It's Garlic diggin' time!

The internet is full of garlic harvest how-to's, when to harvest, what to look for, etc. The idea of digging my garlic up felt a little overwhelming....like I was going to be too early, too late....well, turns out, I -think- was juuuuust right!

I found a site that seemed reliable, straightforward and didn't rely on old wives tales to tell me when to harvest my garlic. 
Here's a link about growing garlic. 
Here's a tutorial on when to harvest your garlic. 
Here's a tutorial on curing and storing your garlic.

Enjoy. Here are a couple pics from my garden!

Cucumber Cooler

Do you have a ridiculous amount of cucumbers to harvest from your garden? Or did you go a little crazy at the farmers market and now you have a fridge full of cucs? Well I've got just the solution...

cucumber cooler

any amount of cucumbers, peel on, that you have
fresh mint or fresh ginger (or try a combo!)
sugar

roughly chop the cucumbers, put in blender or cuisinart. whiz them up and pour contents into a fine sieve, gently press blended cucs through with spoon. 
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in the meantime, make a simple syrup:

1 part water
2 parts sugar
chopped mint or grated ginger (amount depends on your taste...for 2 c simple syrup, add approx. 1/4 c grated ginger or 1/2 c chopped mint)

combine ingredients in saucepan, let simmer for 5 minutes, remove from heat and steep for about 15-20 min. for a stronger ginger or mint flavor, steep longer (I recommend this...)

the measurements are approx because the amount of simple syrup depends on a couple things:
1. how sweet you want it
2. how many cucs you have

so, make extra and if you have leftovers, just save it to flavor homemade lemonade or iced tea.
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once you have drained the cucs, fill glass with ice, pour cucumber juice over ice, fill glass about 3/4 full with juice, 1/4 with water, add a splash of simple syrup to your liking, stir and enjoy!

July Garden

 holy tomato...

 pumpkin volunteer from the compost pile!

 onion flower...

 BASIL PATCH!!! 3 KINDS!!!

 let the cucumber games BEGIN!!!

(ah! I need help!!!)

Arugula Basil Pesto

(back from vacation!...)The garden has doubled in size, and I was only gone for 10 days! Better get to work preserving...if your garden is blowing up like ours, try this recipe and adjust the arugula content to your liking. I find it a little bitter, so the basil addition cuts that sharp taste...

1 1/2 c toasted walnuts or toasted almonds

1 T kosher salt

1/2 c peeled garlic

2 T lemon juice

1 c veggie stock

8 c arugula

3 c basil

1 c olive oil

2 c parm. cheese

in Cuisinart blend nuts, salt, garlic and lemon juice. After this is blended, add half the arugula and basil and all the veggie stock, blend well. When this breaks down there will be room for the rest of the ingredients - add the rest of arugula and basil, olive oil and cheese. blend. adjust the salt. freeze in Ziploc bags and enjoy! (freeze flat to save freezer space:) 

garlic scape butter

Are you growing garlic in your garden? Well then snip off those garlic scapes and make yourself some garlic butter.

1 lb unsalted (soft) garlic butter
8 c. (very approx.) chopped garlic scapes

Put the scapes in a cuisinart. Chop 'em up, add the soft butter and blend.  Dump onto a sheet of waxed paper and roll up into a log. put in the freezer. The amount of scapes you put in depends on your tolerance for garlic. If you have a bit of a sensitive stomach, add fewer scapes. Scapes can be used in place of garlic in any recipe, they have a more mild flavor than raw garlic. I plan to slice off a pat of scape butter anytime I'm in need of a little garlicky, rich flavor...pasta dishes...inside twice baked potatoes...grilled fish....

September garden

July garden...

July garden

I've slacked in the pic department of the garden. We are so proud. Now...what to do with 59 lbs. of kale...ideas anyone?

Red begging for strawberries. No beggin' Red!!!

This fish-eating vegetarian saw it happen...and it didn't make me cringe at all...

It had to happen. Five unlucky male quail met their fate last night. There is only room for one, maybe two male quails at the the Center Street Quail Tractor Inn.

Although it was a tad bit tough to see them go, I was pleased that there were only a few food miles associated with these quail. My roommates will enjoy these little buggers...

Red was quite interested. Yes. He was rewarded with a quail nugget, of course. 

Three eggs make about enough for one egg sandwich. Taste just like chicken... eggs!

June garden

Our first attempt at having a backyard garden. Not too shabby, eh? We built the pvc frame for the hoop house for about 120 bucks. Found free plastic from a construction site at school to cover the hoop house and started all the plants from seeds. This is gardening on a low budget, folks...and I have to say, it's been very gratifying to see the results.