached their demise (moment of silence please). The only survivors were the mint, because mint I believe is the cockroach of the herb world, you have to work hard to kill it off. So I bought another big pot (this was before I got a BBQ) and plan on planting something new. Suggestions? What do you all think ? What would you like to see me try and grow?

Despite my few setbacks I am not giving up. This is after all an experiment of sorts and you are going to have the good with the bad and you learn from all of it! How about you? How is your Home Farm coming along? If you don’t have one, summer is only half way done, if you did plants and not seeds, you could still join the Triscuit Home Farm movement!

Broccoli Cheese Soup

1 TBSP unsalted butter, melted
1/2 medium onion, chopped

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup flour
2 cups half-and-half cream
2 cups vegetable stock
1/2 lb. fresh broccoli
1 cup carrots, julienned
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
8 ounces grated sharp cheddar cheese (use GOOD quality cheese)
salt and pepper

Sauté onion in 1 TBSP butter. Set aside.

Cook 1/4 cup melted butter and flour using a whisk over medium heat for 3-5 minutes. Stir constantly and add the half & half.

Add the vegetable stock. Simmer for 20 minutes.

Add the broccoli, carrots and onions. Cook over low heat 20-25 minutes.

Add salt and pepper. Can be puréed in a blender but I don’t. Return to heat and add cheese. Stir in nutmeg.

Recipe adapted from Panera Bread Company
If you are interested in seeing other ideas, please visit the other bloggers who are participating in the Home Farming Movement which you can find at the Better Homes and Gardens Home Farming Challenge Page.

As always, Triscuit compensated me for this post, but the ideas, words, bad grammar, and opinions are all mine.