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Posts tagged as:
gardens
I planted one hundred cloves of garlic in early November last year. They came from all around New England: Fedco Seeds in Kennebec County, ME (Georgian Fire), the Buffalo Mountain Co-op in Hardwick, VT (Snowy Bird and Red Russian), High Meadows Farm in Putney, VT (German White) and my own 2018 harvest (varied).
The first green emerged in early March; the crop was harvested in mid July, dried for a few weeks, and finally, today, on a beautiful eighty degree day with low humidity, cleaned up for storage. The yield was about ninety four bulbs (plus or minus), including a couple of able volunteers. Best results, size-wise, were from Fedco and my garden. Garlic scape pesto is in the freezer ready to go. I love the contrarian aspect of garlic – it’s planted in the late autumn, at which time my gardening mojo is back in full force. And it’s the first green to remind me that spring really is on the way, before daffodils and maybe even crocus.
Yesterday I used some of the new garlic in a batch of fire cider that should be ready to go in a few weeks – good for whatever ails you, old timers say, particularly over the long winter. The summer is shifting, here in early August …
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” Ya, we homesteaded for ten years..”, the man on the scaffolding told me as he nailed the quarried slate shingles to the side of his house. The statement didn’t surprise me one bit, given how the property itself stood out from its neighbors: no finely manicured lawn here, but a magical profusion of perennials, shrubs and berry bushes (red raspberry, black and red currant) where it used to be, and the whole place such a wonderful work in progress.
What did surprise me were the black currant bushes – laden with berries – the first I’d ever seen in New England. They had been banned for nearly a century in the US, a suspected vector for a fungus that significantly impacted the commercial viability of the Eastern White Pine. That ban was lifted in NY state in 2003, and Vermont also has no restrictions on their cultivation. I’ve been a believer in organic black currants for some time now, for the myriad of health benefits, especially for eyes.
A note on the processing: the photo was taken under a bright midday sun, not the best of circumstances for the nuances of color or light. It seemed to work best in post-processing as an INFRARED or this one, OLD POLAR.
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African lilies and asters in a bed of ferns and pachysandra.
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Taken outside the self-service farm stand at the Chandler Pond Farm. Reflecting our better natures, the money box was not locked. A big thank you to the farm folks there, not only for the beautiful pumpkins (I bought the next to largest size for $6.00), but also for your faith and trust in our better selves.
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