Learning By Trial and Error

I cannot do what two people used to do.  Although that may be obvious, the fact  becomes clear once again.  Last fall Ken planted garlic.   I had problems with timing of moving the greenhouse.  The garlic got tall and weeds took over.  I could not find the irrigation pump or the hoses so irrigating became problematic once the snow melted.   Today I checked.   This year’s crop is small, but the flavor strong.   Here …

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Snowshoes on April 5th

Yes, those are snowshoes, and yes, this IS April 5th.  Although this are often gets spring snows in April, it is usually after the frost has come out of the ground, and the snow melts quickly.  This year the frost has come out only in some areas, and the amount of snow was greater than I remember.       So, I got out the snow shoes to get to the greenhouse at the bottom …

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Putting Snow inside the Greenhouse

Last fall we had unusual weather – eighties on October 20th!  And less than three weeks later on November 5th, the temperature dropped to single digits, and the ground froze.  We wanted to plant garlic, but how?  Ken planted garlic in the mobile high tunnel where the soil was NOT frozen.     This spring has been cool and we got late snow.  I realized it would be warm in the greenhouse so I dug …

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Harvest Newsletter

Greetings from the Garden!  This week’s CSA box has lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, onions, garlic, potatoes, carrots or beets, and herbs Field Notes Ken cleared up areas of the garden and fields and transplanted several flats of greens since last week.  As the days shorten he fits in all the harvesting – there are still tomatoes, cukes, summer squash, and other crops that require regular and frequent picking.  With the heat he tends to get …

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Cleaning and Sorting Garlic

Late last week I had a couple nice, sunny days and I cut tops and roots off the garlic and sorted it for planting and storage.  When we pull it from the field it goes on to racks to cure.       I drag a table over and pull off a bunch at a time.  Then I cut off tops and roots, brush off dirt and sort.         The largest, most …

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Harvest Newsletter

Greetings from the Garden!  This week’s CSA box has tomatoes, potatoes, beets, peppers, onions or leeks, greens, daikon radish, sweet potatoes and herbs Field Notes.  Ken has started in on fall tasks – he tilled the area where garlic will planted.       He has started the preparation for moving the mobile high tunnel over the fall greens.       and expanded the pig area. He is crossing items off that to do …

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Fall Tasks – Garlic Prep

Ken cleared out the cucumber fence and prepared the area he will plant the garlic.  Now I need to sort out the seed garlic.

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Harvesting Garlic and Potato Onions

Ken harvested the garlic and potato onions around the rain – he lets them dry in the field for a day or two and then loads them and brings them to the racks.      Potato onions are an interesting onion that is planted from the onions themselves rather than seed,  As they grow they form clumps.  Potato onions are larger than shallots and taste halfway between onions and shallots.  They are our best keepers …

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