Full Spectrum

Bronze Fennel Seeds

I noticed our bronze fennel has gone to seed, so I decided to harvest most of those seeds.

I snipped off the base of the dead stems with seed heads and gathered them all together in a paper grocery bag. Short on time, I stowed the bag in the garage to later shake/pull/pick/pinch off all the wonderful fennel seeds.

Below, the base of the fennel. Aren't the leaves gorgeous? And this is definitely not even its prime viewing time.

I made sure to leave some seeds for the birds!

New Cacao Flavor -- and a Special Promotion!

First Frost Cacao

We've been wanting to offer a mint cacao for a while now, and here it is!

All natural peppermint oil (in an almond oil base, just to let those of you with sensitivities know) cools the tongue as this rich, dark chocolate melts in your mouth. It is sweetened with pure maple sugar from organically grown maple trees, which are ensured not to get "over-tapped" using ecologically friendly extraction methods. Our cacao is, as always, heirloom, raw, organic, and fair-trade.

Right now, in the spirit of giving, we have a couple promotions going on... Order any three 1.5-oz bars  to be shipped, and receive a First Frost Cacao bar for free! Also, we're offering FREE SHIPPING on orders over $50! And for all other orders, our shipping fees have been reduced with the falling autumn temperatures. Check out our website to order!

We hope everyone is having a toasty, frosty, lovely, fun-filled season. Cheers!

Sage, in two glass jars.

Here's all our sage, picked over, dehydrated, jarred, and ready for the winter! I know we'll be thankful we did this. What is one thing you can preserve for this winter? You don't need a dehydrator or fancy equipment. Even if you have perhaps a last decent harvest of any of your kitchen herbs, just cut them at the base of the stems, bundle and tie them together into a bouquet, and hang them upside down somewhere not humid for a week or so. (We dried a bunch of nettles over the summer this way and hung them in a window-- it looked so pretty!) Then just break off the leaves and stuff them into jars!

Big Harvest, and A Dinner Fit for a Garden Gnome King & Queen

Drew went shopping last night out in the garden, and look at all he brought in!

Bag #1: Nettles!

Bag #2: Kale! Swiss Chard! Cayenne Peppers! Scarlet Runner Beans!

Bag #3: Sage! So much sage!

What a beautiful bouquet of sage, said I. But my, oh my, what to do with such a bounty from this almost-end-of-season harvest? Preserve, that's what! Then feast!

Phineas the Cat sniffed each leaf of sage before it went into the magic Excalibur Dehydrator to make sure it was of the topmost quality for preserving for the winter.

And then, after making sure I had gotten all the sage out of the paper bag, Phineas declared it a perfect look-out post. Phineas could see far and wide, but not a soul could see him.

After all the labor was done of separating the leaves from the tough stems, and laying the herbs on the dehydrator sheets, Drew chopped kale for a big salad. Then I chopped some garlic, a cayenne pepper, sage, perennial celery, and rosemary to saute for an omelette with eggs straight from the backyard. But wait! We almost forgot the nettles! Luckily, Drew threw them in the pan just in time for the stinging to get cooked out of them. Whew!

Absolutely scrumptious. And best of all, a dinner to be proud of! Almost every ingredient came from right outside our front door. My advice for the easiest things to grow that you'll get great harvests from  well into November? Kale, Stinging Nettles, Sage, and Perennial Celery. And don't forget that garlic you harvested over the summer, hanging in your garage!

And to top it all off, raspberries for dessert, with fresh, local, raw cream, whipped with a dash of vanilla bean and a drop or two of stevia extract. Oh my.

Free Chocolate Samples!

Tomorrow Immortal Mountain will be at Midas Touch Health Food in Berryville, VA. We'll be discussing our three chocolate flavors (Wolf Berry, Black Flower, & Wild at Heart), the benefits of indulging in pure cacao, and of course handing out samples! We'll also have squares of our flavor of the season, Spiced Hallow, available-- but only for the duration of the demo! Hope to see you there...

Immortal Mountain Chocolate Demo

3:00-5:00

Midas Touch

1025 West Main Street

Berryville, VA 22611

Eleven Eleven Eleven Eleven Eleven

Or, in numerals: 11:11, 11/11/11.

A brush of natural beauty encroaching on Drew's illustrated beauty.