Kitchen
FOOD
NOURISHES
THE BODY
AND
THE
SOUL.
Breads and Baked Goods
Yeast, starter, salt, soda...simple ingredients in not so simple processes result in comforting loaves, rolls, biscuits, etc. We even bake heritage grain options for those with an adventurous palate!
Canned Goods
Enjoy jellies, jams and syrups created with the fruits harvested from our orchards and vineyard throughout the year. Winter brings strawberry and loquat, spring is mulberry and peach, summer offers elderberry and grape, our most popular.
Custom Orders
Need baked goods for a special event? Prefer gluten-free or sugar-free options? Contact us to let us know your need and see if we can accomodate.
In compliance with Florida's cottage food laws, none of our products can be shipped. In-person pickup or delivery must be coordinated.
The Farm Stand offers an ever-changing assortment of our kitchen goodies.
All of our foods are prepared in a cottage kitchen operation that is not subject to Florida's food inspection process.
Kitchens cook up traditions.
Do you have that favorite recipe tucked away in your kitchen or even committed to memory? My favorites are found in a cookie book from my childhood. The book falls open to the one we liked the most, the page covered in buttery fingerprints with decades-old flour still visible in the creases.
Food has a way of writing memories in our minds that can be triggered with one bite, one whiff of that dish baking in the oven or simmering on the stove. Busy lives are the enemy of tradition, and it takes conscious effort to add those "ingredients" to the mix.
It wasn't until we started the farm that I realized just how much work goes into "putting away the larder" by canning and freezing the harvests each season. When green beans come in, we pick, wash, snap and can for DAYS, taking care to pressure each batch to kill pathogens and give it shelf life for the full year to come. Tomatoes are even harder, requiring steaming off the skins, removing the seeds, then pureeing with other ingredients to make salsa and marinara. The absolute worst are lima beans, or as my grandmother called them, "baby butter beans." They are a pain to pick and even worse to shell, wrecking even the strongest manicure. There are no shortcuts and the vegetables don't wait. When it's time to pick, it's time. Period.
I have a new appreciation for the efforts of my grandparents, because if they didn't do this with all of their crops, they were going hungry later in the year. There were no grocery stores for those living in the rural south, post-depression era. It's hard to believe that in just two generations, most of these skills were lost. I now treasure the Ball Canning Book passed to me by my maternal grandmother, even though it collected dust for a couple of decades before I actually used it. I think of my paternal grandmother every time I hoist my heavy cast iron skillet out of the cabinet, wondering how she did that at 80 with arthritic hands. Finally, I beam with satisfaction as I open my pantry and see rows of gleaming jars of food we planted, nurtured, harvested, prepared and preserved.
I hope this inspires you to take your own small step to preparing fabulous food and creating magical memories. Happy cooking!
- Tracy
