Long Creek Herb Farm Pizza

Ozarks Gardening
Copyright 2013, Jim Long

USA Today story.

We’ve been honored with a pizza named for us! Three years ago USA Today asked readers to choose the best pizzas in America. One pizza place in each state was chosen as the winner. Reeds Spring Pizza won the best Pizza in Missouri, and was given the honor of one of the top-50 best pizza places across America. This year, once again, Reeds Spring Pizza came out number one in Missouri. That’s high praise from customers.

Flavie Mirat with a Long Creek Herb Farm pizza out of the oven.

So it’s easy to see why we felt especially honored when Reeds Spring Pizza announced this week they were adding a special Long Creek Herb Farm pizza to their already impressive menu. (They have been using two of my salad dressing recipes from my book, The Best Dressed Salad, for several years).

Long Creek Herb Farm Pizza

What’s on “our” special pizza? First, their own recipe thin crust pizza dough, covered with lemon-rosemary olive oil, then spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, fresh basil, parmesan cheese, pecans, bacon and topped with kalamata olives and baked. When the pizza comes out of the oven, it’s topped with fresh, edible flowers! People drive from several states to eat at Reeds Spring Pizza and if you happen to be there, ask for the Long Creek Herb Farm Pizza.

We’ve picked our first ripe tomatoes this week, along with the first blackberries and raspberries. I’ve been keeping the tomato plants sprayed with Neem oil every 10 days and the aphids and wilt signs haven’t showed up yet. Prevention is always the best cure and I’m hopeful this will be a bountiful tomato year.

If you don’t have access to Neem oil (available at many Ace Hardware stores), and you want to avoid using chemicals in your garden, you might consider using Captain Jack’s Deadbug Brew. It’s certified organic and does an excellent job of combating garden pests. It works on potato bugs, loopers, leaf miners, spider mites, borers, bagworms, beetles and several more. Spray it late in the day so as to not kill your beneficial lady bugs and bees.

Happy gardening!