The breaking point for me was the 10 pounds of spare garlic I took home after last week's garlic planting. The dinky ones aren't worth planting, but they are worth making garlic broth out of. Garlic broth is one of those low acid things that cannot be water-bath canned. I had so, so much of it. So, I learned how to pressure can garlic broth. This also happened on the same night I pickled some of that garlic and canned that too for Christmas presents. It was also the same night I made this amazing peppermint meringue cookies for my wife's office party. Word to the wise, even if you check the humidity outside to ensure your meringue will turn out, if you are water-bath canning indoors, it will fail. Sorry Tarra...
We've been finishing mulching our strawberries these past few weeks. We're still experimenting with trying to reduce labor and weeds, plant them at the right time, and take care of them in a way that doesn't ruin our backs or knees. For now, we're laying drip first, transplanting, laying mulch and cutting slits. We'll see how this goes.
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| Go tiny berry plant! |
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| Lord Byron Buttons loves when he gets to go out to the farm and help. He is such a skinny guy though, he needs a jacked to keep warm. He's not so good with strawberry help though, he does like to nibble the leaves when you're not watching. |
We also use plastic mulch to keep plants warm in addition to keeping them weed light. Robert is transplanting quite a few plants out now for a seed crop next year. It's pretty late to do so, and it's not ideal, though, I hope you've noticed by now little of farming is ideal. Here's what 30 beds of plastic mulch looks like:
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| Robert is using the mulch layer implement to cover a bed with the plastic mulch. |
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| The end of the mulch needs to have the drip line pulled through the top and be tucked in. |
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| Here is a tucked end. The drip line will be cut shorter and have an end put on. |
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| Looks a bit like water to me. |
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| Here is a gratuitous picture of my dog in his coat pretending to be a chicken. |
I wanted to share another recipe with you that might help take care of some of your surplus roots you might have lurking in your veggie drawer. Roasting is always a good idea to deal with a root that you can't stand raw. Roasting brings out roots' natural sweetness and turns them into pleasing cubes of golden tinted treats. Here is a basic recipe with some ideas for snazzing it up:
Basic Roasted Roots
10
C cubed roots
4
Tbs Olive oil
Sprinkle
Salt
Preheat
oven to 400. Place cubed roots in a dish and cook for 30 minutes until fork
tender.
Boring,
I know. But, there are endless ways to make this staple interesting!
-Use
all beets and add slices of orange in between the roots. When cooked, add
toasted nuts, soft goat cheese and chives
-Use
Turnips, radishes, rutabaga or other sharp flavored roots and add rosemary to
roast. When cooked, add maple syrup and a spritz of lemon juice and zest
-Mix
it all up and add full heads of garlic and slices of lemon. When cooked smash it all up on good bread
-Roast winter squash or pumpkins and add garlic, sliced chilies and oregano
-Add mixed fresh herbs. When cooked drizzle with a balsamic reduction
-Serve roasted roots over a whole grain to make a complete meal
Have fun! Let me know if you have any great home-recipe secrets for roasted roots!
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