Summer Garden Update
Things are growing well in our garden + we’ve been making use of the benefits as often as possible. We planted Missouri native bee + butterfly flowers to help support our local bee + monarch population. These native plants tend to adapt more easily to the climate of our region which provides them a greater opportunity to thrive. The beautiful Incarnata milkweed will eventually provide some much needed food for the monarchs this fall. Its tall pink flowers also create a visually appealing edge to our garden. Along the wall we planted cardinal flowers, asters, coneflowers + blackeyed susans. We also planted a baptisia plant that will help hide 
our air conditioners as it grows in the middle of the garden.
The remainder of the garden is filled with herbs, which are essential for us. Here at the flavor kitchen we use fresh herbs in anything + everything. By having a well stocked + thriving herb garden we continue to live out our mission of using local ingredients whilst keeping our own costs down. One of our favorite uses for the fresh herbs this summer has been to incorporate the flavors in our house-made vins. We make a variety of vins from a basil-lavender vin to a buttermilk + herb vin to various marinades for our meats. Another use that we’ve enjoyed is incorporating the fresh mint to make our chocolate mint bites as part of our boxed lunches. We steep the mint in cream for an extended period of time which really brings the mint flavor to the forefront in the finished chocolate mint.
