There is a reason why I am only doing one tea party class this year and that is because they are so much work! It was so much fun and adding the food component to the class makes it extra special. Here is what we had at our class so you can recreate the night or try a recipe for yourself.
Salad: Fresh organic lettuce, Salad Dressing and homemade sourdough croutons
Cube bread and toss everything together and bake at 400 until crisp
Hummus
1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas
Lemon juice from one large lemon
1/4 cup tahini
1 garlic clove
¼ C Olive oil
1/2 t. ground cumin
1-2 t. Mild curry powder
Salt to taste
Mix in food processor until smooth
Cucumber and Avocado Sandwich
Homemade Sourdough toasted
Mashed avocado with Redmond’s salt
English Cucumber
Lemon and Pistachio Scones
I used this recipe and added lemon zest to the dough, used normal sugar which is why mine were lighter in color and then added more pistachios on top of glaze
Orange and Rose Shortbread cookies
For the base I used this shortbread cookie recipe and added dried rose petals (make sure they are organic and clean) and orange zest to the dough. Roll them out cut them and bake for 9-10 minutes
Make a glaze for the top with squeezed orange juice, orange zest, rose petals and powdered sugar. Just dip and put them on a rack to dry.
Lemonade Drink: ½ Crystal Light ½ white grape juice and lemon slices
Tea: I love the Taylor Brand fruit infusions. You can find them a few places online to be shipped from England.
I have loved making sourdough over the last few years and wanted to share the recipe and techniques I use. I don’t worry about whether my loaf is perfect because it will not be sold in a bakery but something that my family can enjoy.
When I first started researching sourdough I was a bit intimidated with all the many recipes and techniques and the fear that if I didn’t do everything exactly right that my loaf would be a disaster. While I have had a few flat loafs over the years I have found that sourdough is much more forgiving than we may believe.
What you will need
Ingredients:
Starter: I made mine by feeding it flour and water everyday for 2 weeks and I have somehow managed to keep it alive for 3 years which is pretty impressive as it was in my fridge for a good 2 months without being fed. Like I said before sourdough is very forgiving
Flour: Bread flour will make a better load but any flour will work
Salt: Any salt will work. I use redmonds salt.
Water: I have read that you must use purified water or it will kill your sourdough. I just use plain old tap water and have never had a problem.
Supplies:
Scale: Any scale that does grams will do.
Large bowl: I have one with a lid that makes it easy to cover and uncover and I don’t have to worry about plastic
Baskets: Sourdough baskets help keep your dough in the correct shape as it slowly rises in the refrigerator.
Knife/scoring blade: something to help you score the bread before you bake it
Dutch oven: You bake your bread in a large dutch oven or pot
Not necessary but nice to have items:
Dough Whisk, Dough scraper
Now that you have what you need you can make your sourdough!
Making your Bread
Feeding your starter:
I feed my starter 1-2 days before I am going to start making my bread. Otherwise I keep it in the fridge.
Feed by scraping on the first couple ½-1” of starter and discard. Then add 60g Flour and 60g water and stir.
Levain:
Add 125g Warm water to a small bowl
Add 2-3 TBS of starter to water and stir
Add 125g Flour and stir
Allow to sit overnight
Dough:
In the morning your levain will be nice and bubbly.
Add 800g Warm Water to a large bowl
Add about 225g Leaven to water and mix
Add 1000g Flour (can use a mix of wheat and white-I like 15-20% wheat and to use white bread flour)
Mix dough until the flour is all incorporated and allow to sit for 45 min
Add 20-22g salt to dough
Add 50g water to dough
Now mix with hands until fully mixed
Let sit for 30 min
Folding:
Fold dough 4 times into itself so you are taking each quarter of the bowl and folding it over
Let sit for 30 minutes and repeat folding of dough 4-6X for 2-3 Hours until the dough holds its shape for a few seconds after folding.
Bulk Rise:
When you have finished your folding allow dough to sit covered in a warm place for 2 hours to rise
Shaping:
Tip of dough carefully onto a floured surface and cut the dough into two equal pieces
Gently form into two rounds and allow to sit for 20-30 minutes.
Now shape each loaf by bringing sides of dough into the center and allowing the dough to form a sphere. Use your hand to allow the dough to form a tight sphere and place the dough into the basket. Repeat for the second loaf.
Cover and place the baskets in the refrigerator overnight
Baking:
Preheat oven to 450 in the morning
(preheat dutch oven empty so it’s nice and hot for your bread, some dutch ovens are not recommended to be heated empty so just double check yours)
Turn out dough from basket using parchment and score with blade or knife
Place the dough in your dutch oven and bake with the lid on for 30 minutes. I like to put a cookie sheet under the dutch oven because it helps the bottom not get burnt.
After 30 minutes take the lid off and bake for another 25 minutes.
Take out and allow to cool for 1 hr before slicing.
Repeat with the second loaf that has been in the fridge.
Enjoy!
Here are some amazon affiliate links for the supplies I use
Roses are a big part of our farm now. We will have over 100 in the rose garden this year and although I have loved all of them I am starting to figure out which ones do best for our climate and are best for cutting. For instance I think Queen of Sweden is one of the most beautiful roses but for me it is better to be enjoyed on the bush as they do not have as long a vase life as other roses I grow.
Queen of Sweden
In my blog post for 2020 found here, my top rose was Francis Meilland. I still love this rose and I added a ton of them to my farm in 2021 because it was such an amazing rose for me in 2020. Sadly with the very hot summer we had and the late cold spell this spring our Francis roses are looking very sad and I didn’t get nearly the blooms I was hoping for in 2021. Farming can be really tough to predict how things will go for the year. luckily we had a unexpected winner for 2021-Tranquilty.
Tranquility is a white rose from David Austin. I planted 3 in 2020 and I don’t think it even bloomed once the whole year. But wow in 2021 it bloomed so much and the roses were perfect! I am now wishing the whole garden was just these because they are so hardy and healthy.
Tranquility
Although I say I wish I had all Tranquility that of course gets washed away when I have other amazing flowers blooming and I forget about how much trouble roses are. I think Ambridge rose is the most perfect apricot rose I have ever seen. Another David Austin and you really don’t get much prettier then this!
Ambridge
Lichfiled Angel was again at the top of my list for Creamy rose of the year. it’s just prefect and hardly has any thorns.
Lichfield Angel
And my top favorite rose for scent for 2021 was the Alnwick Rose by David Austin. It is the most fruity yummy smell ever. Kind of smells like cherry’s and citrus. I can’t wait to do tours of the garden in the future just to force everyone to smell this rose.
Alnwick Rose
So, how do we use our roses on the farm? I put them in our subscription bouquets and sell them to florists. This year we will also be doing a tea cup arranging class the first week of June when they will all be blooming like crazy.
Mothers Day is the first holiday of the year that our farm has flowers available. Our fresh cut spring flowers, including tulips, daffodils, hellebores and blooming foliage make up the bouquets we offer for Mothers Day! Below is a picture of the bouquets we had last year. I love that we can offer something unique that you wont find at a grocery store and that will last so much longer.
We also have wonderful Mothers Day gifts like our summer subscriptions. I love gifts that keep on giving and this will be a present they will remember. We focus on unique long lasting cut flowers and are happy that our subscribers are able to enjoy our freshest blooms cut within 24 hours of when you pick up or when they are delivered.
Subscription Bouquets
Last year we were busy adding lots of new peonies to our farm and so we have a limited amount of space to grow our annuals and have had to be extra picky in what we are planting. I think we have found a good mix of very unique long lasting blooms that will be ever changing throughout the season.
One last Mothers Day gift idea we have is to come to our tea party class in Kaysville, Utah. We will be filling beautiful tea cups, shipped from the UK, with all fresh locally grown flowers from our farm, including our roses. You can read about some of our favorites here. The class will also include a light spread of fresh food that we are very excited about. More info can be found about our class and subscriptions on our website.
We love when you are able to support local growers and local business so please comment if you have any local businesses you love to support for Mothers Day! I love getting plants from Joes greenhouse, they are so nice and fairly priced and located just north of us in Layton, Utah.
Why did I name our little flower farm Cherry Petals Flower Farm?? Well, for such a long time I had talked about growing and selling flowers. I started talking about a lavender field and eventually that progressed to a cut flower garden. One of the main reasons that I wanted to have some type of business was for my future children. I wanted them to learn the value of hard work and the importance of managing money. I also had a strong desire to do something creative and not just sitting behind a desk looking at spreadsheets all day (my undergrad is in accounting and masters in taxation). One thing I do love about this new part of my life is that it actually combines all the things I like doing- flowers, growing, research, planning, math, business and even tax. So, during the winter of 2016 I spent about 80+hours researching and bought my first seeds. I then applied to the Salt Lake Farmers Market and started my seeds under some grow lights. I still didn’t have a name at this point and went back and forth on so many. When I applied for the farmers market I applied under ‘Storey Orchards’, which is my grandparents’ cherry orchard where I would be growing my flowers. I really liked names with the word ‘blossom’, ‘field’ or ‘petals’ and I was almost set on Petal Fields Flower Farm but my boss said it sounded like I was saying ‘pedophile’. After many more hours my husband suggested Cherry Petals Flower Farm since I would be growing up in the cherry orchard and the name stuck. I now grow most of my flowers in our back yard since we have since moved and have more space, but the cherry orchard will always be part of the ‘Storey’.
