Harvesting Garlic

Last fall, we planted our first crop of garlic.  Maid Elizabeth had carted a large bag of bulbs home from a farmers market and, not wanting any to go to waste, we planted the largest, nicest cloves and minced and canned everything else.  We ended up with six 1/2 pints of canned garlic and two medium sized garlic beds.  It was a wonderful garlic experiment.

Early this spring we noticed that our garlic was shooting up and looking wonderful, but we hadn't the slightest idea when or how to harvest.  In early June, after we noticed some of the leaves beginning to brown, we actively began to research the proper time to harvest and how to cure garlic for long term storage (other than canning).  We found that garlic is generally harvested in the beginning to middle of July, after 4 or 5 leaves have browned and withered from the bottom up.  Although it was the last day of June, our hot summer had hurried the garlic along, and, after checking, we determined that it was ready to harvest.

The girls and I headed to the raised beds, basket in hand, to reap the rewards of our labor (although truth be told, there is very little labor involved in growing garlic).  We carefully dug up each bulb, wiped the dirt from the surface and snipped the roots close.  Bulb after bulb yielded to our gentle tugs, until at last, our basket was filled to overflowing.  The bulbs were gorgeous, some nearly as big as a baseball!

After harvesting the garlic, we stood our screened drying rack up in the sun room and prepared the garlic for curing.  Garlic needs to be cured for about two weeks in a warm, well ventilated room, out of direct sunlight.  Not wanting to put the garlic in the shed (where the generator is housed) we sacrificed precious floor space in the sunroom/sleeping porch.  After the garlic has cured for a week, we will braid the stalks and put them back on the screen racks to cure for another week.

While most of the garlic will be for eating, the best, healthiest looking bulbs will be stored until fall when we once again fill the raised garden beds with cloves for next summer's harvest.

Oh, the sweet harvest of summer!

Harvesting Scapes

Last fall Maid Elizabeth brought home 3 pounds of garlic bulbs from a local farmers market.  I planted what I could and canned what was left.  The garlic flourished over our mild winter and has taken off in our warmer-than-usual spring.  As I was weeding the garlic bed last week, I noticed that the scapes were getting large and begging to be harvested.  Oh joy!

Garlic scapes are the flower stem of the garlic plant.  It is necessary to cut scapes off the plant in early to middle June in order to encourage bulb growth rather than flower growth.   Scapes really are the first harvest of the wonderful garlic plant.  They can be used fresh or preserved for future use and are incredibly versatile. 

Scapes should be harvested while very young if you are planning on eating them fresh.  Before they start to curl they are incredibly tender and can be eaten raw, right off the plant. When they are larger, with a bigger flower "bulb" and have curled, they can be eaten like green beans, with a crunchy texture and decidedly garlicky flavor.  They are wonderful sautéed with peppers and onions and can even be pickled. 

Master Calvin cutting the last scape!

Always use good olive oil!

The olive oil completely covers the scapes

Our scape harvest was only big enough for one fresh meal, so I opted to preserve the scapes in an attempt enjoy their sublime flavor long after the summer has waned and the garlic bulbs have been harvested.  To keep their pungent, fresh flavor, I simply washed the scapes, trimmed the small end near the flower bulb and chopped the scapes in the smallest pieces possible.   With Dragon Snack helping, we chopped all of the scapes and filled two canning jars to the top.  After the jars were full, we poured good quality olive oil over the scapes and screwed the caps into place.  The scapes will infuse the olive oil with wonderful flavor and be and incredible addition to pizza, pasta sauce and even garlic butter.  The olive oil will preserve the scapes and become a gourmet addition to many future recipes.

Ready for use!

Don't just enjoy your garlic harvest once when you can enjoy it twice by harvesting the scapes!  Believe me, your taste buds will thank you!!

Sepp Holzer - The Ultimate Survivalist

A couple of months ago I stumbled across a goldmine.  Sifting through the standard gardening offerings at our local library I picked up a copy of "Sepp Holzer's Permaculture".  The subtitle "A Practical Guide to Small-Scale, Integrative Farming and Gardening" intrigued me and I brought the book home for further review.  I knew that Sepp Holzer was a kindred spirit before I had even finished the introduction.  His agricultural methods have garnered him the moniker "crazy", which at first bothered him greatly, but no longer offends him.  As Sepp puts it, "I have realized that many people find it difficult to accept when you do things in a way that is not so widely recognized.  This makes you difficult to predict and harder to control, which many people find threatening".  See?  A kindred spirit!

Mr. Holzer farms at at his family farm "Kramerterhof", which is in the "Arctic" region of Austria.  He is at 1500 meters (4500 feet) above sea level and grows everything from corn to kiwi, nuts, hops, cranberries, garden veggies and every kind of grain imaginable.  Along with his vast permaculture gardens he has a mass of 70 ponds, canals and waterways which create microclimates, water his agricultural interests and serve as breeding grounds for fish, snakes and frogs.  Not only does Kramerterhof support agricultural endeavors of every kind, it is also home to hardy, heritage breed animals.  Yaks, cows, horses, pigs, sheep and fowl of every kind call the Kramerterhof home and, in fact, do a majority of the fertilization and working of the soil. 

Permaculture sounds wonderful, right?  But to tell you the truth, I really had no idea what permaculture was.  It turns out that it is essentially organic gardening/livestock management on steroids.  The basic principles of permaculture are:

• All of the elements within a system interact with each other.
• Multifunctionality - every element fulfils multiple functions and every function is performed by multiple elements.
• Uses energy practically and efficiently - works with renewable energy.
• Uses natural resources.
• Intensive systems in a small area.
• Utilizes and shapes natural processes and cycles.
• Supports and uses edge effects (creating highly productive small-scale structures).
• Diversity instead of monoculture.

As I mentioned, I was enamored with this book from the first page, so enamored, in fact, that I had to order a copy for myself.  I wanted to be able to pour over the pages at my leisure and I knew that there was just too much valuable information to take in at one sitting.  I was right.  In the past few weeks, Holzer's Permaculture book has not left my side table.  Sir Knight and I have reviewed its pages seeking inspiration and direction. 

Although we are not able to immediately put into practice the myriad concepts in Holzer's book, we are making changes already.  Before adding soil to our garden beds we laid down ample "biomass" in the form of bark and branches.  We are planning more raised beds, but in a configuration encouraged by Holzer - something very different than what we currently have and, in my opinion, highly innovative.  We are looking at our little prairie with new eyes and a renewed vision.

Not able to stop at one Holzer book, I ordered his first book, "The Rebel Farmer".  The more I read, the harder it was to put down.  Holzer's opinions and theories are so like our own.  Not only does he want to farm the way he chooses, he believes that the government ought to just mind its own business.  It is his firmly held opinion we have become too dependent.  As Holzer puts it,  "What is regrettable is that others impose their will on farmers.  Farmers have to let theorists tell them how they should be farming their own land.  This dependence on public servants is a problem, since young farmers are brought up already to knock on the door of a public authority with their hat in their hand and to do what they are told to do".  Even in the heart of this Austrian farmer, freedom runs deep.

As far as I can tell, Sepp Holzer is the ultimate survivalist.  He grows or raises everything he and his family need to survive.  He relies on his water systems to provide power to his farm, his sheep to provide wool and his pigs to provide bacon.  He raises his own fish, his own fruit and his own firewood.  And he does these things with as little governmental interaction as possible. 

If you are striving to become more self-sufficient, Holzer's books are the books for you. If you want your animals and your gardens work for you instead of you working for them, Holzer's books are the books for you.  If you like to do things in a manner that is "not so widely recognized", Holzer's books are the books for you.

Check them out and let me know what you think.  I, personally, can't wait to get started!

Until next time....

Enola

Spring in the Redoubt

It is spring - glorious spring!  The weather has been beautiful - just right for planting and working in the fresh air.  We have been spending most every daylight hour outside, either working in the garden, cutting firewood or playing with the bees.  The earth is bursting with new life and we are giddy with joy just to feel the sun on our necks.

One of our goals this year is to have all of our firewood cut, split and stacked in our wood huts long before the searing heat of summer beats down on this vast prairie.  We have a load of firewood that was delivered earlier this spring that we are slowly whittling away.  As the logs disappear from the pile, the huts fill with freshly split wood.  It is a wonderful feeling of accomplishment!  One of the things we have figured out over the years is that a little work every day goes a long way toward filling our wood huts before the winter snows fly.  Sir Knight leaves for work early every morning, however, the children and I are home and are able to spend a chunk of time in the cool of the morning sawing, splitting and stacking.  We only work for an hour or so, but our progress is swift and sure. 

This weekend we made wood cutting a family affair and really made progress!  Sir Knight and Master Hand Grenade both ran saws (Saw Wars) while Princess Dragon Snack and I ran the log splitter.  Dragon Snack ran the hydraulics (she does a phenomenal job) as I hefted the wood.  Master Calvin hauled wood from the log deck to the log splitter and the guys periodically stopped sawing long enough to stack the split wood.  It was perfect symmetry.  Maid Elizabeth took care of household duties (cleaning, baking and laundry) while we worked outside and Miss Serenity spent her day working in town.  One more row and our first log hut will be filled!  Now, only two more huts to go.

Almost full!

Ready to fill another hut.

Gardening on our prairie has proven to require an ability far superior to mine.  When Sir Knight and I moved to our prairie home, I was under the impression that I was a master gardener.  No so!  I quickly came to realize that I was a fine gardener as long as all of the conditions were favorable.  This prairie proved more challenging that I could have imagined and my gardens failed year after year.  Finally, in an act of desperation, I began building raised beds.  Over the years Sir Knight and Master Hand Grenade have built a number of garden beds, but not enough to provide for all of our produce needs.  This year, in an effort to greatly increase our yield from our limited number of beds, we are planting a "square foot" garden.  It is amazing how many plants you can actually plant in such a small space!  I will keep you posted on our progress - I'm hoping that it will be a lavish yield.

Our garden arranged in "square foot" fashion.

In another attempt at unconventional gardening, we put in a few "potato towers" next to the garden beds.  We read a number of articles before putting these towers together and the opinions seems split - a lot of people said they had great success while a number claimed the towers to be a total failure.  Again, we will keep you posted of our progress.  You can judge their effectiveness for yourselves!

Potato tower cages fashioned from 2x4" welded wire, anchored with
a metal fence post down the center (for wind).

 

An 8" layer of straw.....

Followed by a couple of handfuls of dirt....

Cutting a seed potato.

The seed potatoes arranged close to the sides of the wire cage.

Master Hand Grenade arranging more potatoes.

Almost full.



Finished with a layer of soil.



Three completed potato towers.

Among all of the work, we took time to smell the lilacs and the children took time to be children.  Master Calvin became Calvin James - "Gentleman Adventurer".  He spent his time filling his satchel with treasures and looking very dapper indeed!

Calvin James - "Gentleman Adventurer"



I hope your spring is bursting with hope and life! 

Until next time....

Enola

Saturday on the Homestead

Spring is nothing but exciting on a homestead.  So many things to get done with the weather finally cooperating!  We were busy, busy, busy today, so I will regale you with photos and then sink into my favorite chair and put my feet up! 

Two girls curled up with a stock tank full of puppies!

What could be better?

Calvin & Hobbes warming in front of the cookstove - after wading in a mud puddle.

Pre-drilling beams for our new fence

Loading beams onto the 4-wheeler

Moving a stack of the rails into the field

Unloading

Master Hand Grenade flexing his muscles

Every beam is screwed into place - very sturdy!

Working together.

The fence doubles as a fort - just add blankets!

Perfect fun.

Calvin & Hobbes - Growing Up Country!

A corner

It's coming together.  We still have to add supports to the backside of the corner.

While the guys were fencing, I was making black-bottomed muffins

Adding the cream cheese and chocolate chip filling.

Warm from the oven!

While the guys were fencing and I was baking, Maid Elizabeth was making her famous "Viking Hair Wraps".

Still looks pretty good after a rowdy day outside.

This one was slept in.

And in a grown-ups hair.

After fencing, the guys started in on the wood deck.

Already getting ready for winter!

Have a wonderful weekend!