Here’s a sample of one of her creations – looks divine, doesn’t it?!

It’s about as easy as it sounds – we harvested the seeds, dried them on the window sill for a few days, stored them in a labeled paper bag, and put them in a lower cabinet (any cool, dry, and dark place will do). We planted the seeds in our basement nursery this March and transplanted them to the garden in May. This year’s crop and some of the seeds we are saving are shown below.

We’re repeating the cycle this year – we’ve got ourselves homegrown, pesticide-free seeds that keep giving without any extra cost to us. This is an idea we love and we’ve done it with most of our vegetables and some of our flowers!

We had the opportunity to sample spring and autumn honey collected from beepods at EcoFair360. The autumn honey is our personal favorite and truth be told, it is the most delicious honey we’ve ever tasted. We were also able to see how the beepods are configured. They are minimalistic yet attractive, and are spread out horizontally, which makes the hive safe and accessible to manage. Each comb is able to be pulled up separately, so there is no need to tear a hive apart for inspection.

Beekeeping is not as time-intensive as we thought it would be. Approximately 30 – 45 minutes needs to be spent with the bees every two weeks. Beepods also provides “Beesentations”, workshops, classes, and mentorships for those that are interesting in raising their own bees. We’ll stick to supporting our local honey producers, but if you are adventurous, urban beekeeping may be for you.

Lemon-Rosemary Marinade

1/3 cup olive oil, 1 thinly sliced lemon, 6 sprigs of rosemary, and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt. Best with chicken, chops, shrimp, summer squash, zucchini, and red onions.

Ginger-Sesame Marinade

1/4 c low-sodium soy sauce, 1 tb grated ginger, 1 tb sesame oil, 2 thinly sliced scallions, 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper. Best with beef pork, shrimp, salmon, bell peppers, eggplant, and mushrooms.

Southwestern Marinade

1/2 c cilantro, 1/4 c OJ, 1/4 c olive oil, 1 halved and sliced jalapeno, 1/2 tsp kosher salt. Best with chicken, steak, chops, scallops, mahi mahi, bell peppers, summer squash, and zucchini.

Honey-Soy Glaze

1/4 c honey, 2 tbs low-sodium soy sauce. Best with steak, chops, ribs, salmon, bell peppers, eggplant, and mushrooms.

Tangy Apricot Glaze

1/2 c apricot jam, 2 tbs white wine vinegar, 1/4 tsp kosher salt. Best with wings and pork.

So, Green Mansions Foundation has spent the morning looking up new and creative ways to consume said squash. Here are a few of the tastiest-sounding recipes we could find. We’ll let you know how they turn out. Any suggestions?

Paula Deen’s Southern-Style Squash Casserole Recipe - mmm, loads of butter and a cracker crust. We don’t think we can go wrong with this one.

Squash and Onions and Brown Sugar – Sweet and simple.

Smothered Yellow Squash with Basil – Combines two of our favorite garden plants! Plus, this recipe uses olive oil instead of butter.

Summer Squash Bread Recipe - A twist on the traditional zucchini bread. Add pecans for sweet crunchiness.