The Small Beginnings of a 2023 Garden

We (meaning mainly my spouse) are gardening for another year.

In our zone 5b area, it's too early to start most planting, but we are behind on even doing a seed inventory to see what we have on hand.

In the meantime, we traveled to our new raised bed we were able to rent this year from our local community garden.

Right now, it doesn't look like much, but don't be fooled.  A month will make a big difference.

Last year, this new raised bed had been planted and then never harvested.  I remember there being a lot of unharvested yellow pear tomatoes, the remains of which were lying on top of the soil.  Last year's renter even left some nylon (?) fencing, which we may or may not reuse.  These raised beds are prone to deer attacks.  Last year was a bad year for that - we lost all our peas.  Theft, sometimes, too - someone dug up a couple of white eggplant plants with eggplants growing on them.

It's discouraging but my spouse soldiers on because growing things is in his genes.

It will be interesting to see what will come up once we add some soil additives and put in our seeds and plants.  A lot of the new bed will be the home of onion plants that will be coming (mail order) in May.  Spouse uses a lot of onions in his cooking.

Meanwhile, back in the raised bed we've had for several years, plants are coming to life.

The green you see is garlic planted in the fall coming up.

This is a chive plant we rescued (with permission) from a walkway in the raised bed area (apparently someone's chives had seeded the walkway, which was full of chive plants last year) and that is sprouting, too.

Yesterday and today, it's been raining.  It probably won't get into the 40's F today, and as soon as the rain stops, it will get quite windy.  No planting today.

But it won't be long.

Hopefully.

Garlic Festival 2022

 We've had a garlic festival held by the American Civic Association (ACA) in Binghamton, New York, for many years.

It's a fundraiser for the Association, which has many programs to benefit immigrants, and was (sadly) the site of a 2009 mass shooting, which I've blogged about before. (No links today. I've blogged about it too many times.)

That festival even helped the community heal.

Here is a post from the 2011 festival.

This year, for the first time, the festival isn't on the grounds of the ACA but, rather, at our historic zoo.

Sad to say, the festival has been declining in recent years, and COVID didn't help matters.  The sponsors hoped the change in location would help.

Well, a lot of people showed up for the food, the entertainment, and, yes, the garlic.

I am not going to complain about the drought or the relative lack of garlic for sale (We got there an hour after it opened and vendors were already selling out) or anything else (like the lack of parking, which was a little surprising). 

I'm just going to show you the garlic.

There's a whole world of garlic out there, and it's nice to be surprised. (We bought one of these bags) 

German white is more common than some of these other varieties.

We did not pat the farmer, who sold us some Ukranian garlic.

Ah, that beautiful garlic. I could just wish there were more vendors, but it was a nice fundraiser and people were enjoying another summer day outside.

You can't go wrong with that.

Garlic and Onion Skies #SkywatchFriday

Local onion and garlic farmers have been harvesting their crop.   Back on July 30, I took these pictures at a farm and store about 30 miles (48 km) from us, in the Southern Tier of New York State.

Outside the farm store, the crop for sale on display.

Inside, the garlic is laid out to dry (most of this isn't the bulb, the part you see in your supermarket).

Garlic on display.

As we went home with our purchases.

A nice rural scene, even with the power line.

Want more skies?  Visit Yogi and the other skywatching bloggers who participate at #SkywatchFriday.

The Garlic Festival

I am heartbroken over the news of still another mass shooting, this time at a garlic festival in Gilroy, California.

I'm heartbroken at our inability to stop these shootings.  I'm heartbroken having experienced, as a sort-of spectator (from a few blocks away) a mass shooting in the community where I live, Binghamton, New York, on April 3, 2009.

There is one way in which my work community of Binghamton, New York and Gilroy are connected.

Garlic.

Each year, the American Civic Association (ACA), where our shooting took place, hosted a garlic festival each August.  In 2009, there was no festival.

But in 2010, it returned, and I am repeating my 2010 post, without editing.  The festival has been held every year since 2010.  This year, it is August 17, and I'm sure many of those attending our garlic festival will be thinking of Gilroy. 

But it takes more than thought (and prayers) to heal a community, or those who lost loved ones. 

In doing some research, I found that Gilroy is close in population to Binghamton. One of the innocent dead (two of the three dead were children) went to college less than two hours away from Binghamton.  More connections. 

What else can be said that hasn't been said hundreds of times? I will not try.

Here's my post from August 2010.

Healing Wounds One Garlic Plant at a Time

No, this post isn't about the medicinal uses of the garlic plant.  But if you came here by mistake, please stay and read anyway.

I'm talking about a totally different type of healing, healing psychic wounds of a community.

Yesterday we went to the ACA's Garlic Festival on the edge of downtown Binghamton.

After a one year hiatus due to the horrendous shooting of April 3, 2009, we welcome the festival back.

We weren't going to go until today, but the weather report, combined with a one hour postponement in an event we were supposed to go to yesterday afternoon, combined in us making the trip yesterday.  We didn't have too long to say, so didn't go inside to purchase garlic food.  There were lines and we didn't have time to wait.

Just think, going inside, into a building that some might say was haunted.  But how fitting that laughter filled that space yesterday.

Outside, the mood was just as festive.  A number of booths were selling...well, what else, but garlic.  Spanish Roja, White German, Music, Elephant, and many more, hung braided, sat in bags, or loose, next to plates with pieces cut up for pre-purchase sampling.  We bought a couple of bags of spouses' favorite, Music.  Another booth had local pestos- spinach, sun dried tomato, red pepper, and more. Still another booth had pesto made from garlic scapes.  (Garlic scapes are the top of the garlic plant, just as the seed area starts to form.  They are delicious but you have to get the plant at just the right time or they become tough.)

Still another vendor, reminiscent of the New York soup man Jerry Seinfeld modeled his "Soup Nazi" after, sold his genuine Pennsylvania smoked sausage.  If you looked at him wrong, he told you to "Go to the back of the line!"  (No Garlic for You!)  But it was all in good fun, the crowds gathered to enjoy his banter and we bought some sausage from him, too.

Local food, local garlic, even garlic ice cream (which I didn't try in 2010, but have tried since). 

A good time was had by all.

Postscript - my hope is that Gilroy will, in their own time, hold this festival again.

Sustainable Saturday - Black Garlic and Chocolate

The annual garlic festival at the American Civil Association in Binghamton, New York.

There's garlic.

More garlic.

Black garlic for sale, Binghamton, New York August 25, 2018

And black garlic.

And black garlic covered in dark chocolate.

No, please don't run away.  Hear me out!

I've never had black garlic before.  The vendor, Sweet G Garlic, had samples.  I was, to use an old expression, "blown away".  It is chewy and not at all garlicky.  The flavors are complex.  Here's some of the science behind black garlic.

But the owner of Sweet G wasn't done yet.
He opened a cooler.  Within were black garlic samples coated in dark chocolate.
They were fantastic. 

I would have bought some on the spot if he had any for sale, but he didn't.  "Not yet", he said.  But soon.  Unfortunately, this vendor is located over two hours from where I live near Binghamton, New York.  We did buy some of his regular garlic, though.

I have a feeling that, by the end of today, Sweet G is going to be sorry he didn't have any ready for sale.  I think he would have sold out with some word of mouth. (So yes, he is going to get some from me.)

I found a a recipe online that isn't exactly what this man had, but if I can find black garlic locally, I just may try to make some with chocolate.

The festival also had the more traditional garlic ice cream, which I've had in the past.  But this stuff was way better.

Have you ever tried black garlic?

Local Saturday - Adventures with Garlic Scapes

Today, the long-awaited indoor year round farmers market finally opened in Binghamton, New York.  We celebrated with garlic scapes.

What are garlic scapes?  Before I tell you, a little about the new market.

Our regional indoor farmers market was years in the planning.  Its original location probably would have forced the closing of the community garden we've gardened in for years.  But, due to the intervention of some long-dead Native Americans, whose relics were found when they started to dig the foundations, another home had to be found.  And it was found, but the find delayed construction a couple of years.

Residents poured in today for the grand opening.

Some beautiful produce awaited them.  In season for us right now are lettuce, kale, swiss chard, and collard greens, along with the garlic scapes, young onions, and strawberries.

So, what are garlic scapes?  They are the flower bud of the garlic plant.  They should be taken off the plant to encourage the developing bulb to develop, rather than diverting energy into flowering and seed making.

In recent years, only gardeners knew the secret of garlic scapes.  Now, they are "in". Many people have learned just how delicious they are.  So farmers markets in our area are full of garlic scapes for sale in mid and late June. 

We have problems growing garlic at our house due to lack of sun, but we can always get a small handful of scapes each June.

You have to harvest them quickly.  Otherwise, they get too woody.

How can they be used? The uses are unlimited: basically, you prepare them by snipping off the touch end (as you would asparagus).  They can be made into pesto, used in hummus instead of garlic, and in double garlic soup.  

Their flavor is delicate compared to garlic bulbs, so you must adjust recipes accordingly.

Nutrition?  Quite nutritious.

Spouse plans to grill our scapes tonight, with the ribs he is also making.

Do you eat garlic scapes?  Do you have a favorite recipe?