Welcome to the Blue Owl!
Blue Owl Garden Emporium herb farm offers locally and sustainably grown culinary herbs, edible flowers, herbal seasoning blends and teas, and a variety of other herbal concoctions. With about 200 dried herbs available during the winter and as many as 175 fresh ones during the summer, it's likely we can fill your every culinary herb need. All grown in Licking Co. Ohio without synthetic pesticides or artificial fertilizers.
We also offer culinary mushrooms, grow-your-own mushroom logs, native fruits, and various other forest edibles in season from our forest farm, Blue Owl Hollow. Our mushroom selection is seasonal and includes: shiitake, nameko, mukitake, several oysters, wine-cap stropharia, lion's mane, reishi, and maitake. Not content with mere comestibles, we have a growing line of forest-derived crafts, such as rustic "rosewood" buttons (cleverly created from that invasive shrub every forest landowner loves to hate, multiflora rose!), fatwood firestarters, and Swedish log candles.
Our fascination with unusual-but-useful plants ensures that we always have something of interest on hand. Blue Owl products are available at several Central Ohio farmers markets and small businesses. Yes, inflation seems to be the new normal, but you can keep more of those dollars within our community by visiting your favorite Central Ohio farmers markets and patronizing other locally-owned businesses!
April showers bring May flowers.... and HERBS!
Although the April showers resulted in some flooding and somehow haven't quite stopped yet, we DO have some very succulent early fresh herbs coming to market: various mints, thymes, sage, lovage, lemon balm, catnip, chives, sorrel, angelica, oreganos, herbal salad greens.... to list a few. Stop by the Worthington market, now outdoors on High Street, and check them out.
And, in case you missed it, Catnip Catnap Mats are HERE! Our lastest cat accessory is now ready for the big time. Introducing Blue Owl's Catnip Catnap Mat (aka the NipNap Mat ;-).
Classes, Workshares, Workshops:
NEW! Introducing the Blue Owl Herb Growing workshare!
Many people have asked about an herb-focused workshare and I think I've finally found the right project: herb bed re-vitalization and maintenance. With 60+ raised production beds for growing herbs, the need to be reinforcing, re-planting, weeding, fertilizing, and generally maintaining beds is never-ending. Sometimes it's just a matter of weeding and mulching existing plantings, but often a bed pretty much needs to be rebuilt from scratch. One weekend of every month during the growing season (May - October, Saturday or Sunday afternoons, depending on weather), you are welcome to join Janell in renewing one of the Blue Owl Garden Emporium production beds from the ground up. While we work, we'll talk about soils and fertility, crop rotation, pest control, the history and growing requirements of specific herbs, planting techniques, weeding strategies, etc. The workshare is free and participants will leave with a better understanding of how to construct long-term planting areas... and most likely also take away plant starts, herb cuttings, seeds, or other gifts from the garden. Note: this will be a new workshare, so there'll undoubtedly be some refinement required as we go along, please be patient. As with the mushroom workshare, pre-registration is REQUIRED.
Stay tuned for the schedule...
Other news of note:
Plant Hardiness Zone update:
In other news, the USDA has updated its Plant Hardiness Zone maps. Based on 30-year averages of the lowest annual winter temperatures, it is used to determine which plants will survive winters outdoors. This is a BIG DEAL for gardeners and farmers -- the last update was 2012 -- although Blue Owl Hollow's zone didn't actually change this time (we're still Zone 6a). For more information and downloadable maps, read this OSU Buckeye Yard & Garden onLine article.
Past news items of interest, including links to various presentation materials, are also available.
February 2024
Loose-leaf teas:
- Herbal teas
- Black tea & herb blends
- Chai blends
- Choco-teas
- Mulling spice
Seasonings:
- Dry rubs & brines
- Salt-free seasonings
- Gourmet herbs w/salt seasonings
- Umami seasonings
- Herbal baking mixes
Dried herbs
(~150 varieties)
- Makrut lime leaves
- Several mints
- 5 kinds of oregano
- Culinary herbs
- Edible flowers
- Tea herbs
- Dye herbs
- Fragrance herbs
- Insect-repellent herbs
- Gourmet ethnic herbs
- Incense herbs
Forest products:
- Mushrooms, dried
- Spruce/pine/fir tips
- Sunchokes
- Sumac berries
- Spicebush berries
- Fatwood firestarters
Crafted products:
- Grow-your-own mushroom logs $50
- Catnip toys
- Multiflora "rosewood" buttons
- Dream pillows
- Moth Be-Gone bags
- Herb sachets
- Smudges