Last weekend the Garlic Festival... today some 80 odd onions, and a basketball sized cabbage... How can they stand the smell of each other, you might be wondering about me and my family? Well, we can't, not really anyway.
The 2 boys in my household, husband included, seem to revel in their stench, or else completely deny it, while I try to hold the covers down so nothing escapes. Knight, our black and white cat, seems completely oblivious.
Unfortunately, my 9 year old son is at that stage where fart jokes are hysterical, and my husband hasn't outgrown it either, yet, I'm hoping. Never a dull moment around here.
But all that aside, I have to say, I AM SO PLEASED with my second round of Copra onions which I got from my favorite seed company,
Fedco, not to mention the savoy and red cabbages, Prisma Red Shallots and Blue de Solaiz leeks. Everything I get from them comes up hardy and vigorously. I am a little perplexed though at the dill coming up with the Yaya carrots I recently planted. I am convinced that they were in the same seed packet, but haven't talked to Fedco about it yet.
In fact I was so pleased last year with the Copras, that I ordered one related to it, Prince, to see how it would size up. So far, the Copras are about half pulled, and the other half is almost done, while most of the Princes are still not quite ready. Neither are my reds. But the shallots are looking really big and happy, also not done yet though.
I got a good start on my onions this year, planting way back in March or April from seeds, but in my eagerness I seeded them much to thickly in their starter pots, which slowed them way down. A lesson learned. Plus I ended up giving over half of the starts away cuz I had so many.
Here's the garlic... elephant, red hardneck, and soft neck, waiting to get eaten and planted. I'm trying it out in the studio again, along with the onions, to keep it cool and dry. Last year in the root cellar they got moldy, bummer. It was wet this year, and some seem to have some black mold on the wrappers, and some pinkish mold spots here and there. So we'll see how long they last. I had to throw a lot out last spring for molding. I am hoping that this place will be dryer than the last, and if not, I'll just have to start with some fresh. I will be careful to plant the ones with the least mold, and I am burning the stalks and wrappers just to be safe. I also rotate my crop every year to a new row to help prevent diseases.
I've been through 2 rounds of pumpkin pies now, and around 6 loaves of pumpkin bread, and I can still say "mmmm!"
I harvested my Echinacea, Purple Coneflower, for the first time this year, and am brewing up the tincture now. I hope it's strong, with h1n1 on the move. I chose to use Richo Cech's tincture recipe. I refer to his book Making Plant Medicine quite frequently. He has everything from alcohol/vinegar/or-glycerite tinctures, to compresses, poultices and salves, to herbal succi and teas.
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