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30 April 2015
I thought the preserving was finally finished . . . then we planted a few thousand cloves of garlic at the farm. Which means we have quite a lot of small cloves that were separated out and wont be planted. See the story below for ideas on using a garlic overabundance. I still have some whole heads of beautiful purple stripe garlic from Jenny Edlington in Deloraine. Its got lovely large cloves. If you would like to buy some for planting let me know quick smart before we break up and plant the last lot.
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Garlicky Goodness
So I have a very big bowlful of smallish garlic cloves. The ones that didn't make the cut for planting. What to do with them all? Some people freeze them, then grate them with a microplane straight out of the freezer. I suppose you would peel them first if that was your plan. I might try that with a batch, since grating a frozen clove is probably easier than grating a fresh juicy one.
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I tried drying some. I peeled, sliced, dried, then ground the cloves to powder in my little food processor. I learned:
- put your dehydrator outside, or your house will become very, err, aromatic
- make sure you slice them very thin or they take AGES to dry
- make sure they are REALLY dry before you whizz them to powder (or you get lumps).
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A spice grinder would probably work better, but I don't have one. I could have used the mortar and pestle, but, well, that would have been a drag. And I don't think Mick would forgive me if I used the coffee grinder.
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Nevertheless, I did achieve dried garlic powder! I haven't used any yet, and I'm not sure how much to use or what I would use it in. To be honest I don't think I'll bother doing another dried batch. My usual garlic preparation is to give the clove a whack with the side of a knife, pick the papery bit off, and throw it in the stew to melt slowly down with long slow cooking. But if I had a jar of dried garlic powder that gave good results, maybe I'd be a convert.
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The "peel cloves super easy" techniques that you read about online didn't work effectively for me. But the shaking in a jar probably loosened the skins a bit.
I'm not really worried about the big bowl of garlicky goodness on the bench. Yes a few are sprouting, but I use garlic in cooking pretty much every meal I make. I'll roast a whole bunch slowly with a bit of oil and salt, then when they're soft squeeze the flesh out like toothpaste. Mmmmmm! Having some sweet mellow roasted garlic paste in the fridge will make soups (and toast) taste awesome!
I'll also use some in the chooks' water, putting a whole clove in for a week around the full moon. Helps them keep (internal) worms at bay, and is a good general tonic.
I cooked "Chicken with 40 garlic cloves" for dinner tonight. It's a classic, and delicious. There are heaps of recipes for it on the interwebs. I just bunged a free range chicken in a casserole pot, with some oil, bay leaves and lemon in the cavity, 40 cloves of garlic (I counted them!), some salt, pepper, a glass of white wine (in the pot, and one for me too), a bit of water, and put the lid on. Into a moderate oven for about an hour and a bit, then took the lid off and let it brown up a bit for another 20 mins. DELISH! The very best bit was squeezing the soft flesh out of the cloves. Aaaaah, yum.
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Meet the Medlars
Have you ever seen a medlar? Or tasted one? They're a smallish fruit, closely related to quinces, that grow on an attractive tree that has a lovely kind of leunig whimsy to its growth habit.
The fruit are a bit funny looking, and have a peculiar characteristic. They aren't really edible until they have "bletted" which means that you let them ripen to almost rotting after being picked. They are aromatic and have a granular texture, with a taste that's hard to describe, but has a hint of date.
The photo above was kindly supplied by Kevin (of the eggplants and garlic biochar trial) who has medlars growing happily in his South Hobart garden. He uses the fruit, mixed with a bit of apple or quince, to make a delicious jelly, perfect on breakfast toast.
Its not a bad time to be thinking about what new fruit trees, if any, you might plant this winter. All the deciduous trees are available 'bare rooted' in winter for planting (as an aside, the evergreen citrus are best planted in Spring).
The 2015 online catalogue from the fab folks at Woodbridge Fruit Trees will be released any day now.
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Keep an eye on their website for a gorgeous selection of fruit on dwarfing rootstock - perfect for small yards.
Maybe you'll be tempted to get one of these stunning 'Huonville crab' apples on dwarfing or semi dwarfing rootstock. I sampled a couple recently at Stephanie's place in Derwent Park. Quite a surprise when you bite into it! Glowing red skin and great flavour too.
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The brussels are coming!
I planted some brussel sprouts in late January this year - thought I'd have another crack at this rather tricky brassica. I lavished unusual care on them, with fortnightly doses of seamungus and seaweed concentrate, and extra side dressings of COF.
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And LOOK! The fairy cabbages are beginning to form! Now I just have to hope, hard, that aphids don't move in as they get a decent size in early Spring. Here's hoping.
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Green Manure
As beds are cleared of summer zucchinis and tomatoes its a good time to fill in any spare spaces with a cover crop of mixed grains and legumes, called Green Manure.
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I've written about this a few times before, so have a look at last year's newsletter HERE for more detailed info about how and why this is a good idea.
You can buy seed mixes at nurseries and hardware places, but they're often quite expensive. If you find a couple of people to share with, you can get 10kg bags from Roberts (eg near the airport) for a few dollars a kg, compared to $10 - $15 per kg when bought in little packets at the nursery. You can add old spare seeds (eg peas) to the mix.
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Garden tour around Murdunna
Feel like a cruise down the Tasman Penninsula? We're joining with Kerrie, shown below hard at work on the fence at the Dunalley Tasman Neighbourhood House, to run a tour of three productive gardens in and around Murdunna on Sat 9th May.
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The tour will run from 9.30am to around 3pm. Bring your lunch, and we'll have facilities for a cuppa at lunch time. You can meet a fascinating group of gardeners who all have quite different gardens. The focus is on designing for productive food gardens, and there will be some notes given out on the day. Contact Kerrie at the DTNH 6253 5579 to book (bookings are essential). Cost is $15. Highly recommend a stop at the Bangor wine and oyster shed at Dunalley afterwards!
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Book review
I bought this book around 15 years ago, and it had a big impact on me. Linda Woodrow's Permaculture Home Garden is written in such an engaging way, I literally went out and planted some sweet corn seeds while I was reading it. I really did!
Linda lays out a beautiful design concept for mandalas that incorporate pathways, vegie beds, fruit tree sites, composting, all based around a moveable "chook dome" tractor system. Its elegant and inspiring. She also talks about planting in guilds, which has influenced me ever since.
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There is heaps more good stuff, from raising seedlings, to ideas for sourcing organic inputs for your garden, to industrial scale worm farming, and individual vegie notes.
The book is nearly 20 years old now, and Linda is a prolific writer. Check out her blog The Witches Kitchen for more recent writings. She discusses the evolution of her chook dome design idea in her own garden, and the modifications over the years of the system to match her site that has persistent motivated chicken predators.
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Good scrounging weather
Have you noticed all the leaves in gutters around the place? They're piling up nicely - its perfect timing for a scrounge! Armed with gloves, some old feed bags or heavy duty garbage bags, and a smile, you can get a whole heap of fantastic FREE organic matter for your compost heap! Or take a friend (or your Mum) and make an event out of it! If you get really fired up, you can make a big circle with some chicken wire and a few garden stakes, and create a pile of leaves a few cubic metres in size. This can be left alone in a quiet part of the garden to moulder down over the next 12 months or so. Eventually you'll have leaf mould - stable humic acids and brilliant mulch material. Choose your leaves well - smaller ones are better. The big tough leaves from plane trees take ages to break down, unless you spread them on the lawn and run over them with a lawn mower. Then you get shredded leaves mixed with grass - a perfect composting combo! I love a good scrounge. Might hit the streets tomorrow!
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