Processing Alliums - September 12, 2019 @goldenoakfarm

It started to rain at 6AM so no work outside today. My helper friend was here and we got the German Extra Hardy garlic out of the woodshed where it had been curing since July.

Normally I process it on the picnic table, but that ended up in the dumpster as it had rotted away. So I got a couple old sheets and spread them on the living room floor.

I check the size and quality of the cloves in each bulb as I cut the stem off. I am looking for a minimum of 4 huge cloves, or 5 if there are any. I do not save any bulb that has a small clove in it.

The bowls: top left is damaged ones; top right my seed bulbs; lower left too small bulbs, lower right medium bulbs to eat and sell

I looked up what I had saved for seed last year and it was 360 – 370 cloves (not bulbs).

The seed bowl had about 310 cloves and I had decided I was saving between 350 – 360. So I took 47 of the best ones from the mediums bowl. My helper friend wanted some more this year as he’d gotten a blue ribbon at the fair last week with the ones he’d grown from my seed. He took 4.60# of the mediums for 117 cloves. My seed weighed in at 15.13# for 357 cloves.

Large red bags are seed, yellow bags and small red bag are mediums, blue bag is smalls, and red bag on right is my helper friend’s. Small red bag is front by itself is the Chesnok Red.

The rest:

Smalls: 3.12#
Mediums: 13.64#
Damaged: .46#
Swiped before weighing to eat: 1.5#

Total: 38.45#

Average bulb (not clove) weight 2.5 oz, seed bulb weight 3 oz.

I had planted 263 plants last October for this harvest. The seed bulbs were smaller this year, not sure why. I had harvested them slightly later than usual, but not that late. Last year my helper friend got the same number of cloves and it weighed 5.67#. Last year was very wet and humid and the garlic didn’t cure as well. It might have been water weight. This year’s had cured perfectly.

Last year I harvested 211 bulbs for a weight of 28.25#, average bulb weight of just 2 oz. I didn’t weigh the seed bulbs. So my average bulb weight was up, but the seed weight seems to have dropped some.

I also grew 15 plants of Chesnok Red. It hates it here and the total weight of the bulbs was 1.04#. I won’t be growing it again.

We went down and straightened up the cellar. It had been in disarray since the water line broke in August. It’s nice to be able to find things again.

Then we harvested a big bowl of the Walla Walla sweet onions to dehydrate and to chop to freeze. I’d used 32 of them to make stock on Sunday.

We selected the ones that had re-grown green tops. I will chop and freeze those for green onions. My helper friend did the chopping and I did the dehydrating. I love the Pampered Chef mandolin I got on BuyNothing. No removing fingers with that!

30 cups of chopped Walla onions

He had to leave just after lunch so I finished up chopping 30 cups of onions and filled 1 dehydrator. Tomorrow we’ll do the last 10 cups of chopped onions, and I’ll fill at least 1 dehydrator again, maybe 2.

Just as I was finishing the onions, my pound of wildflower seed mix from Fedco arrived. I went out to spread it on the top of the drainfield in a lull in the rain. I got about ⅓ done when it ran out. So I’ve ordered 2 more bags.

That was the only “construction” work done today, unless you count cutting and capping the water line to the outside faucet on the side of the house where we are building.

I’d gone up to stain the next window, but last night when we opened it up, it seemed to have a few issues. This morning when I looked at it, it had major issues. It will have to be returned. So no window got stained.

My husband cleaned the layer coop this afternoon instead of building.

Friday we return to cool temps and no rain, so he will be back at work.

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