On Saturday we held our twenty-somethingth annual Garlic Festival. I think “festival” is a bit of a misnomer, but the people who come seem to love it. We hand dig all the garlic, wash and sort it, and hang it up to dry. Then we have a potluck and enjoy a grand meal together. Some people hang around and hike to the treehouse or visit the animals.
I think we had 40 people out to the farm on Saturday and we harvested and processed about 3500 heads of garlic in about two hours. Wow! Many families who came were new to the school, and we were glad to be one of their first contacts with the school community.
We put a red twist-tie on the bundles of garlic with the biggest heads. We will plant those this October for harvesting next year.
We hang the garlic in bundles of ten on the hay wagon. Then we drive the wagon into the shed, where the garlic will cure for at least three weeks.
We have reserved a section of the garden for this October’s garlic planting. Today I spread about a ton of compost on that section, and we seeded buckwheat over the compost as a cover crop.
Precious (our ailing llama) had a good week, although the flies have been bothering her. We have about a dozen fly strips hanging in her pen and they are working.
We tried out a new mechanical transplanter this week. It was AMAZING how fast we planted hundreds of broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower plants. We had to borrow our neighbor’s tractor to pull it. Heavy!
Our new toy. This is a “water wheel” transplanter. For each of the last 27 years, I have transplanted on my hands and knees. This week we acquired a used transplanter and it is much faster and easier on our backs. Notice the smiles!
We got a little rain on Saturday and a little more on Monday. Not enough, but every little bit helps. The crops are doing well and we are mostly on top of the weeds. The potato beetles are between generations, so the plants are growing unimpeded for now.
Pumpkin patch, vining out.
The pumpkin patch is starting to grow some big ones. This is a “cinderella” pumpkin, AKA Rouge V’if Etampes.
We have a few strawberry plants in the greenhouse. Strawberries are the reward for the person who remembers to water the little plants in the greenhouse.
I dug up a potato plant today and there was only one little potato on it. It was a heart potato! We are watering this week in order make sure the plants have plenty of water to make potatoes.
Watermelon plants, loving the heat!
Our first market is not until August 30th, but we have a little “home garden” with green beans, herbs, kale, zucchini, okra, and cucumbers. This week the cukes and zukes are starting to come in!
We took a hike on Monday and found that the natural world continues to be abundant and beautiful.
Wild cherry tree. Don’t get too excited. They are bitter and astringent. Good for the birds.
We went for a hike this week and found some “lobster mushrooms.” This is actually a fungus that infects a lactarius mushroom. The lactarius on its own is bitter, but once infected with the lobster fungus, it turns into a choice edible.
There were many boletes on the hike, but we did not harvest them out of an abundance of caution. See my story for why.
Prairie restoration in full bloom
Our three sisters garden continues to thrive. It is on autopilot until harvest in October.
The popcorn is flowering. The red silks are beautiful. Each silk is actually a tube that ends up at a kernel. When the tassels rain down pollen, each silk gets a grain of pollen, which travels down the tube to fertilze the seed.
The climbing beans are flowering too!
This is an heirloom winter squash, and at least one fruit has set! All three sisters are having sex this week!
Robin’s second batch of chicks
This week was a big week for the Democrats in Wisconsin. In Dunn County, the Dems hosted the pie sale at the Luddington Gaurd Band concert and we donated the proceeds to the local food shelf. And then we have a booth at this weekend’s county fair. My pie was a blueberry-rhubarb with both from the farm.
We sold bars and pie. Proceeds to Stepping Stones food shelf.
In writing news:
Laura M. Quainoo and I both wrote pieces promoting our new Readers and Writers Book Club (tag it “RaWBC”).
I wrote an essay about how if Gavin Newsom can just get California into the insulin business then he should do the same for housing.
My “train” contest story on Vocal Media was accepted and published.
And Kathyrn Dickel and Yael Wolfe published my essay on Creativity in Pollinate.
To live in a world of peace and justice we must imagine it first. For this, we need artists and writers. I write to reach for the edges of what is possible.
