Garlic yield from one 4x4 raised bed.

I get little bulbs because I live in the woods and photosynthesis requires photo to synthesize  (from the Greek photo, light, and synthesis, putting together). But this year, the bulbs were even smaller because of an experiment: I cut the scapes off half of them and allowed the other half to go on creating that bulbil. As everyone says, the garlic bulb is much smaller when you don’t cut the scape. Much. They aren’t kidding. However, that bulbil is edible and it’s mild enough to eat raw (like say, on a salad) even if you’re not a raw garlic aficionado.

The garlic is drying now, in a dark place with a fan running 24/7. It’s obviously not enough to get me through the year (this being my personal agricultural experimental station and not a real farm). Happily, the real farmers are beginning to put theirs out. Garlic is one thing you want to get locally if you live in the north.

In addition to being my favorite food flavoring, garlic is said to have tremendous health benefits. (Notice I wrote “is said to have” to avoid making any unsubstantiated health claims. I can’t risk having U.S. Marshals seizing my stash.) Garlic has an antibiotic called allicin that has antibacterial and anti-fungal properties. The antibacterial is the kind that only kills bad bacteria and those bacteria do not develop a resistance to it. Additionally, it’s an antioxidant. While it does not reduce cholesterol (if that’s something you feel is valuable) it is said to do the things that make a low cholesterol number desirable: cleaning arteries and reducing plaque. Note: I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice. Bottom line, anecdotal folklore or not, I loves me some garlic!!

Garlic festivals

CT Garlic & Harvest Festival
October 8 & 9, 2011 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Bethlehem, CT

Hudson Valley Garlic Festival
September 24  & 25, 2011, (Sat. 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., Sun. 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.)
Saugerties, NY

Annual Garden State Garlic Gathering and Festival
October 1 & 2, 2011, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Olde Lafayette Village, Lafayette, NJ

What started three years ago as a conversation about how to urge Greenmarket bakers to incorporate local flour into their baked goods has bloomed into a full-blown initiative to revitalize and sustainably scale up the production of grains in the Northeast.

Incredible! Wish I’d known about it sooner. I have northeast grains. I’d be making pasta and corn muffins all week. Still might.

There are a number of events scheduled to celebrate Grains Week, including a panel featuring my miller, Don Lewis.

Here’s a list of northeast grain resources (pdf) published by GrowNYC.

My 2009/2010 garlic “crop” was my best to date. I planted individual cloves six inches apart, pointy side up in a 4×4 raised bed about 1-2 inches into the soil. I planted in a different area than last year since a three to four year rotation is suggested because of fungus and pests. I don”t use any pesticides or fertilizers. Here’s a pictorial retrospective:

By mid-March, little sprouts emerged.

In April, the little sprouts got a little bigger.

In June, the scapes were ready.

So I cut the scapes and used them in the same way I use garlic.

In Jul, I harvested my bounty.

I hung them up to dry in a dark room with a fan running 24×7.

Zoom, please:

A wise woman at Wild Hive told me that it’s best to store garlic in clay pots because they will absorb moisture. I read that you can clean clay pots in the dishwasher with two cups of vinegar.

Here’s my stored garlic:

It was a fun year growing garlic and I really hope I didn’t blow next year’s “crop.”

Here are some resources:

• Growing
• Growing, storing, and lots more

Scientists from the University of Arkansas announced at the Ecological Society of America annual meeting the results of a study that showed genetically engineered pesticide-resistant canola growing like a weed in North Dakota.

It certainly  lends credence to the argument that this company is out to control the food supply, first by owning it then by preventing anyone else from owning it, then by invading and/or destroying the parts they don’t own. What a racket!

The soup is Potage Parmentier (potato and leek soup) and the recipe is from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

• leeks from Cherry Grove, Newtown, CT
• potatoes, harvested at the moment from my own back yard (Late Bloomers Farm food!)
• butter from Vermont Butter & Cheese Co. (regional, not local but I did score some local butter today at Halas Farm market (New Fairfield). They carry some Ronnybrook Farm Dairy (Ancramdale, NY) products.

Voilà!

The flavor was simple yet divine. Nothing tricky about the recipe or techniques.

A couple of other fun dishes this week…

I found these Turkish eggplants at Cherry Grove in Newtown:

That’s a quarter, so you can get an idea of their actual size.

And I had some itty bitty potatoes from my garden:

Same quarter so you can do the same size comparison.

I wish I had quail eggs so I could do the quarter/size thing again. I could call this the miniature meal.

It was supposed to be an eggplant omelet with potatoes, but I’m still working on my omelet technique. So, it was scrambled eggs with pan-sauteed eggplant and potatoes.

Anyway, the eggplant tasted like eggplant, but sweeter. (Eggs from Rough Cut Ranch in Sandy Hook, via McLaughlin Vineyards.)

And for the Labor Day festivities, I brought:

Salsa

• tomatoes and jalapeno from Cherry Grove Farm in Newtown, CT
• cilantro and onion from Gazy Brothers Farm
• garlic from Missy’s Greenhouse and Farmstand, Goshen, NY
• olive oil, lime, salt and pepper from the world

and Green Bean Salad:

• green beans from Rose’s Berry Farm
• hard-cooked egg, from Greyledge Farm
  
• Shallot Mustard dressing from Stark Naked Dressings

I had an opportunity to check out the Monroe Farmers Market this week and got to try some items from some different vendors. It’s a fantastic market and I still wish weekday markets would stay open past 6 PM. Sigh!

I decided to pilfer a few and check them out:

Not too shabby for a late bloomer! And so tasty too!

This was my entire yield:

Cute little things.

For comparison, these big ones are from Missy’s:

Missy’s mom is a real farmer. But don’t let the size fool you–these little cuties were packed with flavor and went quite well with my sautéed escarole!

I wish I could tell you what kind of garlic this is, but I don’t recall the name. I can tell you that I got the seed cloves from Bluestone Farm last fall.

There are a few sunny spots and this is what I have growing in them:

The Basil Boat: Thai, Italian, and purple

Potted herbs: sage, rosemary, and thyme and oregano, tarragon, and a pepper.

And a couple of garlic plants, because I wanted to try it out.

And potatoes because they wanted to be planted.

At least that’s the sense I got while they were living in the pantry.

So, to supplement my potatoes and herbs, I’ll continue to frequent my farmers markets and farms this season and be grateful they feed me.

August 26 was the tenth week of our CSA (Waldingfield Farm, pick-up point Sandy Hook Organic Farmer’s Market). Our bounty is here:

September 2 was the eleventh week of our CSA. I have no picture and will do my best from memory. We scored:
- red lettuce
- eggplant
- tomatoes, lots and lots
- and more…I can’t remember…sorry.

September 9 was the twelfth week of our CSA. Alas, no picture. We scored:
- huge white potatoes
- purple potatoes
- eggplant
- green beans
- a wide assortment of tomatoes

Tonight’s local dinner (no formal challenge) was:
- Chicken from McEnroe, roasted with Waldingfield tomatoes. We found McEnroe’s Organic Farm Market in Millerton, NY on our way back from VT. They have everything!
- a roasted vegetable medley: golden beets (I can’t remember whose, but they were definitely local), potatoes, carrots (the potatoes and carrots were actually from our own garden. See: