Welcome to My Farm

>> Funding for this series has been provided in part by Manna Pro.

>> As much as we count on them... >> They count on us all the more.

>> To nurture their lives... >> With the same commitment.

>> Manna Pro -- nurturing life.

>> And Meyer Hatchery.

>> Meyer Hatchery offers more than 160 breeds of poultry and carries a full line of feed, supplies, gifts, and decor.

With nearly four decades of experience, the Meyer family is committed to supporting our customers through their entire poultry journey.

Learn more at MeyerHatchery.com.

[ Chicken clucking ] [ Duck quacking ] >> Summer's in full swing here.

Everything's green, and we're harvesting vegetable and herbs.

One of my favorite herbs is lavender.

Like most herbs, it kind of really thrives on neglect, so you don't have to really pay much attention to it, which is great because, when I'm not here or traveling, it doesn't really need a lot of care.

We inherited a really beautiful lavender plant from the previous owners, but I do so much with lavender, both in our home and in the coop, that I need more than I can harvest from one plant, so I was really excited to find that there's a local lavender farm here in Maine, not too far from my house.

So, today, I'm going to go visit and bring home some lavender.

>> Thank you so much!

>> Thanks.

[ Chicken clucking ] I'm Lisa Steele, author, blogger, and fifth-generation chicken keeper.

I live in rural Maine with my husband, flock of chickens, ducks, and geese, Winston the corgi, and Linus the indoor/outdoor barn cat.

We moved to Maine for the peace and serenity.

We wanted a simpler life and to step back in time where there are still corner stores and your neighbors still know your name.

Welcome to my farm.

[ Chicken clucking ] Peggy, your farm is beautiful.

It smells so nice here.

It couldn't be a more perfect day, and I brought you some fresh eggs from our farm.

>> Cool, thank you.

I'm so happy you could come.

And you came when the lavender is blooming.

It's absolutely perfect timing.

>> Oh, good.

I actually live right down the street, and I was so surprised to find a lavender farm here in Maine.

We do have a one plant on our farm, but I didn't realize that it could grow commercially here in Maine.

>> Right, right.

Well, we actually -- we didn't know either.

Planted lavender on a whim.

My husband actually came in at the end of a day one evening, and he said, "Let's try growing lavender."

I was like, "Yeah, I could make some things, put them on a web site," you know.

And, so, we did.

We planted 250 plants.

We loved it so much we planted 750 more than next year.

>> Wow.

After your trial and error... >> It was so beautiful, yes.

>> ...you realized what worked and what didn't.

>> Yes.

So it grows here.

That's what we found out.

>> That's so exciting because you're right, there are so many to do with lavender and it's just such a great herb.

Pretty low maintenance.

Very low maintenance.

>> Happy to learn that it grows here.

>> Two picky things about lavender -- they like full sun, dry roots.

>> Right.

>> So you don't have to water it.

I mean, what could be easier?

It's amazing.

>> That's why I love herbs in general, because they are really good for kind of the reluctant gardener.

>> Yeah, exactly.

>> It is so pretty here and so peaceful and relaxing.

I mean, I can just feel, like, all my tension just draining away.

>> After we grew the lavender, saw how beautiful it was, we were like, "Let's put seating around and just invite people to relax, come get refreshed."

>> I'm familiar with growing lavender in Virginia 'cause we had it for years on our farm there and I thought it was a Mediterranean herb.

It liked hot and dry and all that.

>> Okay, yep.

>> So, I do have the plant here in Maine, which I've done absolutely nothing to.

It's kind of on its own, but I'm sure that you have some tips for it.

'Cause it doesn't look like this, I have to tell you.

I'm sure you have some tips to proper growing in Maine as far as, you know, if you're planting new plants and harvesting and things like that.

>> Okay, the most important thing is to make sure that you have the right variety.

Whatever lavender it is, it's zoned for your area.

They want full sun and dry roots.

So they don't like to be watered, and a common mistake that people make is they put it in their flower garden with all their other flowers, water the flower garden, the lavender dies.

Because it can't take that water.

>> Loves more sandy soil as opposed too, like, a rich potting soil type of thing.

>> Exactly.

We plant ours in a sandy, gravelly soil.

>> Okay.

>> We hill ours a little bit just to help with the drainage.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> And then, we actually put some of the gravel around the plant.

I don't know if you can see that -- see?

>> Yep.

>> We're hoping that that lifts the branches up and lets air get in there and dry out the plant.

So it doesn't need rich compost.

It doesn't need to be fertilized.

It really is easy, and it just loves the heat and the sun.

>> How many varieties you grow here?

>> While there are over 450 varieties of lavender.

>> Wow.

>> We grow about eight.

>> Okay.

>> So we have mainly English.

We have Hidcote, Munstead, white lavender, Rosea, and then we have a couple random -- Vera, Big Time Blue, a few other varieties.

But what we're looking at right now is Hidcote, which happens to be my personal favorite because it's the deep purple.

One thing we do with the care of lavender is we prune it in the fall.

>> Okay.

>> So we cut about two inches above the woody part of the plant and we shape it into a little bush shape because lavender will sprawl.

>> Okay.

>> So one of the other things that we do is we take those sprawling branches in the fall and we cut them off so they're not laying on the ground.

We want air to get in there again and dry out those roots.

And then, we do cover our lavender plants in the winter.

>> Okay, that's one thing I don't do, which it probably would benefit from, with a row cover or some kind of burlap or something to -- >> Yeah.

>> So, before you're pruning in the fall, you're harvesting.

So when do we want to harvest our lavender?

>> That's a really good question because I'm picky about it.

>> Okay, good.

>> So I want the lavender in its bud stage, which is this right here.

>> Okay.

When a couple open up and flower, I know that those buds are as mature as they're going to get, and I want to cut those buds, so I cut the whole plant.

The important thing with lavender is the lavender oil is locked inside each bud.

>> That makes sense.

>> I want that lavender oil for sachets for culinary.

So once it flowers, it's gone.

>> You bunch it and air dry it?

>> Yes, we do, 50 to 60 stems, a little bunch.

Hang it upside down, let it dry, and then you can do anything with it.

You can flip it up.

You can take it off the stems, use it for culinary.

And lavender is an herb, so you can use it like you would any other herb -- salad dressings, meat rubs, marinades.

But you can also put it in desserts, breads, anything.

>> I do have one last thing I wanted to give you.

It is my lavender mint refresh spray.

I use it in my chicken coop to kind of give the coop a little pick-me-up, but you can use it in your bathroom or your kitchen or if you have a garage or shed or something.

>> It is beautiful.

>> Comes out so pretty.

>> I love the color.

>> Thank you so much, Peggy.

I really had such a nice time.

>> Thank you so much for coming.

>> This spray is really easy to make.

I start with a quart mason jar and put it in a nice handful of fresh stalks of lavender.

I add a handful of fresh mint leaves and then fill the jar almost to the top with regular white vinegar.

Then I screw the cover on, give it a good shake.

Then I let it sit for a week or two, shaking it a couple times a day, you know any time I walk past it, just to keep the contents mixed up.

It'll start to turn a really pretty pink color, and smell less like vinegar and more like mint and lavender, and that's when you know it's done.

I'll strain the contents into a pint mason jar, screw on a spray top, and then use it to spray the roosting bars around the nesting boxes.

I like to spray it round the window frames and the window screens of the coop because I think it helps keep the bugs away.

What a fun morning at the lavender farm this morning with Peggy.

I might have gone a little bit overboard.

There are bunch of lavender all over the kitchen.

I planted a new lavender plant in the garden.

And I even bought some culinary lavender buds when Peggy mentioned about cooking with lavender and using it in recipes.

That really got me intrigued because I've actually never baked with it or cooked with it or had it in anything to eat.

I really wanted to try a recipe.

I'm going to make lavender cupcakes with vanilla bean frosting.

So, to get started, I really want the lavender scent and flavor to come out of the buds, so I pulsed them in my coffee bean grinder until they were kind of a fine powder, and then I stirred them into some milk, and I'm just gonna leave this to sit while I work on the rest of the batter.

First, I'm going to mix my dry ingredients.

So, in this bowl, I'm going to sift some flour, baking powder, and salt.

So, now, in my stand mixer, I am going to get the butter and sugar mixed.

So I've got room-temperature butter and sugar.

Just gonna pour that in there and mix this until it's nice and fluffy and buttery yellow.

I'll just scrape the sides down to make sure it all gets mixed.

And then, just keep adding my other ingredients at a lower speed.

So, next, I'm going to add in some honey, and I'm just gonna add a little bit of vanilla bean paste.

You can use vanilla extract if you want.

I like using the vanilla bean paste.

It's a little bit thicker and it has the nice vanilla flecks in it.

I'm just gonna mix this until it's really well combined and then scrape the sides down again.

Okay, that looks good.

So now I'm going to alternate adding my flour mixture and my lavender milk mixture and go back and forth and just add a little bit of each and mix in between to get my batter really well-mixed and so it's nice and smooth.

Do like about 1/3 at a time of each one.

Make sure I get all the little lavender bits out of the cup.

Now I'm ready to fill my muffin tins.

So I got these cute papers that I thought would look really pretty with the cupcakes.

Then I'm just going to fill each one about 2/3 full.

Honestly, the easiest way to do this, if you make a lot of cupcakes, is with an ice cream scoop.

Now I'm going to put them in the oven for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees until the toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

While the cupcakes are baking, I'm going to get started on the frosting.

You can make a plain buttercream frosting, but I happen to love cream cheese, so we're going to make a vanilla bean cream cheese frosting for these cupcakes.

First, I'm going to put a block of cream cheese and a stick of butter into my stand mixer.

Once those are really well mixed, I'm going to again add a little of the vanilla bean paste.

Vanilla extract will work.

I'm going to add my powdered sugar.

Like the flour mixture, I really do like to sift it because, otherwise, you can get lumpy frosting.

So now that's sifted, and I'm just going to put the mixer on low.

When you're using flour or confectioner's sugar, you want your mixer on really low.

Trust me.

And then, once it gets mixed up, I can turn it a little higher, because the longer you mix this, the fluffier your frosting is going to be.

All right, so that looks good.

Nice and fluffy.

And I'm just going to add in some gel icing.

You can use food coloring or you can just skip it altogether.

It's more like a paste than liquid food coloring.

And a little bit goes a long way, but let's see how that works.

The cupcakes look great.

They came out of the oven.

They have nice brown tops.

And they've cooled a little bit, but now I'm going to put them on the cookie rack just so they cool completely before I frost them.

I had so much fun today at the lavender farm.

I've just enjoyed using lavender for so many years because of its health benefits and the beautiful scent and aroma and its calming properties, and there's just so many things to love about lavender.

Looking over the fields of lavender at the farm and some of the lighter lavender colors really reminded me of my flock because I have some lavender breeds in my flock, like Violet here, my lavender Orpington.

I also have a lavender Ameraucana.

And I just love the breed because their feathers are kind of like a light purplish silver color, and I just think they're so pretty.

And, so, when they're out free-ranging, roaming around the yard, it's just a really, really visually pretty flock for me to look at.

Plus, they're really docile and friendly and they're just a great all-around breed.

Some people choose the breeds that they're going to raise by the color egg they're gonna lay or how good of a layer they are, but sometimes it's fun just to pick a chicken because she's pretty and has a pretty feather color.

And I just really enjoy having some lavender color breeds in my flock.

Earlier today at the lavender farm, there was the cutest couple playing cornhole on boards that they had set up in the lawn, and I thought it would be really fun to make cornhole boards myself.

I had a piece of plywood in the garage that I had been wondering what I'm going to do with, and I think this would be the perfect project.

I thought it would be super cute, instead of bean bags, to make little chickens instead of just regular bags to throw.

So this is my chicken cornhole set.

The chicken bean bags are really easy to make.

I actually had some shirts that were in a bag that were on their way to Goodwill.

So I pulled them out and repurposed them into bean bags.

You need two different colors because you have two different teams.

So, keeping with the lavender theme, I went with a lavender gingham and then a blue gingham.

So we have chickens in both colors.

And all I did was cut rectangles that were 6x12, and then, out of felt scraps, I just cut combs, wattles, and beaks for each of my chickens.

So this part's a little bit tricky.

You have to place everything so your chickens actually look like chickens at the end.

So the comb goes on the top here in one corner, and then you put the beak and your wattles.

Then just fold the fabric in half, and you can either machine sew or hand sew two of the seams so you catch your pieces in what you're sewing, and you leave the last seam open so you can fill your bean bags with corn.

So I've sewn my seams and I also made little eyes by making French knots with embroidery thread.

You can also use little black beads, or you could just use a black Sharpie to make eyes.

But you can see, when you turn it right side out, you have a cute little chicken.

And it becomes a pyramid once you fill it with a flat bottom to sit on.

So I'm just going to fill it with corn and then sew up that last seam.

Obviously, we're just playing for fun, but if you're going by the regulations, you're going to want your bag to weigh between 14 and 16 ounces.

So this final seam, instead of sewing it flat like you would have your fabric when it was laying down square, you're just going turn at the other way so your back seam is in the center, and when you sew up that seam, you've got your triangle.

I cut my board to the right size and now I just need to cut a hole in it for the bean bags, chicken bean bags to go through.

So you are going to need something to cut a 6" in diameter hole.

This hole saw bit is the easiest way, but you also could use a jigsaw and just draw a circle in pencil.

You want it to be down 9" and then centered in the center of the board.

So, I've already measured that, and now I'm going to cut my hole.

I'm just finishing painting these boards white.

And now I'm going to put some fun blue stripes on them just to make them a little bit more interesting.

In order to do that, I'm going to use some boards as spacers so I can make nice straight lines and just -- I got, like, these wide boards here so I can make nice wide stripes on the plywood.

And I'm just gonna spray my stripes.

So this will make nice wide stripes of blue on my white board.

So now that I've got my stripes on, I'm gonna let everything dry.

Once it's dry, I'm going to go ahead and put the legs on.

In order to make the board slope so you can use it, the back has to be a little bit higher than the front, so the front legs are 4" tall and the back legs are 12" tall, and I just hinge them onto the board so the board can be folded up for easier storage when we're not using it.

So I'm just finishing up screwing the hinges onto the back leg.

And now the board can fold up when I'm not using it.

The boards are dry, the legs are on, my chicken, bean bags are made, so I'm gonna set up everything in the lawn, and we're gonna play some chicken cornhole.

>> Oh!

[ Chicken clucking ] >> We love going for ice cream, but I also love to make it at home.

If you've never had ice cream made from your own eggs, you are in for a treat.

When I was a kid, my mom used to take us to the lake swimming a lot in the summer after we finished our chores, and then, on the way home, in that old paneled station wagon, we would stop at the local ice cream place and just such a good childhood memories.

And ice cream is just such a summer treat.

Well, here we don't have an ice cream place that's super close, so I love to make ice cream at home.

By the end of the summer, we're going to have so much mint I'm not going to know what to do with it all, but right now, I'm excited to have picked the first fresh mint from the garden, So we're going to make some ice cream.

One of my favorite flavors is mint chocolate chip.

And of course, I'm using eggs from the coop and mint from the garden.

So, to get started, I'm gonna head over to the stove and get some mint leaves simmering in milk and cream.

To the quart of whole milk that I have in my saucepan, I'm going to add two cups of heavy cream and 50 fresh mint leaves that I sort of rub between my fingers a little bit, just to bruise them and get some of the essential oils going.

Then I'm going to heat that over medium-high heat, stirring it occasionally, just until bubbles start to form around the edges.

While I'm waiting for the mint to infuse into the milk, I'm going to whisk together my sugar, salt, and egg yolks.

Pour two cups of sugar into a small bowl and add a teaspoon of salt... and then four egg yolks.

Then I'm going to whisk it until combined.

I love the color of these egg yolks.

This is how you know you're using fresh eggs from super happy chickens.

'Cause store-bought eggs do not look like this.

Beautiful.

Then I'm gonna set that aside until the milk is done infusing.

I've let this sit for 10 minutes, and I've got some nice minty milk going, so now I'm just gonna strain it to get all the mint leaves out.

Then I'm just going to ladle a little bit of the milk into my egg mixture.

This will keep the whole thing from curdling 'cause I'm slowly warming the eggs up without actually cooking them.

And then, once that's done, I'll pour the whole thing into the milk mixture and whisk it until it's combined.

All right.

That looks good.

I'm just going to add -- I don't know -- a teaspoon or two of the vanilla bean paste.

It's just basically -- It's a little thicker than vanilla extract and it has the flecks in it, but it's a lot easier and it stores better than the actual vanilla beans do, so I really like to use it a lot.

Now I'm just gonna kind of whisk and cook this for about two minutes.

I just want to let the egg cook a little bit.

Now I'm just going to pour this into my container.

You can use a bowl, pretty much just anything that can take going from hot liquid right to the refrigerator.

And I'm just gonna refrigerate it until it's completely cooled.

And here, so you see all the flecks from the vanilla bean paste, so I'm just going to use a spatula to make sure I get all of them into my dish.

Now I'm going to just refrigerate it until it's completely cool.

Then I will put it in my ice cream maker.

You want to read the instructions for your ice cream maker.

In my machine, I basically pour it in and let it process for about 25 minutes.

This has been going for about 20 minutes, and it's really starting to thicken up, so now I'm just going to add the chocolate chips, and then I'll give it about another five minutes just to make sure that they are completely mixed in.

So this is a really nice consistency now.

It's thickened up.

So I'm just going to take the paddle part out and then put this whole canister into my freezer-safe container.

Then I'll put it in the freezer for about two hours, and it'll be ready to enjoy.

One of the things I specifically like about lavender in the herb garden is that it provides a lot of color.

Most herbs you want to harvest before they flower because they start not to taste as good, so your thymes and your basils and your dills, you don't want to let them go to flower.

Whereas the lavender, what your harvesting is the buds.

I continue to be amazed at all that Maine offers and all the things that we can grow and raise and do here.

>> Log on to FreshEggsDaily.com to learn more about poultry, backyard-farming techniques, recipes, or anything you may have seen in today's show.

Closed captioning for "Welcome to My Farm" is made possible by Grubbly Farms -- food for healthy pets and planet.

Funding for this series has been provided in part by Manna Pro.

>> To protecting them.

>> Helping them grow.

>> And thrive.

[ Chickens clucking ] >> Treating them... >> As well as they treat us.

>> Manna Pro -- nurturing life.

>> And Meyer Hatchery.

>> Meyer Hatchery offers more than 160 breeds of poultry and carries a full line of feed, supplies, gifts, and decor.

With nearly four decades of experience, the Meyer family is committed to supporting our customers through their entire poultry journey.

Learn more at MeyerHatchery.com.