Week #4

Okay, so I totally skipped week 3. 
Anyways, this week's offerings include kohlrabi and cucumbers.
The garlic was harvested so garlic powder should soon show up in the weekly shares.

We had a nice surprise this week.  Edyth blessed us with-Emily.

Have a great week.  Enjoy the summer-it's fleeting.

Effie

So, today was the day that I picked up the new addition to our farm. This little girl lived 90 miles from here in a place called Effie and the drive was a long one. Effie is very remote and is at the end of the "Edge of the Wilderness Highway".
A very pretty drive-

This old barn sits off the road.

The welcome sign.  Notice how big the mosquitoes are here!

This sculpture stands near the welcome sign.  Effie is best known for their rodeo.  It's a big deal up  here.

So here is a picture of the little girl I picked up.

She's an Angora and I hope to breed her with our Angora buck.  She's only two months old right now.  I named her Toofer because my honey said "That's just too fer to go for a rabbit".
Oh, and last night I harvested my garlic.  It's done a bit early this year and the bulbs aren't as large as they were last year.  Still, it wasn't a bad harvest.

I save about half for next year's seed and make garlic powder out of the smaller bulbs.

I hope you enjoyed the trip to Effie.  I may have to go back because Toofer's previous owner has some wonderful Shetland sheep.  ;o)

The Lowly Scape

My garlic scapes are ready once more.  I love everything garlic and the scapes are like an appetizer while you await the main course.  They can be used like regular garlic, but my new, favorite way is to pickle them.  I wrote about it here.  I made my first batch last year and discovered that I LOVE them.

Here are the scapes.  You cut off the seed head and use the rest.
The  recipe that I used --
3 1/2 lbs. garlic scapes cut into 3-4 inch pieces
5 cups water
5 cups vinegar
1/2 cup pickling salt
7 hot chili peppers
1/2 teaspoon dill seed per jar
7 wide mouth canning jars, lids and rings

Combine the vinegar, water, and salt in a pot and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat. Place one hot pepper and 1/2 teaspoon of dill seed in the bottom of each of the hot sterilized jars. Pack the scapes into the hot jars. Ladle the hot vinegar/water/salt mixture into the sterilized jars, using a wide mouth plastic funnel leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe rims with a clean white cotton cloth or paper towel. Apply prepared lids and rings; tighten gently. Process in a boiling water bath canner, following manufacturer’s instructions, for 10 minutes. Remove jars to a wire rack to cool completely. Wait 2 weeks before enjoying the pickles to give them time to develop their full flavor. You can store the pickles in a cool dry place for up to one year.

Makes about

7 pints of pickled garlic scapes.

    

I ended up with 22 pints of pickles.  These must be good for you, ya think?  They are delicious.

Harvest Time

How is your harvest going?  Up here, the garden is starting to really produce.  I have the pressure canner and the hot water bath canner both going on the stove, green beans in one and dill pickles in the other. I picked our first ripe corn today.  Supper will be green beans, cucumbers, corn on the cob and, like every Friday night, pizza.

I started harvesting my garlic today, too.  There are only four cloves in this bulb of garlic.

My plan is to be selling garlic and other herbs by next summer.  I put in 200 bulbs last fall and I'm going to put in 300, Lord willing, this fall.  Should get a lot of garlic powder out of these bulbs.
The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.  Keeps me busy.

Updates

Rhubarb-Believe it or not, the rhubarb I planted a few weeks ago is not only alive, but has new growth. ( See http://glory-farm.blogspot.com/2011/05/rhubarbing.html )  Perhaps I've found a place that it likes.

Garlic Scape Pickles-I opened the first jar today.  They are great!! http://glory-farm.blogspot.com/2011/07/garlic-scapes.html Highly recommended.  I think these are going to be an annual thing.

We're getting beets and potatoes from the garden, but not much for peas or beans.  It's a weird year.  My corn is going to be done before my beans.

We're still making hay.  We've been blessed with three additional fields this year because everyone has more than enough hay, even us!

Chickens are still hatching out chicks.  We have two hens still broody and one duck.  These chicks won't be big enough to butcher this fall, may have to wait until a warm day in December??? Brrrr...

That's about it from the farm.  I'm really not in the mood to blog and it shows.
Blessings.

Garlic Scapes

My garlic is producing scapes right now, the curly, pointy, stems that contain the seedhead.  These scapes are great for adding garlic to things, but every year I get way too many.  I give some away, use some, but the rest end up in the compost pile.
I use them in stir fries, add to eggs, etc.  I've read that you can cook them like asparagus, but haven't tried that one yet.
This year I'm making garlic scape pickles. I found the link here .  Now if I can find some relatives to try these out on.  :)  I love garlic, I guess it's not an inherited trait.