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Sunday, June 10, 2012

Garlic Harvest

Our garlic harvest happened early this year.  I've been growing the same varieties for several years so I attribute this to the mild winter and early onset of summer weather.  Fortunately, All hands are on deck.


It turns out this is a pretty great garden activity for an almost 3 year old since it involves some brute force and not too much delicacy in handling.
 We'll let the soft neck garlic dry out a little today and braid them tonight.  I let my garlic cure hanging in my basement with a fan on.  This works here because the relative humidity in Utah is very low.
 We picked about 75 nicely sized heads of garlic with about 20 shallots and the last dozen leeks.  Give or take, this is about how much garlic we eat, replant, and gift during the year.

Also this weekend, more lettuce. Below is red oak leaf, Kweik butter, and Pirat butter on right with the last of the Arugula on the left.
 We're still eating lots of salads.
And we are quickly eating out way through a bed of French Breakfast radishes.  As usual, the French had it right.

Winter, finally (and seriously)

I planned to start this blog last spring as my garden flew into action, but then got into the actual work of gardening and abandoned the task. However, today its winter, really winter. I'm wearing long underwear and sitting under a blanket and I'm still cold.
Today is the shortest day of the year so from here on in it gets better. I look forward to longer days, that's for sure. But I'll also tuck in and enjoy winter's freeze and snow, it does mean skiing after all. Maybe more importantly is the snow pack - without snow there isn't water for the West.
The end of the year and the solstice are a good time to think back on the last 365. I have no reason to complain and feel really lucky about the last year and really hopeful about the year to come.