No matter what the old song says – we definitely are not having any lazy days this year. This is our first year of actually selling product. Which has added a huge amount of work to our lives. Last year Ron reached out to a few local restaurants about our shiitakes and we have been selling to three of them. Just this week we sold our first garlic too. Ten pounds of German red specifically requested by one of the chefs.  Hoping this was the first of many garlic sales.

And we are in the midst of planning for our second vendor event.  On Sept 9 we will be at the Mohawk Valley Garlic Festival, selling our shiitakes and garlic.  Getting the garlic ready for sale is easy enough. Wait, did I just say easy???  After harvesting it and hanging it to cure, we now have to clean it.  There are several levels of clean.  The quickest is, of course to just cut off the dead leaves and beard and give the bulb a rub to get off most of the dirt.  Then you can go further by rubbing off a few more of layers of wrapper.  Or you can spend serious time getting each bulb down to it prettiest.  This involves making a careful decision about how many wrappers you remove.  This can go badly very quickly.  One too many and you have peeled the whole thing.  Which results in that bulb ending in the “our” use pile.

No matter what you plan to do with your garlic, it is hard word getting it from the ground and ready for use.  You wouldn’t think it would be so tiring, sitting around a table cleaning garlic.  But it is hard on your hands and just wears on you.  Makes me understand why we saw some vendors at a garlic fest who left their garlic just pulled from the field.

We also have to get our shiitakes ready to sell in Little Falls.  This involves moving sets of 25 logs into the soaking tanks for a 24 hour soak and then moving them back to their racks.  They have to be checked on over the next few days to watch for pinning.  Ron is finally using the while board I bought him and has our upcoming schedule written out.  We still have to prep for our normal weekly sales too.

On Aug 19  we spent the day on THF to getting some work done.  The needed part for our brush hog arrived and Ron got it up and running.  Jo tackled the mowing while Ron and I worked on weeding around our bushes and trees.   We could not even see Ron’s pawpaw trees amidst all the weeds.  Twice I caught myself just in time before I yanked the tree out thinking it was a weed.

We can tell we still have a lot of work to do.  Including adding more mulch around each plant.  Our weeds are relentless and will grow right through the weed cloth we put down.  I think the plan is to have a low growing ground cover between the rows in an effort to reduce the work we will need to do.  Anything that will keep the weeds at bay.

After mowing for several hours, Jo was ready for a break so she helped Ron with the weeding and I took over with the brush hog.  We needed to get the future juneberry patch under control.

We really cannot let it get this overgrown again.  Could not even locate our strips of ground cloth until I had mowed a few rows.  The stuff is so tall that often I was just knocking it down, not cutting it.  If I knew how to use one, it might be more efficient to go old school and break out a sythe.

All of this is part of our plan to getting ready for next spring when I have to ready for next fall when we will be planting our juneberries.   This time we are not going to be rock picking (thank God) but need to kill off as many of the weeds as we can.  Then a quick tilling and, fingers crossed, we will be good to go.

Oh – in October we have to plant our 2018 crop of garlic.  And Ron is thinking of getting new logs inoculated this fall.  There is more mowing and tilling to get down for our spring planting of calendula and echinacea.  Of course, we have the normal prepping for winter to get done too.  Never thought I would be so looking forward to snow fall.

This our second year harvesting garlic at THF.  Last year we pulled all of our garlic and drove it home to our back yard.  Using our canopy and the racks Ron built we cured it right there inside our tent set up. This year we had planted more garlic and would need a larger space for curing.  For the first time since we bought our house, the cathedral ceiling our garage has, came in handy.  Ron took the three racks he built last year and we connected them into one tall drying rack.  We  hammered two strips across the width of each section.  Those we would hang the garlic from.  I dearly wish we had a fourth person around some times, just to take pictures and keep notes of the crazy things we are doing.

We started pulling garlic on July 22, planning do to one type at a time.  We had three varieties this year – German while, music and German red.   Have to keep them separate as we need to sell each type specifically.

At first we pulled  each garlic head, shook off the dirt and put them in the tub intact, with all their leaves.   It was the perfect weather for working in the field.  Not too hot, with a nice breeze to keep us cooler.   After the first hour I realized that next year we really need to have a garlic harvesting party.  More people would really make this go much faster.

Ron had already given the next process a good deal of thought.  Bundles of six garlic heads, based on similar size tied together and then up on the rack.   Luckily for us, I had already given thought to the process too.  The canopy was needed in order to keep us cool.  Turned out to be a nice set up for cleaning shiitakes too.   After the first few bundles were ready, we realized that a trip to the store was necessary.  We just didn’t have enough string in the house.  I headed off to Walmart to find something and came home with cotton twine.  Grabbed a couple of pedestal fans too.  We need them to keep the air moving.  When I got home I discovered that Ron had clipped a clothes pin to the back of my shirt before I left.  Walked all around the store with that thing showing.  Thanks, my loving husband.

Ron showed me his technique for hanging each bundle to the slat.   Typical male – it involved a series of wedgies.  I took over this job while Jo cut the string into the right length and made the needed loop and Ron wrapped the bundles.   Our garlic party of 2018 will also include this part.  Though we hope it will be easier since we plan on having a shed built on THF before then for just this purpose.   I discovered that we needed to cut all the leaves off after all.  They were just too much in the way.  I handed the job of cutting them off to Jo.

Unfortunately our day was not over yet.  We headed back out to THF to harvest the second patch.  Then we had to get them up on the rack too. This made for a long day, but we have two thirds of our garlic drying.   On Wednesday the 26th, we headed out to get the next set.  This time we cut the leaves off on site which would reduce the amount of work needed to get them up on the drying rack.  We got the filled tubs home and into the garage where they sat until the next day after work.

After work on Thursday we got started again.  This time it went faster as we already knew what we were doing.  The only change was that now I was standing on our step stool in order to reach the next rows.

Good thing I am not afraid of heights.   Even better that I bought us a new and lovely step stool just last month.  Just a couple of hours of work and we were done.  Garage really smells of garlic now.   No worries about vampires getting in any time soon.

We weren’t done yet.  We had one more patch to go.  This was a mixture of all three varieties, what had been left over from the main planting.  Again we had to keep them all separate.  Bright and early Sunday morning we headed out for one last run of harvesting.

This last bit was going on the top rails of our drying rack.  Now was the time to break out our tallest ladder.  It was a bit more difficult that we thought it would be.  The straps we were using to hold the rack in place meant we had to do some serious maneuvering around to get the ladder set up so I could use it.

I tied the last bundle onto the slat and felt the massive satisfaction of job well done.

Then Jo ruined it all by reminding me that in about three weeks we have to take this all down.

And we are happy out at Tiny House Farm.

Shoots of garlic popping their heads out of the straw mulch.  The wire was put down to hold the straw in places.  It does get windy out on THF, the flat field doesn’t offer any protection to our plants.  Things will be different once our elderberry bushes and pawpaw trees have some height.   We planted 3 types of garlic last fall, it will be interesting to see which variety grows the best.  Ron has already asked me about possible expansion this year.  How am I supposed to answer that question?  We don’t yet know just how much garlic we will have this year and what we will be able to do with it. This is the first year we are going to try selling it.  We had no trouble giving it away last year, but getting people to actually give us cash for it but be a totally different ballgame.

I have been reading about batch roasting peeled garlic cloves that you then freeze.  As we are growing hard neck garlic, it is not so easy to slice off the top of each head of garlic for roasting.  For the past few years, I have been roasted cloves that I peel.  That is a lot of work.  I have tried the two metal bowls trick which does work.  But it also tends to beat up the cloves.  Not sure yet if that will have an impact on my then roasted babies.

Another sign of spring is repairs about the place.

After using our air compressor to fill the tire a couple of times, it became clear that we really needed to replace it.  This was the same tire we dealt with last year.  The repair was just not holding any longer.  Getting the tire off was a job in and of itself.  No tire jack on THF.  Wonder if they have one for none vehicle use?  An invention?  Something to think about.

I carried the tire out to the Transit and Ron headed back the shop to get the fix.  A couple of days later and we got the tire back on and all was well again.  We cannot do much of anything without our wonderful wagon.

A week later and the growth difference is amazing.  It is such fun to watch what you have planted grow and change right in front of your eyes.  It is a special kind of magic, one that all fellow gardeners know and appreciate.  You plant a seed, make sure it gets water and sun and then wait to see what happens.  Don’t always get 100 percent germination, but that is just part of the experience.  And the agony for all those who accept this challenge.

Ron and I went out after work  on Tuesday, the 17th  to pull the wire screen off the garlic and give it a good dose of blood meal.  Simple, right?  Not so much.  We underestimated how many bags we would need.  I said we should head to the store for more now and get it done as the rain was coming.  Something that was essential in order to have the best results.  Also decided to stop at Lowe’s and see about replacement set screw for the adapters we use for drilling holes in the logs.  We expected to be there 15 minutes at the most.  45 minutes later two guys were still trying to help us find the right screw size.  Didn’t help that Ron didn’t have his glasses with him.  That made him pretty much blind as a bat and useless in our search for the right screw.   I kept trying to have him look at the screw hole so he could see what I saw.   There was a dark lining at the bottom of the hole that seemed to be causing the issue.  We finally gave up with Ron saying he would contact the company to get some replacements.

Back to the farm to finish up with the blood meal and some low dose organic fertilizer.  And then home getting there after 7 pm.  No such thing as a quick job for us.  Just about every task is more complicated and takes more time than expected.

Lovely pouring rain the next day, just what we needed to help the spring nutrients soak down into the ground.

On Wednesday we got the new adapters in.  Ron had gone with hardened steel this time hoping to get longer use out of them.  The order had been shipped from Field and Forest Products before he contacted them for help with the set screws.  Those they would stick in an envelope and send along.  Now we just needed to get the drill bit out of the old adapter to see if the new bit would fit.  I held the bit with a pair of pliers while Ron had the base in a vise grip.  Took a surprising amount of effort, but we got it out.  And discovered that the thing was torqued inside.  And I discovered why we were having such trouble finding a replacement set screw.  The one we thought was missing was actually there, deep inside.  It was that dark thing I thought was a liner.  Ron had assumed that the adapter that still had the set screw was the one Jesse had taken home with him to work on.

We do have such fun.  A very good thing we can laugh at ourselves.

Just look at what a good meal, soaking rain and a few days can do for your garlic.  I even saw new shoots coming up in previously empty spots.  Things are looking good for  2017.

Arthur Baer may have said that, but Ron has taken it to heart and is doubling down on that thought.

Ron and I took a week off from Tiny House Farm and headed to Winston-Salem, NC to visit my sister, Patty.  I was on my two weeks vacation from work and just decided that a family trip was needed.  As Ron and brother-in-law Doug are best buds, he was all in.   As a bonus, older sister Mary was able to join us from Springfield, MO for a few days.  Such a good time we had.  But that is another story.

We got home on Thursday, Oct 13th and were very glad to be there again.  The visit was great, but home is best.  We still had a number of things to get done on the farm before the snow flies and even more at home.

Saturday, the 15th was garlic planting day.  Ron, Jo and I were up early and got busy splitting the garlic into individual cloves.  We were planting 3 different varieties so we had to tackle each one at a time and keep them separated.

This was actually hard work and by the time we had 800 cloves of each variety ready to go, our hands were feeling it.  You have to peel most of the wrapper off and then use your thumb to break the head apart.  Over and over again.  Then we bagged them up, 100 cloves to a bag.  As Ron has expansion plans for next year, I can foresee a garlic splitting party in 2017.

Then it was time to pack everything up and head out to THF.  This was a two vehicle trip with Ron hauling not only the garlic but his fabulous planting template.  He had numerous sessions of thought and planning  and then he spent a long afternoon building it.

Brother-in-law Don was already out there and we got everything unloaded and were ready to go.  It was 10 am and a bit chilly, but the sun was shining which makes all things better.  So odd that we are not getting out to the farm by 6 or 7 am.   These later starts are throwing us out of sync.

One box for each row.  800 cloves in each box.  This is going to be a long day.

Ron and Don used his dipple to make holes in our lovingly prepared rows.  Then Jo and I got busy with the planting.  Of course it was not as easy as it sounds.  Some of the holes were just the right size and the clove dropped in and were ready to be covered.  Most of the time, we had to dig out the hole a bit.

And so it began, we dibbled and planted again and again and again.  Moving along each row until the end was reached.   I dearly wish I had remembered my knee pads.  Because we had picked up so many of the rocks, it wasn’t a matter of hitting those but the constant kneeling that was getting to Jo and me.

And then, two hours later we were done with the three rows.  But not with the garlic.  We still had a lot waiting to be planted.   So Ron got our tiller up and running and we (shudder) tackled a fourth row.  This was just going to be a down and dirty row.  Tilled up and rock picked until we had enough loosened soil to plant the remaining garlic.  Needed to be at least 3 inches deep.   At first we were tossing the rocks into the wheelbarrow so we could dump them into the pile.  But that was taking too much time.  So we just picked up the bigger rocks and tossed them a few feet away.

This was the easiest way for me to pick rocks.  Working my way up and down the row while watching for Ron and the tiller.  I did end up with lots of dirt in my boots though.  Had to stop and empty them out every time I stood up.

Four hours of seriously hard work and we were done.  Yea team.  We do good work.  Now we just have to get each row covered with straw and then with the manure.  Then we can sit back and wait for Mother Nature to do her thing.   We have from now until next summer to come with up a plan for not only our soon to be huge crop of garlic scapes, but the garlic itself.  I can only roast and freeze so much.  I really don’t want another freezer in the house.

On Sunday we were all hurting.  All that kneeling just did in my legs.  It was Wednesday before I stopped feeling the ache when I stood up.

Final steps were going to be taken on Saturday, but Mother Nature said no way.  It rained, no, it poured all day long.  No way we were going to be shoveling manure that day.  At least Jo and I weren’t.  Ron, when he has a schedule to keep, I wouldn’t put anything past him. So our plan 3 from outer space was to get the straw and wire laid down on Sunday.   It was chilly and very windy that morning and Ron wanted to wait until it hit at least 50 degrees.  That took until noon to reach. Then we loaded up and headed out.  The straw we had left under a tarp at THF were not going to do the job.  Only two of the bales survived, the rest was wet and moldy.  And there was not enough of it.

We did one row and then headed home to grab some cash and find ourselves more straw.  Ron and I headed to Wagner Farm on Rt 365 in Rome, NY.  I had to drag Ron away from the owner; another Ron.  They would have been there for hours talking farm talk if I hadn’t.  Finally we were back at THF with the 12 bales we needed.

Two bales for each row and then two more for the space in between.   We unfurled each row of the wire Ron bought and Jo and I walked the length of them to flatten them out.  Then we carefully maneuvered the 50 foot lengths up the row and laid them down.  This will keep the straw in place over the winter.  We are looking to prevent ground heave and later keep the weeds down too.

And there we are.  Four rows of garlic planted and protected.  Now all we have to do is get the manure and shovel that on top.  The benefits will eek their way down through the straw and, fingers crossed, make our 2017 crop just a lovely as 2016 was.

Far warning to all family and friends.  Next October we are having a garlic planting party.  Save the date, you will be expected to show up.

One of the best bits of information we came home with from the Mother Earth News Fair was that we could wait a little longer before planting our garlic.   The other thing we had re-enforced was that we needed to get the seed garlic ready the day before.  No earlier.  That makes our upcoming project a three day event.  Thank goodness Ron and I both have taken next Friday off.   Fingers are crossed the current weather prediction for our area holds.

In order to get ready (mostly) we had to dig up and sift at least one more 56 foot long row.

We started last Saturday morning, Oct 1st at slightly later than crack o’dawn.  Now that fall is heading our way, the sun isn’t up as soon as we are.  No sense in heading to THF in the dark.  Brother-in-law Don was planning to join us again.  He really does like it out there in Augusta.

Ron and Jo got our ball of string out and marked out the new row. While they did that, I decided to pick up the surface rocks before we got our set up started.  They joined in and we quickly had the wheelbarrow filed.

Now it was time for the real work and we dove right in to it.  Don arrived about 9:30 am and we quickly hit our stride.  It was perfect weather for working, cooler with overcast skies.  The hit is always what kills us and last week it was the wind too.

Major surprise when brother-in-law John showed up too.  He grabbed a shovel and the dirt started to fly.  I was in charge of unloading the wheelbarrow again.  Don helped me get it down the row each time as I was going backwards with it.  Getting the thing turned around in tight quarters is not easy.  I had my trusty pedometer with me again and by the end of the day I had logged 17,377 steps.  So much better that a gym membership.

At 2 pm, we were beat and hungry.  I had brought hot dogs to cook on the grill and while I got them going, the rest of the crew made a dent at equipment breakdown.   That is one of our least favorite parts of the this venture.   We ate our late lunch and rested while the boys talked future plans.

We are still finding huge rocks in our field.  Even though we are only digging down a shovel’s length, they have to be dug out.

Sunday was a  no work day.  Jo had come down with my cold and it was supposed to be rainy.  The plan was to wait and go out later in the day, but that didn’t happen.  A wasted day in Ron’s opinion.  So the plan now was to put in a few hours after work each day.

Luckily Don was more than willing to stick this out with us.  Ron headed home each day and got Jo and something for a quick dinner.   I was always the one late to the party.

We lucked out the with weather again on Tuesday and left for home well satisfied with our progress.

Wednesday we were back out there again.  Our pile of rocks is growing by leaps and bounds.  We are again limited by the day light.  We have to stop working; leaving ourselves enough time to safely breakdown everything.  I refuse to agree with Ron’s suggestion that we start using headlamps.

Thursday was harder.  We suddenly had summer temps to deal with.  But we only had 5 more feet to go and were determined to finish it off.  Do or die.  And those few hours almost did kill us.

And there we are.  Three rows done and ready for planting.  With compost, azomite rock dust, and a earth friendly, all purpose organic fertilizer added in.  Well seasoned cow manure will come later.  Again, our friend Dick is going to come through with that for us.

Of course we are not really done yet.  We will plan to plant these rows and see what seed garlic we have left.  Then we will break out the tiller and do a quick, down and dirty row for the rest.  That is what we did last year and the garlic we pulled was fabulous.

It will be sure a relief to have this done.  Then we will be able to take a deep breath, rest for a day and then start on next thing.  I shudder to think what Ron will come up with.  I know that he has plans to keep the 3 of us busy with over the winter.  I think I will have to come up with a family schedule so I can book “me time” that he cannot override.

I foresee some battles in my future.  But you can bank on my winning.

Ron and Jo headed out to THF on Tuesday, the 13th to pull the mushroom logs out of their 4 hour soak.   On their way home they went straight instead of turning left as Ron needed gas in the wagon.  Jo just happened to spot someone out working in their own field.  She thought it looked like they were using a rock picker.  Ron agreed with her and he turned around and headed back.   By use of awkward sign language and his bright red Transit he managed to catch the attention of the driver.  Once the tractor was stopped, Ron climbed down into the 8 foot ditch and out the other side and across the field.  He then climbed up to the the cab of the tractor and once the driver opened the door said “I assume you are Mr Simmons?”   And he was, Mike Simmons to be exact and the son of the farmer Ron had already talked to about the fabulous rock picker he owned.   Out came the spiel and the long and short of it all was that Mike would meet Ron at THF in a few hours to look over the field and decide if he wanted the job.

Jo and Ron were both giddy when they got home.   A quick dinner and we waited for the phone to ring.  When it did, Ron headed out.  An hour later he called me.  Mike was already working on our field and Ron wanted to know if I needed  some shots of the process.

Of course, he didn’t have the camera with him so I got myself out the door and out to the farm with camera in hand.   Mike and his machine were hard at work scooping up rocks.  Very noisy it was too.  All that banging from rocks bouncing around in the hopper. He had already asked Ron if we had any neighbors that this would be a problem for.

His machine is quite cool.  He drives down the field until the hopper is full and then backs up to where our rock pile will be and dumps them.  We watched for about 30 minutes and then walked back to our cars and headed home.  Ron was delighted that once again his theory about karma played out.

Mike was back out again the next night.  We have so many rocks in that field, one day was simply not going to make much of a dent.

The number of hours that it would have taken us to make this pile of rocks.  What with the digging, sifting and wheelbarrowing.  While this is this biggest pile Mike made for us, we have another one on the other side of the field.  Cannot see much of it as it is hidden by the trees and bushes.

Don and John joined us again on Saturday as we made the final push to get a second row ready for garlic planting.  It was the perfect work day.  Sunny but with steady breeze that kept it cool.  The sun had come out and we tried to use our canopy again, but that was a no go.  The wind was just too strong.  We kept getting whacked by the poles that were supposed to be holding up the canvas top.  

With John manning the shovel, we flew through the last stages.  All of us were hungry and tired, but Ron didn’t want to take a break until we were actually done.  We still had to haul the compost from the pile and get it spread over each row.  Time for the 4 wheeler to get into the action.  Jo, John and Don filled the buckets and loaded them onto the trailer.

Ron drove them across the field and I dumped them into place.  Once again those empty cat litter containers came in so handy.  They make the best buckets.

And there we are.  Two rows done and we are ready for planting early next month. So happy to have this part of the project done.

NEWS FLASH – Ron is such a liar.  He started out saying we needing one row for our 2017 garlic.  He said we just needed to keep going to get other rows ready for the following years.  So we got two rows done and we should be finished, right?  Oh no, he ordered more garlic.  Wanted to have one more variety growing.  Last night we ran the numbers and imagine my delight as we figured out we needed not one but two more rows just to get everything planted next month.

He may end up buried out at THF.  Wonder how the garlic would grow with him as fertilizer?