Weekend Breakfast on the Farm

Spring has sprung here on the farm, the azaleas are blooming the trees are budding out and the air is a buzz with bees doing their business.

And what could make a beautiful spring more complete than a lazy breakfast on the porch. This morning we enjoyed fresh bagels with strawberry butter.

Home made bagels fresh from the oven, chewy on the outside with a tender interior, these may the best bagels you will ever eat!

Strawberry butter:

1 stick butter, room temperature

1/2 C sweetened fresh strawberry puree

In bowl of a stand mixer whip the butter until light and increased in volume, slowly add the strawberry puree continuing to whip until fully incorporated. Add sugar and salt to taste. Whip until doubled in volume.

Enjoy on bagels, toast, pancakes or fresh bread.

Lemon curd is pretty high on my list of favorite things. So a while back when I came across a recipe for strawberry curd, I definitely wanted to give it a try. A curd is usually made of citrus combined with sugar, butter and eggs. It's thick and has sort of a pudding like texture. They can also be made from fruit combined with citrus and eggs. Since strawberry season is in full swing at Waterberry Farm, we're on the lookout for new ways to use them. Of course when I went to make the strawberry curd, I couldn't find the recipe I'd seen originally. It's out there somewhere on the world wide web!! I adapted this recipe from one for I'd found for a raspberry curd. I had some leftover cake I want to use up so I decided to put it between the layers of cake. The cake I used was just a basic vanilla cake. I liked it with the curd, but I think a lemon cake would have been even better. If you'd rather not go to the trouble of making a cake, you could just serve it as is with a dollop of whipped cream on top.
Although I really like this curd, I think that I'm going to try making one that doesn't have whipped cream and is more like traditional lemon curd. So stay tuned for strawberry curd part two!

The strawberries are here!

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In spite of the frigid temps we've had over the past few evenings, we've started picking the first of the ripe berries! So what did we do with the first berries? Well we ate quite a few, but some of them got dipped in rich dark chocolate. Chocolate dipped strawberries are a quick easy treat, but they look impressive. Roll the chocolate dipped berries into nuts or sprinkles and they look like something that came from a candy store.
Method

Melt 5-6 ounces of semi-sweet or white chocolate chocolate

Microwave directions for melting chocolate:
Place coarsely chopped chocolate in a microwave-safe container and microwave at MEDIUM (50 percent power) for 1 1/2 to 4 minutes, until the chocolate turns shiny.
Remove the container from the microwave and stir the chocolate until completely melted. Be careful not to overheat or the chocolate can burn.
Dip strawberries in the melted chocolate, lightly shaking the berry to remove any excess chocolate. Roll the dipped strawberries in chopped nuts, chocolate sprinkles, or toffee bits. Place on parchment paper and let chocolate set-up. The strawberries are best eaten within a few hours of dipping them in the chocolate but can be kept overnight if refrigerated.
Note: make sure your strawberries are completely dry when you dip them into the chocolate. Any water on the berries will ruin the chocolate.

Our strawberries are sold by the quart and can be picked up by appointment at Waterberry Farm in Slocomb. They can also be purchased at The Butcher's Block on Westgate Parkway in Dothan. Get some of our wonderful pesticide free strawberries and start dipping!

Chirstmas on the farm

Christmas at the farm is always exciting with food, fun and more food for all.
Enjoy these images of Chirstmas on the Farm



the winter lettuce crop looks good and tastes even better

the farmers table is set for Christmas dinner:Beef Wellington,Roast Asparagus,Parmesan souffle and Pear Bluecheese and Waterberry Lettuce Salad








Time marches on at it's own pace here on the farm and before we know it Spring will arrive and the farm will wake from it's long winters nap.

Waterberry Holiday Salad

This a wonderful salad for anytime, but the cranberries and toasted pecans make it a perfect salad to serve this time of year. It's quick and easy but impressive enough to serve at a dinner party. Our soft buttery lettuce is perfect in this salad but, if you're not lucky enough to live near our farm, you can use any Bib or mescaline salad mix.

Bib Salad with Cranberries, Toasted Pecans, and Gorgonzola Cheese

serves 4
1 head Waterberry lettuce, coarsely torn
1/3 cup pecans, toasted and chopped
3 ounces Gorgonzola cheese crumbled
1/3 cup (or as many as you like) dried cranberries
Mound lettuce onto 4 plates, top with pecans and Gorgonzola cheese. Drizzle with you favorite balsamic vinaigrette.
Enjoy!

Strawberries will be here soon

The berries are beginning to flower! We'll have our wonderful herbicide free berries very soon. We hope to have our first harvest in time for Christmas. Check back soon!

Give Waterberry Preserves this Christmas

Lots of preserving has been going on at Waterberry over the last few weeks. We've made all kinds of chutneys, relishes, jams, and preserves.

Pictured here left to right: Cranberry, Pear, and Lemon, Jam, Pear,Apricot,Pineapple, Preserves, and Waterberry Strawberry Preserves

We've had lots of people asking to buy the jams and preserves for Christmas gifts. All of our preserves, jams, chutneys etc., are in bottled in 8 ounce jars and cost $5.00. The strawberries, pears, and figs are all grown on our farm.

Here is a list of all our preserves:

Fig Chutney

Cranberry, Pear, and Lemon Jam

Cranberry Rum Relish

Pear, Pineapple, Apricot Preserves

Waterberry Strawberry Preserves

To order e-mail: waterberryhydrofarm@yahoo.com or call 334-886-2454