The Weblog

We send out cool articles and farmer highlights using a different email program. You can see the archives of those emails here and through our facebook page! We use this “weblog” every Friday evening to let you know the market page is accepting orders (look for the little add to cart buttons next to products). Northeast Georgia Locally Grown was officially OPENED on Monday, April 26th, 2010 and we are so thankful that you are helping support fresh local foods each week.



 
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Locally Grown Availability for November 6th, 2013


This post expired on November 04, 2023.

Hey Local Food Lovers,

November is already here. Cooler days ahead and the leaves are falling. One thing I like about the fall is it’s bulb planting season. For those of you who don’t know this is when garlic gets planted (or even a little earlier) so that they can get their roots established before the ground freezes.

For some reason garlic is one of my favorite things to plant. Maybe it’s the simplicity of just breaking up a head of garlic into the indivdiual cloves, then shoving them into the ground about two inches below the surface. In about 7-8 months they’ll each be ready to harvest as whole new cloves.

One question is why plant garlic now. Can’t you just plant it in the spring. No. Garlic requires a process called vernalization in which some plants require a certain number of days exposed to cold weather. This is an adapted trait by plants to make sure that they don’t flower at the wrong time, like autumn right before a freeze. By passing a chilling days threshold the plant then knows, ok, soon it will start to warm up and I can start growing like crazy. Pretty neat huh? Virtually every fruit tree does this as well. They are literally counting the (cold) days until spring returns. It’s kind of like a farmer with his planting calendar based on years of experience, except for the plants its in their DNA selected for by the ones that have survived again and again.

Perhaps a little bit of all this is going through my head as I separate the garlic, prep the bed, lay out my nice straight line (b/c I like it to be nice and neat and it also makes hoeing easier), lay out all the garlic 8" apart. Then once they are all in place, I just go along and shove them in. I like the feel of the garlic going down into its new home. When I can feel the soil is nice and soft all around it I know it’s gonna be happy to send out it’s roots.

I’ve started to get more interested in bulbs around my house too, though I won’t go too far into that. Just like garlic, it’s miraculous to me that these bulbs divide and spread right there in the ground, allowing you dig up the extras and move them around to new zones in your yard, or trade with friends. Daffodils, peacock orchids, dahlias, hyacinth, calla lillies, and the list goes on and on.

Flowers, roots, greens, seeds ….they are all so fascinating when you’re touching them, watching them, washing them, eating them.

Had some great meals this week. The potluck for our farmer network meeting was one of the best one’s ever. I could eat the food prepared for a farmers potluck every week of my life. That’s good stuff. Another highlight was the last of the fennel until the spring cooked up in a Morrocoan chicken dish that included orange juice and tons of spices. I’m gonna add that to the recipe section and to our FACEBOOK page for those who are interested. Also made some chili with a ton of peppers from local growers…at least 6 different types of peppers. I mean where do you think the word chili comes from after all (it’s not just about the meat and beans that’s for sure). Speaking of chili you should try the Ancho chili powder from Ohana farms. I bet that’ll kick up your chili. And get the peppers while you can. Not many more weeks of them I’m certain.

If you have any sunny spots around your house, shove some garlic in the ground and see what happens. If it doesn’t grow you can still buy all your garlic here, but you’ll have a nice story to tell.

Be well and EAT WELL,

Justin in Habersham
and
Chuck in Rabun