>> "J Schwanke's Life in Bloom" is brought to you by Albertsons Companies... with additional support from the following companies... CalFlowers... Design Master Color Tool... Smithers-Oasis... Sunshine Bouquet.

♪ >> Today on "Life in Bloom," we're looking at vegetables through the lens of flowers.

We'll visit a local farm, include vegetables in an arrangement and even use vegetables as a flower vase.

Of course, I'll also have recipes for veggie snacks and beverages.

♪ ♪ I'm J Schwanke.

Welcome to "Life in Bloom."

"Vegetables feed the body.

Flowers feed the soul."

We all know we're supposed to eat our veggies.

They're healthy fuel for our bodies, but they also make a colorful, fun addition to our flower life as well.

♪ I'm guessing most of you haven't added vegetables to a flower arrangement or arranged flowers in a vegetable.

Vegetables come in such a wide array of shapes, colors and textures.

The creative possibilities are endless.

♪ ♪ Today on "Life in Bloom," we'll show you some surprising ways to add even more vegetables into your life.

♪ I'm at Full Hollow Farm with my friends Bradley and Jamie, and they're going to tell us more about community-supported agriculture and running a farm.

♪ I love having access to local organic vegetables, and I'm dedicated to supporting local farms.

Let's see what goes into farming and how farmers provide fresh local produce throughout the entire year.

♪ ♪ So, Jamie and Brad, I've known you for a long time, and you're my farmers because we come and see you every week at the farmers market.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> So you run Full Hollow Farm.

Tell us about community-supported agriculture.

>> Sure, it's -- Basically, it's an idea that, you know, you get customers who believe in what you're doing to pay in advance for the crops we're going to grow later in the season, so we start taking sign-ups for people that essentially become a member of our farm, and they pay up front, and then they come every week, and they get what we call a share of the harvest, so we kind of go through the field and figure out what's ready this week or what are we going to have, and it's all kind of -- It's roughly planned out in the winter, but you never know exactly how stuff is going to grow, and then it's a way for customers, you know, to have a stronger connection with where they're getting their food, and then they usually get a pretty good deal on it because they're getting more.

It's not just like, "Well, you paid $25 a week.

We're going to cut you off."

It's like, "Whoa, tomatoes are really coming in," or, "We've got a lot of great stuff right now," and we give people more, and they can preserve it or something, you know.

>> It is nice too because it's, like, every year some crop doesn't do well, so it's like, oh, if we have a really great tomato year, like, a lot of tomatoes, they get a lot of tomatoes, but if we have a really bad one, it's this community that understands that, and they won't get a lot of tomatoes, but -- >> And they benefit from when you have a really good crop, too.

That's really nice.

So you mentioned winter.

I know we see you in the winter because we go to the market 52 weeks a year, and we love seeing you.

We really appreciate that, and we appreciate being able to have, you know, homegrown, organic food all year long.

That's really wonderful.

It's Michigan.

How do you manage 365 farming?

>> There's a lot of people who came before us that figured out, you know, when to plant things and when to -- or what varieties of things can survive.

They don't really grow, so everything you kind of have to get in the ground before the really bad weather comes.

>> Okay.

>> And then, you know, it can get 0 degrees out, and then in here, it's maybe 15, and so stuff didn't get hit as hard and -- >> And it's protected from the wind too.

>> Yeah.

>> Right.

>> Yeah, and then it's all about just looking at the weather and going, "Well, we have the market on Saturday, but, you know, normally, we harvest on Friday, but maybe it's going to be, you know, 10 degrees out, so we're going to harvest it on Wednesday when it's sunny and it's actually, like, 60 degrees in here," so there's a lot more playing around with timelines of when you can -- >> Hoop House helps you with that then, too.

>> Yeah, so you have Hoop House a lot.

>> And then you also have -- You have coolers too, so you can store stuff so that you -- >> Yeah.

>> I mean, there's -- It isn't just -- You're not coming out here and picking that tomato for me this morning and bringing it to the market although that's -- That is the story I have in my mind so just so you know.

>> Yeah, yeah, yeah, well, and in the winter, you're getting greens out of the hoop houses and some radishes and things, and then, right now at the end of August we're harvesting things that are going to store us through the winter, so, like, the onions and the garlic has -- finished picking the onions this week.

Garlic is out.

Pretty soon, we'll start working on the winter squash and the potatoes.

♪ >> Well, this is a wonderful farm.

Thank you for letting us come.

Thank you for letting us enjoy it and see what you do.

So, we have a tradition at "Life in Bloom."

We have flower crowns for you both.

>> Cute.

>> So you have flower crowns.

You can put them on right over your hat if you even want to.

>> Can they go over my big hat?

>> Will it go over a big hat?

>> Just about.

>> Right, right, cute.

>> And I think you've got it.

>> Oh, see, you look great, the farmers... >> We should go back to the beans.

>> ...with the flower crowns, right?

>> Cute.

>> You look really good.

>> Yeah, you do you look good.

You look good.

I appreciate it so much, and thank you for growing wonderful, wonderful produce for us and organic things that we can eat all the time.

We really appreciate that so much.

It makes us feel better.

It makes us feel healthier, and we love that there's good people behind it so... >> Well, thanks for eating it because that's really important, too.

>> Yeah.

>> We love it.

We love it.

Thanks.

I appreciate it.

♪ With all the great produce here at Full Hollow Farm, I couldn't help but make a beautiful arrangement from all of the vegetables and a few flowers.

I lined a basket with a waterproof container and stacked soaked flower foam into it.

I secure blocks of foam together by inserting bamboo stakes at opposing angles.

Leave room in your container for a water reserve, which helps extend the life of the arrangement.

♪ Entire bunches of carrots can be secured into the arrangement with a bamboo stake.

Bunches of carrots or beets add interesting texture and color to the arrangement.

♪ One of my favorite tricks is with cabbage.

So, you can take cabbage like this and cut it in a pattern.

We'll cut across it.

We'll cut across that.

And we'll cut across one more time.

So we've made three slits in the top.

Then we drop it into a bucket of water.

You need to do that about 24 hours in advance because then we get a cabbage that looks like this.

It's like a rose.

It opens up.

♪ ♪ Placing two bamboo stakes into larger vegetables or fruit helps to secure the placement into the flower foam.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Some produce can be stacked into the arrangement without stakes.

♪ ♪ ♪ Once the produce is in place, add flowers and foliage in between, directly into the flower foam.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ It can be a challenge incorporating more healthy vegetables into your snack choices.

That's why we love cauliflower popcorn.

There are so many variations.

Everyone can find a variety that they like.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Today for "Flower Cocktail Hour," we'll be making a capresé martini, and I'll put a twist on it by adding a little bit of balsamic vinegar.

We'll start with our basil.

We'll muddle some basil leaves in our shaker.

♪ We'll add 4 ounces of tomato-infused vodka.

♪ ♪ We'll add ice.

And shake well.

Our garnish for this are mozzarella balls that have been infused in olive oil.

♪ We'll add just a drop of balsamic vinegar.

And we'll garnish with a basil blossom.

Cheers.

♪ ♪ Here is a fun way for you to incorporate food and flowers together.

We'll use some decorative bell peppers, and we'll fill this with foam and place flowers inside the bell pepper.

Because this provides a waterproof chamber, we can cut out the center of the pepper... and pop out the interior.

Now we've got a vessel for placing flower foam.

I like this assortment of peppers because you get an orange, a yellow and a red one.

We're going to use orange, yellow and red flowers inside the pepper as well.

You could use a green bell pepper or any one that you would get at the grocery store.

We'll take and cut a small piece of foam that will fit down inside.

I'll taper it on the bottom so that it fits in there perfectly.

Also, you'll want to remember that this has the lifespan of a pepper.

We'll bevel the edges of the foam.

It rounds off the foam and makes it easier for us to place flowers into it.

Now I'm ready to add my flowers.

We can start with a beautiful yellow rose.

That takes up a lot of room in our foam, so we'll go in with our bigger flowers first.

We'll add a couple of carnations... ♪ ...and then a few spray asters.

♪ We'll use the smaller blossoms towards the top.

♪ ♪ And then we'll add some chartreuse green spray chrysanthemums.

These are called pompons, and I like to use those to fill in between the other flowers.

The green color makes the other colors look even more vibrant.

We're breaking off each stem so that we can use the blossoms individually.

♪ ♪ ♪ Tucking the flowers in tight allows me to cover the foam at the edge of the pepper.

♪ ♪ This pepper worked ideally because it stood up on its own.

In this case, these are better on their sides.

I could use the same technique by cutting a hole in the side and bringing my flowers out the side of the pepper.

Displaying the peppers together is a fun way to create a centerpiece for your table or perhaps a picnic.

♪ ♪ Artichokes are a perennial plant native to the Mediterranean.

The artichoke is dated back to at least the 8th century BC by Homer and Hesiod.

Artichoke as food dates back to the ancient Greeks and Romans.

Artichokes are part of the thistle species.

The artichoke is now cultivated as a food.

The artichoke contains an inflorescence, which is a cluster of many small budding flowers.

The edible part of the plant is actually the flower buds before they bloom.

The artichoke is very high in antioxidants, one of the greatest reported for all vegetables.

Although grown primarily as a food source, some gardeners choose to grow the attractive plant in part to its large purple flower heads and bold foliage.

A flowering artichoke is a beautiful sight.

♪ We can use asparagus to decorate our flower vase.

Use a cylinder vase and two bunches of asparagus.

Transfer the rubber bands to the vase, and place the stems inside the rubber band.

♪ Work your way around the vase, placing the asparagus stems next to one another to completely cover the vase.

Depending upon the size of the vase, you can use more or less asparagus stems.

♪ ♪ Once you've got them arranged all the way around the outside, drop your other rubber band over the top to hold it in place.

Asparagus isn't the only vegetable you can use.

You could use carrots or celery to achieve the same look.

Add flowers to the vase.

Place single stems or bundle your flowers and secure into a bunch.

♪ Vegetables are amazing in your garden, on your plate, in your glass or coupled with flowers.

We hope you've been inspired to use them in some new and creative ways.

For "Life in Bloom," I'm J Schwanke.

See you next time.

>> Get a lot of other ones.

>> That's right.

>> We get the moon, full moons, full fun hollow.

>> Really?

>> Yeah.

>> Really?

>> I'm like, "Is it that hard of a name?"

>> Maybe we should've picked a different name.

And then you worked in Kentucky on the first farm you worked at, and they called the fields hollars.

>> Oh, yeah.

>> And so it's really "hollar," but we don't really care about that.

>> Not in Michigan.

>> Yeah, that would make it even more confusing.

>> Right, right, right, it's true.

It's true.

>> But it was like, "Go down to the farm hollar to get some chard or whatever," and then it isn't here so... >> That makes perfect sense, yeah.

I know about the hollar.

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah, down in the hollar.

>> Yeah.

>> Over there.

>> Yeah.

>> In fact, kind of over down in there.

It's good.

You ready?

>> Okay.

>> Okay.

"J Schwanke's Life in Bloom" is filmed in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

>> "J Schwanke's Life in Bloom" is brought to you by Albertsons Companies... with additional support from the following companies... CalFlowers... Design Master Color Tool... Smithers-Oasis... Sunshine Bouquet.

♪ Closed-caption funding provided by Ocean View Flowers.

♪ For everything flowers, recipes, projects, and more information, visit ubloom.com.