Garlic Curing
Garlic Curing
We managed to do our garlic harvest in record time today. Two hours from start to finish! Approximately 3800 garlic bulbs pulled and hung up to cure. Using our new root lifter made the whole process easier than ever!
Cultivating between the rows of corn with a single row cultivator.
Cultivating between the rows of corn with a single row cultivator.
The sweet corn has been cultivated using a single row cultivator pulled by a horse being ridden. It is one of the few times we ride our draft horses. The aisles are then seeded down to a cover crop and cultivated again. The cover crop will grow up and keep the weeds from growing. After the corn is finished we will mow off the corn and the clover will grow on to fix nitrogen. The next big job for the sweet corn is to put up an electric fence around it to keep the racoons from eating it. They wait until it is ripe and then call in all their friends for a big party! It’s crazy how much damage they can do in one night. Ken thinks that if we lined up all the coons in the neighbourhood nose to tail they would stretch all around the block! We often see their little hand prints on the farm lane in the morning after they have been out carousing at night.
Aden Planting Buckwheat with Ken's Horse Drawn no-till Drill.
Aden Planting Buckwheat with Ken’s Horse Drawn no-till Drill.
Ken’s no till drill is working. Aden used it to plant a second crop of buckwheat into the cut off buckwheat cover crop. In next year’s CSA garden area Ken also rolled a cover crop of peas, oats and barley and planted a mixed cover crop of soybeans, millet, sun hemp and sunflower seeds into the mulch. Later this season we will divide the field up into different areas depending on what is being planted there next year and plant different cover crops. We are trying to do this without ploughing or discing in between crops with the new no till drill. Leaving the mulch that is created to add organic matter to the soil bed. Time will tell.

We have had some beautiful cauliflower coming off our early planting and there is more on the way. Here is a recipe from CSA member Sarah Van Pelt:

Cauliflower Shepherd’s Pie
Low Carb, Gluten Free
(recipe tweaked from www.mamaeatsclean.com)
Prep Time: 45 minutes • Cook Time: 45 minutes
Serves 4-6

Topping:
1 large head of cauliflower
3 Tbsp butter
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
1/2 Tbsp dried or fresh parsley
Sprinkle of pepper
Sprinkle of garlic powder

1 c mozzaralla or cheddar cheese
2 Tbsp parmesan cheese
Paprika

Base:
1lb lean ground beef
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 carrots, chopped
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 stalks of celery, chopped
2 c mushrooms, sliced
1 Tbsp Worcestershire
1/2 c vegetable or beef broth
1/2 tsp soy sauce (if GF, make sure it is the kind with no gluten in it)
1/4 c bbq sauce (if GF, make sure it is the kind with no gluten in it)
1/2 Tbsp parsley
1 c frozen peas
1 c frozen corn

Instructions:
1. Cut cauliflower into florets, wash, cover with water in a pot, bring to boil, and
reduce to a gentle boil until mostly soft. Drain and let sit for 5 min. Blend it
with butter and spices until it has the consistency of mashed potatoes.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
3. Brown the ground beef, onions, garlic and carrots.
4. Add celery and mushrooms to the meat and vegetables.
5. Add oil, salt, Worchestershire, broth, soy sauce, bbq sauce and parsley to the
meat and vegetables. Simmer until everything is cooked and some of the
liquid has cooked off (so it isn’t runny).
6. Add peas and corn to the meat and vegetables for another 5 minutes or so.
7. Spread the meat mixture into a 9×13 casserole dish. Top with mashed
cauliflower. Sprinkle with cheese and paprika. Bake for about 45 minutes.