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Garden Activities

Pruning fruit trees - but staying inside while the white stuff comes down!

Taking a break over the holidays!

Raking up leaves around the trees - no use letting them go to waste on the grass!

Planting a few extra garlic cloves in pots. They make nice gifts!

What’s Happenin’ in the Kitchen?

Kale, kale, and more kale! Combined with garlic, of course! With chicken, cauliflower, over pasta, in stir-fries…you name it. Kale rules!

Homemade bone-broth soup with ham, beans, carrots, onions, kale - a chilly day - perfect for hot soup!

More dried apples & gingerbread w/molasses & fresh chopped ginger - yum!

Pumpkin custard with whipped raw cream…yum! Thank you Dungeness Valley Creamery!

Homegrown potato-leek soup w/shallots :P I Love soup weather!

MORE dog biscuits! "Woof!"

Drying apples

What I’m Reading

Creating a Forest Garden - $49.95
Retail Price: $59.95
(You Save: $10.00)
from: Chelsea Green Publishing
An amazing book! Click the link above to buy from Chelsea Green - or go to the Bookstore for a quick link to Amazon.

Chelsea Green Publishing

Chelsea Green Publishing - the leading publisher of sustainable living books since 1985.

Weather – What’s Going On Out There?

Snow is almost gone - the wind and rain have chased it out of here! Hold on to your hats! Surf is UP. Most definitely.

Planting Garlic Bulbils for Fun and Profit

Have you thought of planting garlic bulbils? Let me count the ways! Easy, fun, cheap.

Garlic Planting Planner

Having trouble figuring out how much garlic you can plant in your garden? Or maybe how much garden you need to plant all your garlic? I’ve created a little tool in Excel that will do all the math for you – leaving you more time to get down and get dirty in the garden! Check out the Barbolian Fields Garlic Planting Planner.

Barbolian Garlic Harvest 2011

Our garlic harvest was a full month later than in some years, but yes – the garlic is in and hanging in the shed – AND THE GOOD NEWS IS: IT LOOKS FANTASTIC!

Self-Imposed Limitations, Sustainability, and Creatively Breaking Rules

I’ve hit a turning point. Actually, several of them. In the process, I’ve been examining my self-imposed limitations, my concept of sustainability, and why now is the best time to break a few rules. Another lengthy psycho-analysis post of how our gardens teach us much about life and visa versa – and what to do about it.

Garlic Under Snow

Snowstorm in the PNW! The garlic is under a blanket. Here’s a good recipe for a simple high-energy food mix for the birds.

Garlic is UP! and Much about Mulch

Garlic is up and growing strong! This year, we did not apply mulch to the garlic beds. Mulch is the new mantra for a lot of people – we say, that depends…

How to Plant Garlic Bulbils

Here’s how I recently planted garlic bulbils – those little seed-like clusters in the scapes. Planting scapes is a great way to increase your crop at a low price. Can you still plant them? Yes, I think so, but you may want to wait for the snow to melt if you’re on the Olympic Peninsula! I am sure there will be warmer days ahead if you still need to get them in the ground.

Time Again to Plant Garlic

Frost is on the pumpkin and it’s time to plant garlic! I am going back to basics this year – keeping it simple. This post is all about planting garlic: planning, building beds, enriching the soil, planting, and mulching.

Every Soil Tells a Story

We delve deeper into the whys of a poor garlic crop this year, and although I highly suspect it was a combination of a long wet winter and spring, incessant strong winds, and too thick a mulch, I thought it might be a good idea to buy an NPK soil-test kit and see what the soil could tell me.

The Good, the Bad, and the Downright Ugly

Think your garlic crop is a disaster? Look again. There might be something worth saving.