2nd week of August 2009

Garlic Braids Keeping 3,000 garlic heads in order is a huge task. After pulling the bulbs several weeks ago, most of them are drying on the barn floor. The softnecks are getting braided and I'm working at sorting the hardnecks for size (some for seed, some for eating). Those are being hung in bundles of ten and tied to an old ladder hanging from a shed ceiling to dry further. I have several orders for seed stock that I'm keeping separate and we are cleaning the medium heads to put in 1/2# mesh bags to send to another farm for their co-op orders. We even had friends over the other day for a garlic cleaning party which is a relaxing thing to do in the shade while we visit. To help with "garlic education" when I'm doing Lehmans demos or other talks I made up a display basket with a dozen different garlic varieties labeled with their names. It's amazing how many folks thought "garlic was just garlic." I just did a swap with a garlic growing friend for new seed stock and am excited about trying Red Rezan and Chet's Red Italian in next year's crop. Until it's planting time in October, we'll keep cleaning garlic and using it to season just about everything we eat.

Willow Eating Kale The abundant rain recently has helped make all the fall greens really jump up in a hurry but is also making plenty of tomatoes split. Although I'm busy planting fall greens and discovering lovely patches of arugula that seeded off, those greens aren't family favorites during the summer months when so many other flavorful veggies are in season. I only have one veggie customer who enjoys a regular supply of Swiss chard but the other day I discovered someone else who loves Swiss chard in summer - Willow the goat. She escaped from her pen several times one day and her destination was the Swiss chard in my edible landscape!

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