Herb Gardening Road Trip

I have this fantasy that we are going to create the ultimate herbal demonstration garden here on our hill so that we can bring people to our property to study the many uses these plants provide. It is turning out to be a long term project. We are putting off building the new raised beds until the roof gets fixed and the road gets repaired. This has not yet deterred me from starting to collect the herbs I envision in these gardens! It just means a they will have to live in pots for a while. I love the thrill of the hunt!

As much as I love collecting herbs and flowers (and I am a true collector!) I love photographing them. So, in order to add to our inventory we traveled to Austin on Saturday. This is reason we started the day (very early) and traveled to the Arnosky Flower Farm. Visit them on line at www.texascolor.com. I have watched this family grow their business for years by growing flowers and herbs for the HEB's Central Markets . I had not been to the farm stand in about 4 years. I wanted get there when they opened at 9 a.m. to take pictures of the flowers at a time day when the light was rich with color. We arrived and found that they had received at least 7 inches of rain in the past week and the fields were very muddy. I managed to make it to one area before I realized that it was not worth getting my clogs stuck, not to mention the car. The flowers, however, did not let me down. They also have a few perennial plants and well as some fall lettuce starts. We also picked up some squash and goat cheese for dinner and their new barn is gorgeous. The few shots I got were worth the stop!

We then traveled on to the Sunset Valley Farmers Market (www.sunsetfarmersmarket.org) and found lots of treasures to bring home. We picked up fresh okra, lamb shanks, grass fed beef, homemade wheat berry bread. There was even a couple selling dried herbs and teas. I did not see any other fresh herbs other than fresh basil. I see a business opportunity here people!!!
It was a beehive (yes the pun is intended here) of activity! Yes there was fresh honey too!

After a quick lunch to a great Cajun place called Evangeline Cafe (www.evangelinecafe.com) we were off to visit a nursery we had not been to in a long time that has a great selection of hard to find herbs ...It's About Thyme (www.itsaboutthyme.com). They have antique roses, herbs, perennials and tropicals. I love seeing the birds in the greenhouse (no shop cat here!) and the demonstration garden out back. I did not have enough room in the car to pick up the plants I wanted so we will have to make a return trip soon. I loved the mint hanging baskets!

We finished the day by heading over to The Natural Gardener where the focus of the day was fall veggie gardening (www.naturalgardeneraustin.com) and the square foot gardening technique. We left here with tools to clean out our own beds, a few fall bulbs and some seeds to get in the ground. We love coming here because the staff always is pleasant, knowledgeable and helpful. They have a great selection of herbs here too. I really like their "herb garden" as it is a garden planted with herbs and perennials.

Next weekend we have the Hill Country Lavender Festival to look forward to. Six farms in around Johnson City & Stonewall are celebrating the fall bloom with farm tours and activities. For more detailed information go to www.johsoncitytexaschamber.com and go to the calender of events page.