Briarcliff Manor Garden Club
"The Briar Patch"
Susan Zetkov-Lubin
Several members of Briarcliff Manor Garden Club ventured over to The New York Herb Society of America's 65th Annual Herb Fair at John Jay Homestead, in Katonah, yesterday. The estate is massive & the parking lot was filled to capacity. However, we managed to find a perfect parking place, across from The Potting Shed.
With its shed door ajar, we passed through it, entering access to the herb garden; a bucolic bit of earth, which exhaled sweet perfumes of alyssum. It reminded me of the Cloister's Medieval Bonnefont Herb Garden, but instead of quince trees, there were Meyer lemon trees and lablab purpureus (better known as hyacinth bean), which were well-trellised & in bloom. I could have easily sat on a garden bench for hours, watching the bees pollinate but there was much more to see...
Continuing on, approaching white tents, which were set up for vendors was a scene, much like a Merchant Ivory movie--men with walking canes, women with garden hats, serious gardeners clutching baskets filled with wildflowers & herbs. Some sipping tea, some sampling jams, children running about...like an old-fashioned English country fair from a different era.
And to compliment all this loveliness, who should we run into but Laura, Ryan & Ron (the wonderful Martha Stewart Team we had met when BMGC toured Martha's Cantitoe Farm in Bedford, this past June). Ryan was holding a cup of "lovage soup", which Laura said that the Herb Society was selling on the other side of the tents. She provided "on the spot" the recipe, saying it was very easy to make & that we better get some soon before it sells out!
Proceeding into the tent, we checked out all the vendors. Beekeeper D. J. Havercamp was selling jars of local honey & master gardener Vivian Utko, demonstrated culinary herbal techniques. There were so many vendors: state fair blue-ribbon jam & jelly vendors (Forgotten Recipes), tea vendors (The Cozy Tea Cart), cookie vendors, soap vendors, herb and plant vendors, potpourri vendors (just to mention a few) and stacks & stacks of garden books to purchase--just so much herbal wonderfulness under one tent!
We stood on line for "lovage soup" There were also choices of sandwiches and beverages. The setting was totally pastoral with people sitting at cloth-covered tables, enjoying their lunches. Emily Hoile, played a Scottish folk harp, while we sat on a bale of hay, listening to her music and sipping our soup.
Back inside the tents, we came across Tea-RRrific, a vendor selling tea-infused ice-creams. We sampled all of them, settling on an apple-honey-flavored chamomile ice-cream but the lavender was equally as delicious.
It was the best time ever & I highly, highly, highly recommend putting this annual event on your calendar for next year. And do make sure you tour the grounds, which are lovingly & most expertly tended by volunteer members of The Herb Society.
Meanwhile, please enjoy a recipe for "lovage soup" and take a look at some photos I took yesterday.
~Sue
The New York's Unit Lovage Soup Recipe
(Courtesy of the NY Unit of The Herb Society of America)
Ingredients
2 leeks (white part) minced
2 white onions, chopped
2 T butter
4 Eastern potatoes, pared & sliced
3 cups chicken broth
1/2 t salt
1 cup half-and-half
1 cup shredded lovage leaves
Put leeks & onions in a heavy saucepan with 1 tablespoon butter. Simmer until soft, but not brown. Add potatoes & broth & cook until potatoes are very soft. Cook the lovage in another pan, covered in 1 tablespoon of butter. Press the potato mixture through a fine sieve or process in a blender. Add the lovage and reheat with the half-and-half.
Note: This is one of the treasured recipes of our unit. We serve it every year at our fair.
