The Yelton Manor Bed and Breakfast wouldn’t have spring without lots and lots and LOTS of pansies!!!

    Our beautiful 4th of July garden party made for a wonderful article in the Michigan Blue magazine!

This beautiful article was published today in Michigan Blue Magazine, Spring 2012!!

We had a great garden party and hope you enjoy the photos too!

  We were delighted that Michigan Blue Magazine featured Yelton Manor B&B in the Spring, 2012 issue.

In an article titled “Garden of Eatin’”, Yelton Manor B&B’s gardens and special guests are the stars at a 4th of July cocktail party. The theme is how we cultivate herbs and edible flowers in our own garden for use in our gourmet kitchen. Are we thrilled to be featured?  Yes indeed!

We grow cherry tomatoes in big pots right in the walkways to The Manor Guest House.  We pluck them right off the vines and pop them into our mouths as we pass by all summer long.

When the cherry tomatoes are ripening by bowlfuls daily, this simple, fresh and delicious appetizer is always appreciated.  We grow multi-colored varieties making the presentation extra beautiful.

Cut top off tomatoes, scoop out inner seeds with a melon baller.  Stuff with pieces of good quality feta cheese (preferably goat feta cheese). As an option, it’s especially nice to top with a reduced balsamic vinegar. Simply bring some good quality balsamic vinegar to a gentle boil in a small saucepan, stirring, until it is reduced to a thickened syrup.  Drizzle over the top of the tomatoes.

Arrange on a pretty platter and top with chopped, fresh dill.  Voila!

  Yum! What’s better than homemade jam, both on the breakfast table and as a gift to friends? But don’t do all the work just to create a forgettable jam that you can just as easily find at the supermarket (I hereby decree a ban on grape and  strawberry jams!). Here’s a spread that captures the bold sweetness of summer blueberries offset by the eye-opening tartness of fresh lemon zest.

It also has a wonderful texture because the pulp of the blueberry is not discarded.

In August I preserve a slew of pints for serving at The Manor, but also dozens of half-pint jelly jars for “taste of the Manor kitchen” gifts.

What’s even better? If you gobble up your entire summer’s harvest, you can still make this in the dead of winter with frozen blueberries! What are you waiting for?

9 cups fresh or frozen (unsweetened) blueberries
6 lemons
9 cups sugar

Sort, stem, wash and drain the blueberries. Using a zester, peel the lemon into thin strips. Be careful to peel only the yellow part, not the bitter, white pith. In a saucepan, cover the peel with water. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Drain and set aside. Feel free to experiment with extra peel if you want to increase the tartness and/or texture of the marmalade.

Juice the lemons. Measure the juice and add water to obtain a total of 1-1/2 cups.

In a large preserving pan, crush the berries with a potato masher. Add the blanched peel,sugar and lemon juice. Bring to a boil over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Continue to boil gently until the marmalade reaches 220 degrees F on a candy/jam thermometer. Ladle hot marmalade into sterilized jars, with 1/2 inch headspace, and process in a water bath according to standard methods.

Makes 6 pints or 12 half-pints.

I can’t imagine my life without dozens and dozens of jars of this gorgeous relish on my shelf. I make it every summer after arranging with a local produce farm to grow a crop of purple basil (genus Dark Opal) for me, but you can grow this peppery, beautiful basil just as easily at home in pots or the perennial border. Before we were vegetarians we would baste pork roast with it, scrumptious! I serve it up to guests simply as a topper for cream cheese on plain crackers. It has an indescribable color (garnet?) and a sweet/tart taste with a subtle overtone of orange and clove. You will never find this delicacy on a supermarket shelf, and it’s sooooo worth the effort. Double and triple the recipe as you see fit and process in half-pint jelly jars according to proper canning techniques. YUM!

1 1/2 cups (packed) washed and drained purple basil leaves, including tender stems and flower buds
Zest(outer peel only, no white pith) of a bright-skinned medium orange, 1″ strips
6 whole cloves
1 2/3 cups strained fresh orange juice
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
4 cups sugar
3 oz. liquid pectin

Chop the basil into a large saucepan, Twist each orange zest over the basil to catch the oil that will fly out in droplets, then drop zest into pan. Add the cloves, orange juice and red wine vinegar. Set over medium heat until boiling, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and let stand 1 hour. Pour the mixture over a fine sieve or cheesecloth over a bowl, and press to extract as much flavor as possible. You should have 1 1/2 cups of the liquid after discarding the solids.

Add the sugar to the liquid and heat to boiling over medium heat. When a hard boil is achieved (won’t stir down), add the pectin. After achieving a hard boil again, boil for exactly 1 minute. Remove from heat. Skim any foam and pour into hot, sterilized jars with 1 inch of headspace. Seal with paraffin or water bath with lids. Cool, label and store the jars.

  I was at Menards this morning to buy renovation supplies and stopped dead in my tracks in front of a wall of garden seeds. It was like the heavens opened in my poor winter-chilled heart, I could almost hear the harp music! The sweet peas will have to be started as early as March, inside. The nasturtiums, morning glories, moon flowers, allyssum, herbs and others will wait until the last threat of frost is over, around Memorial Day. Yes, I would love to have a greenhouse and start them earlier, *big sigh*. But I get a hefty lift of spirit just gazing at their colors and their promise today as they sit on the kitchen counter.

If you love gardening, touch base with my dear friend Christine’s passionate project, called Green Thumb du Jour. There is much to see on her website, and you can email here there to be put on her list for daily emails about all things earth, sky and in between. I’ve been enjoying her daily gems for almost 20 years, a true treasure!

Christine is also the generous, hard working body and soul behind “Vacant to Vegetables”, a project to turn abandoned and unused land into fresh produce for food pantries. If you are on Facebook, check it out.  I love and revere her!

  It’s an incurable passion.  The award-winning gardens at The Manor, now almost 25 years in the making, are the perfect partner to the Lake Michigan beach for the rest and rejuvenation of mind, body and spirit. The gardens have evolved from a bit of early formality, with over 200 rose bushes way back when, to a more cottage-type English garden.

Beginning in Spring, 2012, and continuing for 3-5 years, we will be transitioning The Manor gardens to honor the new realities that Mother Nature has revealed to us. We are, of course, dedicated to the garden’s beauty and its mission to inspire, then, now and always. But we will be evolving to include more indigenous beach perennial grasses and midwestern wildflowers, all in the spirit of mindful conservation.

We will be composting much more, enriching the soil naturally with all the eggshells, banana peels and coffee grounds any house could ever dream to produce. We hope to conserve water too.

We will be enhancing our edible herb, flower and vegetable gardens while we downsize and naturalize our “fashion” gardens. We trust you will enjoy and appreciate our commitment to sustainability and functionality.  Life changes, it’s good that gardens do too. We appreciate your comments and suggestions in this ongoing effort.

Southwest Michigan is a mecca for greenhouses, nurseries and landscape centers. We are happy to direct you to our favorites for your own garden inspirations!