Cold Cocktail Time By the Pool!

    Pool time   -   Fun time!    

This time of year, nothing says summer better than easing back into a chaise lounge, with a cold delicious cocktail in your hand. As you close your eyes and slowly melt into the cushion with the trickling sound of water cascading from the pool fountain, you begin to feel the slow yet soothing waves of relaxation take over.


Wait - let's add the cocktail!

Daniel- our favorite Cocktail maker and son, has given us an amazing Craft Margarita, which he will be showcasing for us at our wild and crazy Fourth of July bash!

  Daniels Secret Craft Margarita Recipe:      

Squeeze 2 small or 1 large lime, & 1/4 orange into shaker. Drop squeezed orange and 1/8 cut of squeezed lime into skaker

1.5 oz tequila 

.75 oz grand marnier (or orange liquor of choice)

3 Finely cut slices of fresh jalapeno 

If you prefer sweeter taste, add spoonful of agave nectar 

Shake hard, add ice, shake again

Garnish with salt mixed with cayenne pepper, garlic powder, chili powder

Amazing!!!

    My Captain  Morgan  Rum  Punch     

2 OZ CAPTAIN MORGAN COCONUT RUM
2 OZ ORANGE JUICE
2 OZ RUBY RED GRAPEFRUIT JUICE (do not use canned)
1 OZ CRANBERRY JUICE

squeeze of lemon
Tsp honey

HOW TO MAKE:

1. COMBINE ALL INGREDIENTS INCLUDING CAPTAIN MORGAN COCONUT RUM IN A PITCHER AND STIR. 

     Marcia's Midori   Splash!     

Ingredients

• 2 ounces Midori 
• 1-ounce vodka 
• 1-ounce coconut rum
• 3 ounces of orange juice 
• 2 ounces ginger ale 

Instructions

1. Shake all the ingredients together in a cocktail shaker. 
2. Pour over ice into a highball glass. 
3. Garnish with melon balls, and serve.

Do Not Drink and Drive.  Stay at Elm Creek Maonr!  Enjoy Your Summer!!

Spring Always Brings Lots of Growth and Births At the Manor

As a Fully Farm to Table Inn, renewal is a necessary and rewarding necessity.

Master Chef, Marcia creates all of our artisan cheeses from our own Goats milk.  Typically we have 2-3 dairy goats at all times.  With this number of lady goats, we receive about 1 1/2 - 2 Gallons a day.  Half of our milk goes into Chevre and the other half is used to create our hard cheeses ( Gouda, Cheddar, Asiago, Gorgonzola, etc).
This year we have 8 little adorable kids, that bound around the pastures and show off to our guests.




Many of our egg hens are naturally broody and we encourage this natural method of hatching chicks.  We do not use heaters or artificial methods to hatch our chics.  Typically in one year, we have 7-9 hens that will hatch out approx 70-90 egg laying chickens.  We keep the younger hens and allow these hens to lay for 2 years. After that time we use them as meat for our family, but not guests, as they are larger and not as tender as our younger meat chickens, we use for the guest's entrees.

We maintain an Aquaponic greenhouse year round and plant traditionally as well.  Our Spring/Summer gardens are the big suppliers for our fruit and vegetables. The volume of fruits and vegetables that are gathered from this garden provides us with not only our fresh supplies to feed our guests amazing breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, but allows us to pickle many of the vegetables that we use for our Charcuterie trays. We also dry many of the fruits and vegetables to use throughout the Fall/Winter when the Fall/Winter garden is not offering the variety we are Blessed with, in the Summer.  

We also practice a very traditional and ancient farming method called "three sisters" 

 When the corn is 6 inches tall, beans and squash are planted around the corn, alternating between the two kinds of seeds. This agricultural knowledge has been used for 5,000–6,500 years.  

The three crops benefit from each other. The corn provides a structure for the beans to climb, eliminating the need for poles. The beans provide the nitrogen to the soil that the other plants use, and the squash spreads along the ground, blocking the sunlight, helping prevent the establishment of weeds. The squash leaves also act as a "living mulch", creating a microclimate to retain moisture in the soil and the prickly hairs of the vine deter pests that bother the corn and beans. Nature working to help nature in a healthy and organic ecosystem.