Calling All Chefs….

Green garlic is vogue these days in culinary circles, perhaps due in part to a New York Times article published last year. Most of the garlic at Bee’s Wing Farm is grown for the garlic bulbs we’ll harvest this summer, but I couldn’t resist doing a little thinning and getting on the green garlic bandwagon.

Quite simply, green garlic is just garlic that hasn’t begun to form cloves yet. Garlic is such a beautiful plant, and green garlic is harvested when the dark green leaves are still tender. The whole plant can be used for cooking; the flavor is milder than mature garlic and stronger than green onions.

We are using green garlic stalks much like the giant scallions they resemble. The pale white bulb is trimmed at the root end and chopped up along with the tender part of the green leaves. The fresh taste just out of the garden is delicious. I think we’ll try braising as well.

Here in New Hampshire, the hardneck garlic hasn’t even begun to think about scaping yet, but that will be our next adventure. Garlic scapes taste remarkably like green beans, but they are beautifully-spiraled and make for an elegant addition to any plate.

Luna Moth

We found this beautiful luna moth (Actias Luna) billowing on the end of a fern. It must have just been born; it's wings were soft and crumpled. The moth sheds its skin five times before reaching adulthood. I love the beautiful color of these creatures who only fly at night and live for just about a week.

The female luna moth lays eggs the size of the head of a pin on the leaves of trees. They especially like walnut leaves, and they lay their eggs in small groups. Ten days later the caterpillars eat their way out of the eggs. The newborns eat leaves constantly until they split their skin and then they stop and make a cocoon by secreting a sticky thread. They wind the thread round and round, wrapping themselves up with a leaf pulled around the outside. After a week the moth emerges from its cocoon.

Along with luna moths, dragonflies have also begun to arrive -- true signs of summer. I had one land on my shoulder yesterday and it stayed for a long time. My grandmother always called them darning needles. We love their glittering wings and especially appreciate the way they gobble up mosquitoes. A gardener's friend!

Memorial Day Gardening

Memorial Day is the traditional "safe" planting date for our gardening zone, though serious gardeners have been at it for weeks. We recognize one another out in the world by our bug bites and dirty fingernails -- the early planters who just can't wait. Our season here is so short as it is, and it seems like the end of May is a ridiculously long time to wait. I've covered and uncovered the tiny string bean plants so many times I have a little song I sing while I'm doing it.

But sure enough, just when it seems that Yankees are way too up-tight about such things, there was another frost warning last night. And we actually have our wood stove going today! I had just put out the Meyer lemon and the a lime tree from the house, but thankfully there was no frost after all. So now we are officially home-free and hopefully the soil temperatures are going to climb now and we can really start to enjoy the garden.

It's going to be a banner fruit year. The apple and pear trees are doing beautifully; we lost only one apple tree to the ice storm, and one of the peaches is pretty severely wounded. But all in all our mini-orchard is in great shape. Twelve new Asian pear trees are planted in a new field. We're waiting to see how they do before we plant another dozen.

Meanwhile, the garden is beginning it's stunning display (click on the pictures for a closer look). The lilacs and viburnum are filling the air with a heavenly perfume and the Asian lilacs are soon to follow. The Iris are beginning to unfold -- the first ones are dark bearded Iris and now we have some Siberian flags in bloom. We didn't have a lot of Columbine this year but the Bleeding Hearts are very prolific. Peonies and Clematis are on the way.

Our very first blooms each year are volunteer Cornflowers. They have a beautiful blue flower and they seed themselves everywhere. I leave some in the garden until they've bloomed and then pull them out as they really are a farmer's nemesis. They love the stone pathways in the garden and they set down a deep taproot that if left too long is very difficult to pull. But as invasives go, this one is a beauty.

The vegetable boxes are all full. We've nibbled the first broccoli and picked parsley, and it looks as though the French Breakfast and Spanish Black radishes will be ready soon. I hope so, as I need those boxes to plant up another batch of onions. Most of our boxes are filled with garlic and all four varieties are doing beautifully.

I have a feeling harvest is going to come early this year, but we always say that. Back out to the garden, but I wanted to be sure to get some pictures of the beginning days as it will be fun to compare the wild jumble yet to come. Foxgloves, Hollyhock, Delphinium, oh my!

April Heat Wave

Unseasonably warm weather has made for some excellent early gardening this year. The garlic beds are flourishing with three hardneck varieties -- Korean Red, German Extra Hardy and Dublin Heirloom – as well as a soft neck, Kettle River Giant. We have our eye on this last variety recommended by our friends at Rosebud. The Kettle River seems to be taking beautifully to this climate and we’re all very excited to see what kind of head this “giant” produces.

All the raised beds are planted up with organic composted manure and then mulched heavily over the winter, so it’s not necessary to do much besides pull off the straw and do a little weeding here and there. We’re in the process of side dressing everything with King Neptune’s organic fish emulsion, a little something to keep the worms happy. Unfortunately the dogs also seem to love this dead fish cocktail and I have to keep chasing them away from the mixing bucket.

Aside from the garlic, our own kitchen garden is coming together. Before long we’ll have two kinds of radishes: black Spanish and French Breakfast, and hopefully the first round of beet seed will germinate soon. Cabbages and broccoli are in and the bean tripods are set up for yellow and purple string beans this summer, as well as a variety of onions and leeks, etc.

Last year we experimented with a second crop after the garlic harvest in late July. We grew organic potatoes, basil, cilantro, tomatoes and lots of beets. This year we plan to do the same – these second crops are then harvested in October prior to replanting the beds with next season’s garlic. We did well last winter with storing onions and potatoes well into January, and the garlic lasted until mid-April even without a real root cellar of any kind.

Even with our own garden, we still have a farm share at Tracie’s Community Farm. We like to support the CSA movement in our area, and there’s nothing like having a basket of fresh vegetables and a dozen eggs brought to our front porch on Friday afternoons. They provide a lot of beautiful greens, so we skip growing those and this helps keep the deer away from our own beds. They’ll also send some local honey and jam, and a few loaves of bread early in the season while waiting for the farm to get going. Last year my favorite basket items were the tomatillos – beautiful little green fruits in lovely wrappers.

Here’s to spring, although we appear to have skipped that season entirely in Southern New Hampshire. We seem to be right at summer, though surprise snowstorms in April and May are not unheard of here. One of the wonderful things about the garlic is that it can really tolerate the extremes we have in New England. But meanwhile I’d better get those sheets ready for covering the other vegetable beds if need be. And a plane ticket for Italy next February.

Storm Cleanup

This spring there has been a lot of cleanup from the ice storm last December. Once the snow melted, we could see the extent of the damage beyond the immediate trees and branches we had to remove just to get out after the storm. The whole region started to look like a giant beaver lodge as piles of sticks and branches appeared on the sides of the roads. Everywhere there are workers taking down trees and chipping up debris.

The woods are full of fallen branches and trees; it will be interesting to see how the wildlife flourishes this year as it will be more difficult for humans to access the forest for a long while to come. It was a cold hard winter, and all the animals are so happy to be outside now with the sun on our backs. Best of all, we've really been getting one over on the black flies who are only now just starting to arrive. Never mind that the mosquitoes will be right behind them, we're happy for a change of seasons.

Farm Phone

We're in the midst of trying to get this old phone working. I love the idea of the rotary dial and a phone that hearkens back to other times. Described as a "next generation" wall phone, this model was manufactured in Brockville, Ontario, a small city located on the St. Lawrence river between Ottawa and Kingston. Brockville was the home of Phillips Electrical Works and later the home of GTE Automatic Electric (formerly Strowger/AE).

Jeff works for Alcatel-Lucent and has been "merged" many times just as the Canadian manufacturer of this AE-90 phone was transformed from Stowger to Automatic Electric, then into GTE, Microtel, and Nortel, which in partnership with AT&T, is now a sort of step-cousin to Aunt Lucy (Lucent) in Ma Bell's extended family. An old Canadian phone definitely seems like the right one for us.

A lot of Bee's Wing Farm's original seed garlic came from Ontario. We wanted hearty stock. And now we have a hearty Canadian phone. At least while all this snow is on the ground we can talk about gardening since there's not much else to do outside besides make paths and rake off the roof. By the time spring is here, we're hoping this old phone will be ringing off the hook. That will mean we got it to work.

Seed Savers

What a long winter season we are having here in New Hampshire. And it's only January! Today as a new foot or so of snow falls there is only one thing to do: think about the spring garden.

The Northeast Organic Farmer's Association recently sent out news of the Seed Celebration and Exchange to be held in Gilsum, NH, on February 7th. Gardeners will gather to share seeds and learn about local food and farm initiatives. Gilsum is also home to the annual Rock Swap and Mineral Show held each June; this must be a town of people who love to trade.

I've only recently become a seed saver. It started with the Wisteria at what is now the Blue Trout Grill, a restaurant in Keene which used to be 176 Main. A beautiful sheltered courtyard is home to a magnificent Wisteria that blooms each year with great enthusiasm. Be sure to make a lunch reservation for a table there in June.

When I saw the vine covered with elegant velvety pods this fall, I knew I had to have some. The new owners of the restaurant were very nice and they let me take some home. Later the pods opened to reveal tidy rows of large round seeds. They are beautiful themselves; I have them in a jar over my desk. My Wisteria-covered pergola here at Bee's Wing Farm has yet to bloom, and I suspect it's just too cold here at the base of Mt. Monadnock. But that jar of Blue Trout Wisteria Seeds gives me hope.

Cindy Hendrick is an illustrator who lives in nearby Alstead, NH, and she has created wonderful animal pictures depicting all sorts of celebrations. One of my favorites is the Seed Savers Society. In this painting a group of bears in their garden hats are getting together to swap seeds in the spring. Perhaps they are Gilsum bears. Her web site has a complete collection of magical animal world cards and prints with endearing captions.

I've always saved Morning Glory seeds; they are so easy to soak, nick and plant when the time comes. Those Grandpa Ott blues are my favorite, but these days there are so many lovely varieties (don't miss the purple framed with white, or the deep red, but these are never as prolific as the Grandpa Otts).

A jar of Black Hollyhock seeds also graces my shelf, and perhaps this spring I'll do up some trays of those. They were magnificent in bloom last year. The ones that tipped the seed-saving scales for me are the Baptisia pods -- gorgeous black rattles containing small seeds that I picked this fall by the side of the road. They, too, are now in a jar and I look forward to introducing that plant to our perennial beds this summer.

And so another Seed Saver has joined the gardening world. Here's to the great therapy of categorizing, jarring and labeling the seeds in the wintertime while we wait to get our hands into the earth again. And to swapping with friends and neighbors. As I look outside now it's hard to imagine that the gardens will be green in another few months. Meanwhile, I'm off to find a drawing pad to do some planning for the flower beds.