Green Garlic Galore

It is now officially spring because we have sold our entire crop of green garlic after delivering this first fresh garlic of the year to our very special Garlic CSA members. Three area chefs bought the remainder this year, all of whom are purchasing as much locally-grown organic food as possible to serve in their restaurants or deli (The Grange Kitchen & Bar, The Ravens Club, Zingerman's Deli). We thank them, especially for being creative with our crop and featuring us on their menus.

Now we can focus on keeping the garlic watered and weeded as we wait for the garlic scapes to emerge in a few weeks, get our many varieties of hops finished being weeded and then supported in a proper manner, i.e. more sturdy, structured, and sightly than we have had time to do during the past two years. Dick is currently trimming our messy and overgrown grape vines that came with the property (whoa! look at that - there is even more invasive, but yummy, garlic mustard under them that I have had never seen before!) and is also expanding his bee hives from the two that made it through the winter to five (hoping to catch and re-direct a swarm from one of his own hives!), along with so many other things that I look people straight in the eye without blinking or joking and tell them that farming is cramming 36 hour days into 24, at least for just the two of us.

What else are we doing? We actually plan and hope to get our own garden planted this year with tomatoes (35 varieties planted in pots now peeking up), many types of peppers, onions, kale of course, heirloom beans, and on and on and on. Lots to do there with clean up which never got done well last fall and getting started on that. Last year we didn't plant our corn until the end of June. I almost hate to admit that it might have been on July 4th. Of course it didn't do as well as it could/should, but at least it got in the ground and we had fun (grrrrr) knowing the electric fence was thwarting a few slow-learning raccoons.

We bought and ate our first duck eggs from our friends at Bridgewater Barns. We are now seriously considering changing our plans to include ducks, perhaps instead of chickens. Step, step, step!

Lastly, guess what? We are cooking - woohoo - at least a little! Of course we still have plenty of our own supply of green garlic so we are enjoying using that in various ways. I will post those recipes separately, so they are easy to find. I hope you still have an opportunity to find some green garlic in your area. The new recipes I'm going to post are winners (as was the recipe for the Green Garlic Fajitas I posted recently). They all say "Spring is Here!"

Cultivate your life - you are what you grow - inch by inch, row by row!

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

PS - Vacuuming and sweeping get done fairly frequently because now we have a furry dog with muddy paws, laundry gets washed (maybe not put away) daily, but if you come to visit or help us, please ignore the dust piling up. :)