farm field trip

This is GARLIC! started early enough under a hoop house it will be ready for harvest in february. now is the time for us to plant garlic starts in our gardens for early summer harvest. if you never have, do try it! get garlic cloves from a friend who grows it or a reliable organic supplier, planting store purchased garlic is iffy. use single cloves and bury them a few inches down, covered with a mulch, they will winter nicely, may even have green shoots appear before heavy snow fall, such a pretty sight! next spring the garlic scapes will grow tall, curl around and flower. the scapes, or topsets can either be left on, to flower, or cut off, to be used in cooking! there are arguments for doing both. if you leave the scapes on , it may create a better storing bulb. if you cut the scapes off when they're young, the the bulb may grow bigger, the theory being that the energy in the plant is now transferred to the bulb. I try both. but I never grow enough garlic to have it last long, seems everything I cook needs it. I start using garlic right after picking when the flavour is so strong and the cloves are juicy! It's great for smashing with olive oil and spreading on fresh baked bread.

The black dirt you see here is in the western region of New York state, bordering the top of N.J. this is Pine Island N.Y., it was once the bottom of an ancient glacial lake. the owner of the farm said, "Basically we are farming in a big bowl of compost." I love that statement! How fortunate they are. the soil is very rich in organic matter and naturally ocurring peat keeps it moist, the soil actually bounces when jumped on!  the edibles they grow are incredibly flavourful, as the soil nutrient content changes, there is a noticeable change in the taste of the produce.

I was interested in the use of home made green 'hoop' houses (picture below.)  pieces of pvc piping was pounded into the ground on either side of a growing area and down the lenght, to act as footings for smaller piping which was arched from one footing to the other. this was covered with a medium weight plastic sheeting. all plants growing in these hoops houses are also covered with remay, a light weight row covering fabric, for the winter. some of these hoops  houses are only a couple of feet tall, while several are very spacious. this practice of hoop houses can easily translate to a home garden, an alternative to or in conjunction with cold frames. using remay as additional warmth layers is important for protection of the night temperatures, but also when the daytime sun warms up the hoop house condensation forms and can damage the plants,
like freezer burn. the temperatures in the houses need to be regulated, by raising sides or ends of the plastic. molds can form from too much damp warmth, creating disease and rot. in the cold of the winter, from january to february the plants will not grow, so start now if you're considering it for winter eating! good things to try are cold tolerant greens; lettuce, spinach, kale, collards, bok choy,
carrots (for spring eating), some perennial herbs like parsley, oregano, lovage, chives, scallions. there is nothing quite like picking fresh veggies in the middle of a snow! 

THERE will be more recipes coming in the next few days : proper pastry dough for tarts, fresh starter for bread, yummy dinner choices!