CSA Newsletter #5 - July 10, 2021

 

Morgan, Edwin and Cale on the digging line with some fruits of their labor in the foreground.

Garlic digging week! A yearly tradition at the farm, and despite being hot and steamy, the garlic showed us that it was time to dig. Digging too early doesn't give the garlic bulbs enough time to fully develop. Digging too late and the bulbs might stat to deteriorate in the moist ground. This week, with temps unfortunately in the nineties, the time was just right! But first....

WHAT'S IN YOUR BOX: 

CARROTS 

CURLY KALE: There are some excellent tips for Kale Chips in last week's newsletter.

ZUCCHINI - NEW! The arrival of zucchini means summer is in full swing. And although zucchini's relentless productivity is the butt of many jokes, especially by summer's end, we pick the fruits when they are young and tender and always enjoy a quick stir-fry. There will be green and/or yellow squash in your box.

YOUNG NAPA - NEW! These Asian greens are on their way to becoming the large bulbous vegetables you may be familiar with. But we plant Napa thickly so we can thin the patch early and enjoy the greens and the mildly spicy flavor long before the plants make their big heads. Use in any stir-fry.

SCALLIONS: This is the end of the scallions for this year, so the greens aren't so purty. We will miss their unique mild onion flavor, but look forward to the bulb onions that are not too far in the future.

HERB: Hasn't been harvested yet but most likely basil or parsley - you will know!

GARLIC: This is fresh-picked garlic so it has not gone through the drying process and is not meant to store. Use it up or keep in the fridge.

To learn how this humble bulb made it into your share box, read on for the Garlic's Journey! Since this adventure happens every year, we went back to past years' posts for some background and more photos:

NOTES FROM THE FARM: the week of the "stinking rose'! (July 11, 2020)

Garlic has been called the stinking rose for nearly a century, thanks to a French writer and physician, Henri Leclerc, who in 1918 roughly translated garlic’s ancient Greek name, scorodon, to skaion rodon, and then to rose puante, or stinking rose. *

Although garlic is in the Lily family (along with tulips and, of course, lilies), roses are not in the Lily family. But the "stinking rose" nickname has been affectionately embraced by garlic lovers; there is even  a popular California restaurant named "The Stinking Rose" and renowned for including garlic in every dish. (now temporarily closed )

Garlic, like many garden crops, requires patience and delayed gratification. We plan and we plant; we weed and we wait. Garlic, however, might win the delayed gratification prize, requiring planting in the year before harvest!

Planting garlic in the fall is often the last field task of the season - Ashleh, Cale, Kirk, King Bros.photo from 2019.

After the single garlic cloves are planted one-by-one in the rows, the entire patch is covered with straw, to deter the cloves from premature sprouting in the fall. The garlic stays snug under the straw throughout the winter and then, when the weather and ground are warm enough in the spring, each clove starts to send up a green shoot. 

When the cloves sprout, the straw is removed from the rows so the garlic can get a good growing start. A spring weeding is usually in order at this point. Then, when the plants reach a certain maturity, they start to make the "garlic scapes" that have been in your shares. We remove each scape so that the growing energy goes into making good bulbs, rather than going into the seedheads that the scapes represent.

Garlic scape with froggy friend - photo/2011

Once all the scapes have been harvested and the garlic bulbs have reached their full size, the green tips start to brown and we know it is time to dig.

Mia bringing in an armload of garlic on digging day - photo/2013 

Ashleh and Cale on the digging line - 2020

After the entire patch has been dug, the piles of garlic - bulbs with strong stems attached - are sorted into bundles that can be hung for air-drying.

Needing to be bundled - 2010

A bundling party - 2010 (l. to r. - Jenny, Chrissy, Angie, Julien, Dorothy,  Kat)

Then the bundles need to be hung for quick and thorough drying so that the dried bulbs will store.

After the last bundle was hung - Edwin, Nhin, Stevie, Tacy - 2015

Bundling in our new pole barn - no junk yet! Kathryn, Nhin, Kim, Paul - 2014

 

More bundling - Mason, Marc, Nhin (his third and final garlic bundling) - 2016

Bundling in the pole barn - now with lots of storage/junk! Cale, Milan, Ashleh - 2020

Completing the hanging of the bundles - Cale and Keegen, 2020

All this eventually leads to the garlic in your share:

One bulb - many hands!

We hope this little photo essay gives you an idea of the many stages involved in growing garlic, and the many crew members, present and over the years, who have been willing to offer their time and hands to this process. We certainly appreciate their good-natured help! 

By joining a CSA, not only do you get a "box of produce", you also have an opportunity to connect more closely to the cycle of the growing season, to acknowledge (for better or worse) the vagaries of Mother Nature, and to appreciate the many hands that help create the story of each item in your box!

Have a good week everyone and thanks for bringing your boxes back!

Cale, digging with the rising sun to beat the heat (but not the bugs!)