Celebratory Spring Cocktail – Cucumber Mint Smash

All work and no play…

It appears as though Spring has finally sprung. Yay, finally! So yesterday, after a hard day of trying to catch up on farm work, we needed a refreshing cocktail to enjoy while relaxing on the porch. Enter the Cucumber Mint Smash! This cocktail was exactly what the farmer ordered!

You can use whichever spirit you prefer for this recipe – we’ve tried it with both Vodka and Gin, and both work “smash”ingly! And as far as gin goes, we use Hendrick’s, which by itself is outstanding, so imagine how amazing it works in cocktails! The recipe below is very user friendly and easy to follow…

Cucumber Mint Smash

Great refreshing cocktail to celebrate spring and summer!

Course Beverages

Cuisine Cocktails

Prep Time 5 minutes

Servings 2

Ingredients

4 oz Vodka or Gin
1/2 Cucumber (peeled)
3 Sprigs Mint leaves
6 oz Sparkling water/Soda water
4 dashes Bitters

Instructions

Peel your cucumber, roughly chop half of it and place in a shaker.
Add your vodka or gin and mint to the shaker.
Muddle the cucumber, mint and alcohol together. Add several ice cubes (4ish) then shake vigorously.
If you don't care for seeds/pulp in your drink, use a strainer to keep them out. Pour half of the mixture in the shaker into each glass.
Add 2 dashes of bitters to each glass and add ice.
Add your sparkling water (we love to use the Lime LaCroix flavor for this cocktail), stir gently.
Garnish with sliced cucumber and mint sprig (optional) and enjoy!

So there you have it! Let us know what you think! We always appreciate comments or suggestions for improvements, so please let us know.

Cheers! And Happy Spring!

April 19, 2018

We Thought it was Spring??

We hope you’re having a warmer Spring than we are. At this very moment it’s alternating between hail and snow outside and all the animals are upset about it. Goats wonder, "where is Spring?"

Even the cats and Archie are mad…at us, as if this weather is our fault. But Spring in the Midwest can be like this so there’s no point in complaining about it. Cold weather is a great excuse to take some time to read a book, cleanup your house, watching a movie or just relax. It’s actually a pleasant excuse to just take a break! And that’s awesome… unless you have crops to plant. We currently have 100+ potted seedlings hanging out in front of every South, East & West facing window in our home. Plus usually by this time we would have planted potatoes, onions, leafy greens, and peas in the garden but the ground is too frozen to get the potatoes in and too wet for the others.

Seedlings want to get outside — Plants congregating in front of our kitchen window

Getting a little stressful at this point…

It’s a major bummer. Time seems like it’s flying by and farmer’s market season is getting closer and closer. It’s stressful to feel so far behind so early in the season! We’re hoping to get these little plants in the ground at the end of next week. All that stress aside, the plants are happy in their current situation, but would be happier if they were outside getting pollinated by honey bees instead of an electric toothbrush. Oh which reminds me…we’re very worried about what this weather is doing to our bee hives. The cold Spring/extended winter could be disastrous and it’s too cold open up the hives to check on them. We don’t want to release any remaining heat in their hives and endanger them further. We’re staying hopeful though.

Our CSA signup has gone great. We still have 3 spots remaining so get one while you can! https://www.archiesacres.com/sign-up-now-for-our-csa/

Hoping to have a post detailing prepping the garden and planting very soon!

April 2, 2018April 2, 2018

Archie’s Acres CSA Crops list

2018 Archie’s Acres CSA

In case you are wondering what we have planned for our CSA and farmer’s markets this Spring/Summer/Fall…

Here is a Partial Produce list!

(Estimated) Month Harvested	Expected Crops
June-July	We will have potted plants available at our first few farmer’s markets so you can have your own garden! Patio sized tomato plant starts (these will do well planted in the ground or potted into larger containers that can stay on your patio or balcony), Sweet peppers, Hot Peppers, Eggplants, and Herbs Greens: Swiss Chard, Lettuce (several varieties & colors), Spinach, Mesclun, Arugula, Beets, Kohlrabi, Kale, Pac Choy, and Radishes (Several varieties & colors) Herbs: Sage, Cilantro, Basil, Dill, Rosemary, Thyme, and Tarragon Onion family: Green Onions, Onions, Leeks, Shallots Peppers: Sweet Bell peppers in just about every color plus a few other sweet peppers, and lots of Hot Peppers (shishito, habanero, jalapeño, Carolina reaper, Anaheim, plus more!) Tomatoes: We will have tomatoes in just about every color, shape and size this year. 20+ varieties to choose from! Other goodies: Snap Beans (Green, Purple & Dragon),Tomatillos (green & purple), Eggplant (4 varieties) Cucumbers (3 varieties), Okra (Red, Green & Orange), Sugar Snap Peas, Zucchini/Summer Squash (2 varieties), Cherries, Black Raspberries, Red Raspberries, Blueberries, and Mulberries
August-September-October	Most of our veggies will keep going until the first frost. Plus we’ll get the late season crops (like melons, potatoes, etc). Leafy greens don’t do well in the heat but will resume after the August heat is over. Tomatoes, Eggplants, Cucumbers, Green Onions, Leafy greens (e.g. Kale, Lettuce, Spinach, etc.), Peppers, Herbs, Zucchini, Snap Beans, Garlic, Radishes, Onions, Leeks, Shallots, Pumpkin, Kohlrabi, Beets, Apples, Brussels Sprouts, Delicata Squash, Acorn Squash, Cantaloupe, Watermelon, Potatoes (Pink, Purple, Blue, & Fingerling), Peaches, Pears, Apples, and more to come….

I’ll share details of our potato varieties on potato planting day. Our seed potatoes should be arriving soon and we’ll get them in the ground as soon as we can work the dirt a bit better.

Another year – another garden adventure!

It’s going to be a fun year for us; we selected several new varieties to try and also kept the ones that did well for us the last couple years. If there is something you’re interested in that isn’t on the list, please let us know and we’ll see if we can add it!

There are still a few spots available in our CSA! Once a month and Twice a month options! Sign up here: https://www.archiesacres.com/sign-up-now-for-our-csa/

Month: April 2018