GARLIC!!

We've got garlic, garlic, garlic! We took a whole bunch to the Mission Farmer's Market a couple of Saturdays ago :) We have pre-packaged 1/2 lb and 1 lb bags of all our varieties ready to go! Russian Red, Portuguese, Piterelli, Fishloch, Chesnock, Lenningrad, German Hot, Persian Star, Music....  We had a lot of fun at the market and did well, we look forward to selling garlic at a local farmer's market some time soon again.

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August Fun!

We can't believe the amount of plums growing on our tree this year!  This is our second picking - and there are more to come! I've already bagged two large zip lock bags and put them directly in the freezer to make preserves at a later date (as there is no time presently). (De-pitted before freezing of course).  We've also given a bunch away - and made a spicy plum sauce with the rest. 

Potatoes, potatoes, potatoes!!!  

The plants started yellowing last week so we've decided it's time to dig them up!  We're just loving them! In the last week, I've used potatoes for: potato salad, fresh fries, hash browns, borscht...  And there's nothing like frying up leftover dinner-made potato salad for the morning's hash browns :)

Look at the size of some of these beauties!

We've also harvested our fava beans! What a great idea it was to bring a bunch of them to the community garden potluck to shuck (something to do while listening to good conversation). There were two other ladies that joined in the fun production line and together we got them done in no time :)

Harvesting of the beans will soon be next on the list!

The grapes are coming in nicely! Will there be time for wine-making this year?

After a hard's day work, we just linger around the garden enjoying ever bit of it!

Elephant garlic below.  The bees just love the flowers... I think maybe, so does Jason :)

This year we are wondering which flora's gonna win (growth - wise)... the Empress Tree or the Jerusalem Artichoke.... Just when one gets bigger than the other, the other shoots up.  Quite an amazing thing to watch. 

There's some serious height going on this year with them both!

One of those anomalies happening again.. the magnolia tree started to flower again this week!  

Finally, Jason and I celebrate our first year wedding anniversary this week (August 6). Wow! It's a beautiful thing watching a garden grow to accentuate how time moves.... And of course, we are both as deliciously happy as we have always been :)  And to all out there who share in our journey - thanks for connecting  with/to our most precious past-time together - growing food :)  We hope to hear your 'growing' stories too!

Garlic Madness

The garlic madness began a couple weeks back. About 15 raised beds to dig up. Then there is/was the sorting, tying-together, labeling, and hanging.  Quite the job!  Thank goodness for helpful friends - we had Rachel and Banning give us a hand one Saturday to tackle some of the beds. Then I tackled two more today, and have only one more to get to tomorrow! Now to think about what to do with all the empty beds? With all the garlic gone the garden is looking more brown than green :( 

Also harvested (no pictures) German Hot, Chesnoc, Portuguese and others... 

There were some casualties of course - the Russian Red suffered from being planted in poorer soil (less drainage/harder). About 50% of  our R.R. had 'white rot' and there was the occasional 'green rot' - - - there was still a considerable amount though considering we had more R.R. cloves to start with.  The moldy garlic was processed right away - stripped and put in the fridge/freezer - otherwise, it would just progressively rot and be wasted.

The garlic is hung-up to dry for about 3 weeks. Then it's ready to sell.