Read about the oldest crop on our farm after this brief announcement.
There are no announcements this week.
Now on to our story!
Farm News
The first crop we ever planted back during the formative years of the farm was garlic. It was the fall of 2002. Nelly’s “Hot in Herre” was playing on the radio. We were still getting NetFlix via DVD. And the Los Angeles Angles won their first World Series. What a time to be alive!
But I digress. When we first planted the garlic we simply tilled up an area of the farm, planted the cloves, mulched it and then harvested it the following July. I suppose we also removed the scapes at some point. But the point was we didn’t spend much time tending to the garlic and it did quite well.
We continued to grow garlic every year by saving the biggest bulbs from the previous year and planting them to create the new garlic for the next year. It worked well and we continued to have great garlic. But then I started noticing that the size of the bulbs were slowly decreasing. I thought maybe there were too many weed in the garlic. Or maybe we needed to add more fertilizer. Whatever it was I needed to find out.
Then the last three years happened and it became quite clear. What was so special about the last three years? We’ve had very little rain in the spring and early summer. In the distant past, since we mulch the garlic, the amount of rain we received coupled with the snow melt seemed to be enough water for the garlic to grow well. In fact I recall us joking about how it was never dry enough to dig the garlic. But as the rains diminished over the years we had to supplement with artificial irrigation (the original AI by the way). The last few years we would move our sprinklers to the garlic. It took effort to move the sprinklers so we try not to do it often. But without any rain those years we had to do something to keep the garlic alive, much less grow it big.
Following last season’s drought we decided the garlic needed its own source of water so for the first time in our history we laid drip tape prior to planting the garlic. And I am glad we did. Much like the last two years, this year has been overly dry. But with the drip tape we were able to water the plants every week. The result is some of the best garlic I’ve seen here in years! Big, beautiful plants and from the few bulbs I’ve pulled up, big beautiful bulbs! It’s a garlic bonanza! At least for now.
As with everything in farming, there is always plenty of time for something to go wrong. I don’t anticipate anything going wrong but there is always a chance. But if nothing goes wrong we will be harvesting the garlic next week or the week after. If anyone is interested in helping please let me know. The more people we have the faster it goes. There is nothing like taking off a day of work from your office job to come out here on a 90+ degree day with dew points in the 60s to pull up and carry piles of dirty garlic plants. Yes, it is as wonderful as it seems. Perhaps I need our marketing department to review and edit this endorsement.
In any case, I look forward to being completely exhausted by the time we finish the garlic harvest (which again is sometime in the next several weeks).
What will we have this week?
More cucumbers that’s for sure. Also zucchini (it isn’t as prolific as it was earlier thankfully), lettuce, some chard, some bok choy, snap peas, snow peas, some eggplants, some beets, some radishes, basil, mint, some kohlrabi, some broccoli, green onions, red onions, a few hot peppers, the remaining garlic scapes and the item we have every week — those things I forgot.
We have EggShare and FlowerShare this week.
Recipes of the Week
First, not really a recipe but if I haven’t mentioned this before, basil freezes quite well. I find it retains its flavor far better than drying it. Simply wash it, spin dry it and throw it in a freezer bag and into the freezer. Whenever you need a basil sensation simply take it out, break off what you need and throw the rest back in the freezer. Very handy!
Here is a recipe I created just by thinking about it. Sort of like how you declassify classified documents. Plus I discovered that with the software I am using for recipes that I should just put a “Recipe Roundup” in the newsletter instead of the whole recipe. So much to learn!
Here is a recipe from one of our long-time members. Even those of you who haven’t been here forever can submit your favorite recipes as well!
That is all for now. As always, feel free to send in questions, comments, suggestions, and of course recipes to use this year’s abundance!