We are approaching Garlic harvesting time here at the farm and we couldn’t be more excited about it. We’ve been watching as the bottom leaves are gradually turning into a fading yellow. A lot of energy and time has been put into these plants and it’s such a rewarding experience harvesting them after a long 1o months of waiting. We have been preparing space in the loft area of the barn where the garlic will be bunched together and hung for a good three to four weeks to fully dry and cure for winter storage. Curing garlic requires a dry ventilated environment to be done properly. The attic space in the farmhouse would be another space that would work but since it’s such a messy operation we chose the barn for the curing process.
We are especially excited about the garden beds that will be opening up after the garlic is harvested. There are 15 50’ beds that we beautifully amended with composted chicken manure and manually broad forked to aerate the subsoil. We also cardboard and woodchip mulched the walkways of this plot to stop those pesky weeds! Our plan is to set up a sprinkler irrigation system around this plot and plant all the beds entirely with quick greens. Greens like salanova lettuce, spinach, arugula, tatsoi, and baby kale. We are excited to reach out to restaurants with the hopes that they will purchase our greens when the time for harvesting them comes. With all the abundance of quick greens comes the need to create a functional washing and drying station for them. These are systems we wish to build here before the greens are ready to harvest. We will be sure to keep you guys updated.
