I am unapologetically declaring myself the 2012 Onion Queen of Westpoint, Indiana. My onions are big, beautiful, delicious, and plentiful. I have been harvesting over a month now and still have the majority to pull. I have potato onions, 4 kinds of storage onions, 3 kinds of bunching onions, 5 kinds of garlic, and Egyptian walking onions. Perhaps I got a bit carried away….Good thing I can send the surplus to the restaurant.
It was a wonderful Sunday on the farm. The weather was perfect. Paco and I got up early and focused on adding some functional scaffolding for the crops. We completed placing and securing our homemade welded wire tomato cages on all 29 tomatoes. We also used wooden trellises to create structures for the Zucchinno Rampicante. We have grown this behemoth for 5 years now and know it needs some serious support. We put in trellises for most of the cucumbers as well.
When I wasn’t helping the chef with architecture (yes that’s him in his Grinch pj’s), I was harvesting new purple potatoes, soft-neck garlic, and potato onions. I pulled all the pea plants in the main garden and the goats feasted on them happily. I also snapped pictures to give a visible update on the farm. Time flies in the garden and before we knew it it was 12:30.
I also dispatched about 60 lbs of strawberries this weekend. That’s a lot of strawberries. I will post separately about what happened to all of them, but there is a picture included here of a very happy girl enjoying some homemade strawberry lemonade.
I finished harvesting garlic this morning. Thanks to the fact that the hoophouses were constructed over top of last fall’s garlic bed, my harvest is about 3 weeks early. Now I have a nice empty space where I can plant another crop. A few days ago, I dug out about 10 bulbs with my small hand spade. Yesterday, at Tractor Supply, I purchased a small “Razorback” shovel. It comes to my knee. My husband chuckled at my little shovel. Using that this morning, I easily harvested the remaining 20 or so bulbs in about 10 minutes. EASY! I think it will also be great for harvesting all of my root crops–carrots, beets (if I ever get any!), potatoes, and sweet potatoes. Tools make a tremendous difference. Also, took the handheld wire weeder and the stirrup hoe to all the beds this morning. So easy and satisfying.
WEED OFTEN AND EARLY IN THE SEASON SO WHEN THE HARVEST COMES ON HOT AND HEAVY YOU HAVE ALREADY WON THE BATTLE!
Once garlic is harvested (leaving the entire plant intact), it needs to be cured.
This is done by storing it in a dry area with good air circulation. I put it in my garage on my seed starting mini-greenhouse. I use this because it has shelves that are wire grates and allow for plenty of circulation. It takes about 3 weeks. The curing process is what hardens up the outer covering of the bulb and the layers around each clove. After curing you can trim the tops and roots and it can be stored in a dry, cool location in mesh bags or in shallow pans. Some of the best ones can be planted this fall for next year. One clove is planted and that becomes a full bulb.
Epazote is a very fragrant and tasty herb used in Mexican cooking. It is a weed to most but a culinary delight to us. I can still taste the fresh masa quesadillas at Rick Bayless’ s Frontera Grill in Chicago with fresh cheese and epazote. Yum! Wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysphania_ambrosioides It can be hard to come by fresh around here–even in Mexican stores. I tracked down seeds and planted some last year. This morning I discovered a patch of it growing on the garden path. What a welcome weed! I will harvest heavily and use fresh and dry. if you are local and would like to try some, let me know. It may very well be in your backyard too.
I harvested a mountain of kale this morning and will be dehydrating it. It’s a good idea to preserve as much as you can early on for 2 reasons–the July-September harvesting and preserving workload is intense and it’s great to have as much of the work done early as possible. Secondly, the bug pressure will build as summer continues, and your greens will likely be a lot less “damaged” now than later. As the bug pressure becomes more than I want to deal with, I pull lettuce, kale, and other items out of the ground and let the chickens feast.
Note: the zuchinni, basil, and tomatoes are all fresh and local. The basil is ours and the tomatoes and zuchinni are from the market and available due to the amazing season extending help of high tunnels and greenhouses.
Everything is in and now there are daily surprises in the garden. Yesterday, a handful of cherry tomatoes from the “Sweet 100” planted in the hoophouse in April. Yahoo!! Tomatoes on June 9! Pretty proud of myself! Also, was amazed to see baby zucchini coming on. Days away from our first ones.
The potatoes are doing great and, so far, no potato beetles. I am sure they will be here any minute. The cukes are winding their way up the trellises. Have already harvested 3 heads of broccoli and there is more on the way. Kale is big and beautiful and I am supplying the restaurant for soups. I will soon dehydrate a big bunch for winter cooking.
I started harvesting garlic yesterday. The harvest is early due to the hoophouse and I am already scheming as to what I will plant in the empty space. I am also planning n ripping the strawberries out and replanting those 2 beds with some strawberries and not sure what else.
What is struggling:
Small Wonder Nutrition 