A Day in the Garden
Yesterday I spent the day working outside in the gardens. It’s just the kind of day I like for working outside. Cool but sunny, perfect for working hard, you don’t get too hot. My fingers even got a bit frosty while picking all the green tomatoes.
I picked 36 pounds of green tomatoes. So what am I going to be doing with these? Some of them will be put on a shelf in the basement on some newspaper for ripening, the other green ones will be made into a batch of green tomato chutney. For now they’re covering our dining room table. All of the tomato vines went into one of my compost piles.
I also cleaned out the bed that had the potatoes in it to make room for garlic. I didn’t get quite as many potatoes as I had hoped, but I planted them a little late and I don’t think the soil is all that great. So next year they’ll be given a ton more compost. Next year I’m planning on planting some different kinds of potatoes, I’ll buy my big bag of winter potatoes from a local farm (this year I planted Kennebec potatoes)
Early this summer I ordered a garlic sampler from Gourmet Garlic Gardens. I would highly recommend ordering from them (just make sure you order early to get what you want). I ordered a spicy garlic lovers sampler for my zone. They sent the garlic out in mid-september with detailed instructions about planting. Bob even wrote thank you on my invoice, how’s that for customer service.
So how do you plant garlic? Well, first you separate the cloves and soak them overnight in a solution of 1 heaping Tablespoon of baking soda to one gallon of water. I soaked my 4 different kinds in different bowls to keep them separate.
After about 12-16 hours when the cloves are loose in their skins you immerse them in alcohol for 3-5 minutes, then you plant 6 inches apart (and 3 inches deep here in Ohio, 2 inches deep in the south, and 4 inches deep farther north).
I mulched mine with straw to keep them warmer this winter and hopefully next spring/summer I’ll have a bounty of delicious fresh garlic.
So what kinds of garlic did I plant?
German White: A Porcelain Garlic – very rich garlic flavor, rather hot pungency when raw, harvests mid-late season, stores 8-10 months
Killarney Red: A Rocambole Garlic – very rich garlic flavor, very hot pungency when raw, harvests early-mid season, stores 5-6 months
Chesnok Red: A Purple Strip Garlic – very rich garlic flavor, medium warm pungency when raw, harvests mid-season, stores 6-8 months
Georgia Fire: A Porcelain Garlic – very rich garlic flavor, very hot pungency when raw, harvests mid-late season, stores 8-10 months
It looks like I’ll have a great selection for storing & eating. I’m hoping they’ll last me all year. Any of you planting garlic this fall and what’s your favorite kind?
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Spotted by the Side of the Road
Anyone notice anything funny about this sign?
Can you really sell the wildlife with the property?
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World Food Day
Today is world food day, which sort of goes along with yesterday Blog Action Day: Poverty. 
Download this brochure and read up on the challenges facing the world-wide food supply.
If any of you read Michael Pollan’s “Farmer in Chief” article in the NY Times Food Issue you’ll have a good idea of the problems facing the food supply not only in this country but around the world. He also gave some great ideas for solving these problems. Do you think any changes will be made in our food supply in this country? Perhaps we should vote Michael Pollan for president.
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Blog Action Day: Fighting Poverty
I just found out that today is Blog Action Day: Fighting Poverty.
I grew up in Colombia, South America. My parents are missionaries and they have working at fighting poverty in Colombia for over 37 years (read my dad’s blogpost about poverty and what they’ve done to help). Many people in the United States aren’t familiar with real poverty. We may know someone who can’t afford to have a car, or that needs foods stamps to help pay for their food. While that is a form of poverty, it isn’t the same depth of poverty that the majority of the world lives in.
According to the Global Rich List, Mr Chiots and I (and the majority of Americans) are in the top 1% of the world wealth-wise because of our income. Check out how you rank, I bet it will be in the top 1% as well. So what can we do as the top 1% of wealthy people in the world? Obviously we can donate money to one of the many organizations that helps with poverty relief around the world like Heifer International, Kiva, the Grameen Foundation, or Oxfam International. Mr Chiot’s and I choose to donate to pay for the education of poor children in Colombia.
We support a school in Colombia that provides a free or low cost education to the children of the very poor. Through their education they will be able to rise up out of poverty. They’ll never be able to make it into the top 1% of the world wealth-wise, simply because they don’t live in a country like the United States, but they might make it up into the top 25%. We don’t just support with money, Mr Chiots and I have traveled to the school several times to make videos for them to help raise funds. I also work to raise scholarships for a lot of the children at the school.
What else can you do to help fight poverty? You can get involved in local program like a food bank or a homeless shelter or perhaps an after school program for lower income families, or get involved in the world-wide peasant movement, or support better working conditions for farm workers. It doesn’t really matter what you do, just do something.
This is the face of poverty in a poor section of Bogota, Colombia Mr Chiot’s and I visited in February.
What does the face of poverty look like to you and what are you doing about it?
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Algonquin Mill Festival – Take 2
On Sunday I went back to the Algonquin Mill Festival with Mr Chiots and a some friends.
On Sunday all the vintage cars are there. It’s always fun to see the old cars, I never see any old MINI’s though (Mr Chiot’s and I are saving up to buy one). 
They also have little antique booths with some interesting things. It’s always hard to leave without buying something old. (I wonder what people will sell from now in 100 years? i-pods????)
Every year there’s a dulcimer group there. It’s very interesting music. Mr Chiot’s and I collect Christmas music, so I got a CD for our collection. It will be perfect for relaxing with some hot cocoa to the light of the Christmas tree.
One thing I always buy at the festival is some sorghum syrup. My grandpa always tells stories of eating sorghum on biscuits. I use it in place of corn syrup in my pecan pies, you just can’t beat that flavor. They have a horse that is actually pressing the sorghum and they cook it down in big kettles over the fire.
On Sunday we once again ate pancakes (and I can’t believe I didn’t take a photo). They are that delicious. I’m sure all the other food is good, they have beans & cornbread, chili, sauerkraut, and a few of the more typical fair foods. We’ve never made it past the pancakes though. I’ve always wanted to learn how to make rag rugs like this. HM, perhaps that will be a good winter hobby. 
The sights and sounds of this little festival are just great. I love going back each and every year.
I’ve never bought any of the flour that they grind at the mill until this year, I decided to buy some blue cornmeal.
I’m trying to decide what to make with it, blue cornbread perhaps. Any suggestions?
