A Picnic in the Herb Garden

Meet You In The Herb Garden for a Picnic

My Herb Garden means a lot to me.

It was one of the first sections on our property that we sectioned off and cultivated into something very productive that nourishes us and that we appreciate as being very special. It’s always been my particular project. Oh, I do enlist Gordon to help me with the heavy lifting sometimes, but it is always mostly just me behind this project.

My Very First Herb Garden

Click Here For: Julie’s Herb Garden

This was the beginning. Gordon built that trellis that you see from scrap wood that he purchased at Home Depot. Total cost in building that trellis was only $10.00.

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My Herb Garden then became a bit more:

Julie’s New Herb Garden

We expanded it, we built the retaining wall up higher, added more pots, more herbs…

And now once again we are changing it up a bit:

With Stones

The Stones that you see in the photos above were once in front of our C-Shaped Retaining Wall in our backyard. It was my idea to move them over here because we are having our backyard professionally done with nice pavers and we needed to move them anyway. This part of the yard is very hard to grow grass because it is such an active foot path for us and our dogs. This side of our yard also tends to flood during rainy season and I was tired of tramping through wet muddy ground. Now I have nice stones to step onto.

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Julie’s Herb Garden

I think everything looks lovely over here in my Herb Garden.

A Perfect Place For a Picnic

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On the Menu is:

Julie’s Herby Weedy Chicken Salad

(Many Herbs from my Garden, and Many Purslane Flowering Weeds)

Onion Buns

Artisan Lettuce

Alfalfa Sprouts

Cucumber – Onion Salad

Our Pickled Pearl Onions

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Would you like for me to make you a sandwich?

Here, you can have mine.

The pretty flowers are my Purslane Flowering Weeds. They are actually quite tasty and they do add this great crunch to the sandwich. I promise, you will love it!

Purslane

The Health Benefits of Purslane are Extensive

I have been using it on many of our foods now for years.

They are not only beautiful, they are healthy as well.

Purslane Flowers Come in Many Colors

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The Cucumber and Onion Salad with Tarragon is Divine!

The Accent is our Pickled Pearls

What a Delicious Picnic Lunch

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My Herby Cocktail

(A Nice Herby Garden Treat)

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I love how the stones look all around my Herb Garden area.

They Really Fill in Nicely

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Gathering Herbs in my Herb Garden

A Daily Occurrence

I wanted to make a Chicken Salad that was loaded with Herbs from our Garden.

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Gathering the Purslane Weeds

Pink, Orange, and Yellow Purslane Weedy Flowers

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Washing my Artisan Lettuce, My Herbs, and My Purslane Weeds

My Purslane Flowering Weeds Drying

Putting Together My Herby Weedy Chicken Salad Sandwich

Toasted Onion Bread with our homemade Tarragon Mustard, Artisan Lettuce, Alfalfa Sprouts, Chicken Salad and Colorful Purslane Flowering Weeds

Accented By our Pickled Pearls and some Stuffed Peppers and Pickles

You can find our Mustard Recipes Here:

Pork, Sausage, and Mustard

AND,

Click Here For: Our Black and White Pickled Pearls

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Julie’s Herby Weedy Chicken Salad

What a Beautiful Table

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How I Did It:

Chicken Salad has always been one of my most favorite Spring and Summer foods.

I grew up in the Deep South and I know how special those Summer Salads are.

Chicken Salad was a staple in my Grandparents home and I make mine just as she made hers except, I then added my own touch to her salad and I then made it all mine. But, mine is always based on hers.

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BOIL THE CHICKEN..

UNTIL THE MEAT IS FALLING OFF THE BONES

Because I have made my Chicken Salad on other pages on this website I didn’t want to start at the beginning, but I will tell you the ingredients. To me, these kinds of salads are taste and preference oriented. For example, I don’t like a lot of mayonnaise in mine. So therefore, I use just enough to combine all of the ingredients, and I don’t have my salad swimming in mayo like other people do.

So, the basics that I have here are:

An entire Chicken boiled until the meat falls off the bone. Then all of the meat, white and dark, is removed and placed into a mixing bowl. It’s at this point where I do add some mayonnaise. I may add more as the making of the salad goes on. I also add some Mustard. Just a few squirts or even a spoon full or two from our homemade mustard’s. Lots of Freshly Ground Black Pepper, because I do love Black Pepper. A few dashes of a good hot sauce. The Hot Sauce of the South is Tabasco. Again, this is to taste.

I did add 3 Hard Boiled Eggs to this. Depending on the size of the chicken. Sometimes I only add 2 but this was a pretty big chicken.

I did chop some Onions and some Celery and adding the amounts that I wanted.

I also added some Pickle Relish, just a few spoonfuls and some Sweet Pickle Juice from another jar in our refrigerator. Just a few drizzles to add some great flavor.

Now I Combine All of These Ingredients

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Next Comes All Those Great New Extras

HERBS!!!!

Chives, Curly and Flat Parsley, Thyme, and Tarragon

Washed All the Herbs and Added Them to my Chicken Salad

I scissored the Chives, and plucked the Parsley Leaves whole

I wanted to be able to recognize the Herbs that I was eating and not just see a bunch of green bits in my salad.

I also added some Slivered Almonds for great crunch.

Now for Something Sweet, Red Grapes

Isn’t it Beautiful?

I then added some of my Purslane Weedy Flowers to my Chicken Salad.

They look pretty, don’t they?

Beautiful, Healthy, and Delicious

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Gordon’s Cucumber and Onion Salad

In keeping with our healthy Herb Garden Picnic Gordon created this salad to go along.

Not just fresh but very tasty!

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The Ingredients:

Gordon did some taste testing and discovered that when he combined these two salad dressings, Newman’s Own Zesty Italian and Ken’s Steak House Sweet Vidalia Onion, he had created a new taste that was very tasty. 🙂

This salad is simple.

Just chopped Onions, and sliced Cucumber.

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Cucumbers and Onions

Some Freshly Ground Black Pepper…

And Some Salt

Now to Add the Salad Dressings to Taste

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Toss

Then set into the refrigerator for the salad to chill a bit and the flavors to blend.

Add a Sprig of Tarragon and Serve

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This drink is a spin on one they love to drink in many Arab countries.

The original drink calls for lemonade, ice, and mint all blended.

T&W Lemonela

Ingredients:

~20 Ice Cubes

~3/4 Cup Margarita Mix

Country Time Lemonade Mix – as per directions or to taste

Water – as per directions from Country Time Lemonade Mix

Lemon Zest from one lemon

1 Cup Mint Leaves

~5-6 Shots Lemonela – T&W Florida Meyer Lemon Liquor

Garnish:

More mint sprigs and sliced lemon

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Add your ice and Margarita mix to the blender.

Now, add your Country Time Lemonade Mix to the blender as needed.

Then add your water as per directions or to taste.

Zest your lemon into the mix.

Then add your fresh mint leaves.

Here, I am adding more mint leaves and sliced lemon to the pitcher we will be serving the drink in. Add to the blender your shots of Lemonela.

Blend all the ingredients together as shown.

Pour the blended mixture into a large pitcher with the sliced lemon and mint sprigs.

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Time For My Picnic

I Am Certainly Excited!

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Creating our New Herb Garden Pathway

Here are where our stones came from.

We purchased these many years ago when Gordon laid this very casual patio area. But, when we were going to have this professionally done we knew that we had to remove the stones. That is when I told Gordon that I think they would look great all along beside my Herb Garden.

You can see here how we ruin the grass with our footpath.

Here Gordon is Laying the Stones

My brother Johnny in Ireland looked at them and thought they looked expensive. I told him they were only about $2.00-$3.00 per stone. They just look nice.