In ancient Rome, roses were often added to celebratory cuisine, and Middle Eastern fare still includes roses in numerous desserts. In America, candied rose petals were a favorite during the Victorian era.

It's been a good year for roses.   Not only are the fragrant flowers useful (we like to make rose petal syrup to flavor lemonade -- which is a favorite and desserts) but our goats love the roses too.  We get a kick watching the goats eat roses - thorns and all. Yeah, ouch I say!  But they could care less about the thorns and munch happily on one of their favorite treats.

Now with the peaches coming in season, going to try mixing flowers and fruit!

Nothing goes to waste here on the urban homestead; if it's not consumed by people or by our animals then the worms get the rest.

Yesterday we went over to a friends for an afternoon full of canning, gabbing and even a bit of swimming in their non chlorinated pool which once housed their poultry fryers but that's another story.   In between chatting and chowing down on homemade hummus and carrots from the Farmer's Market, we gals grated at least 8 lbs worth of daikon radish, made some of it into sweet relish (modified this recipe a bit - grated the radish instead of chopping) and the rest will be fermented into kimchi today.

Also made up a batch of deliciously fragrant rose petal syrup (of course sans the red food coloring) which I make every year with our old fashion roses.  I love using this aromatic syrup for flavoring desserts or in ice cold homemade lemonade.

After a productive afternoon, I divided up the fruits of our labor - sharing the bounty and blessings of our harvest.