Farm Life Archives - Page 11 of 19

Fall Garlic Planting

Walk into any decent Italian restaurant and take a deep breath. That warm spicy aroma tingling your nose is quite likely garlic. The incomparable deep flavor makes Italian dishes renowned, but also enhances any number of other recipes.

You can bring this culinary delight into your own kitchen through bulbs of garlic purchased at a box store, often imported from China, but why do that when garlic is so easy to grow?

If you are interested in growing your own garlic, now is the time to order. It is somewhat counter-intuitive, but garlic is one of those plants designed to spend winter nestled in the cold earth.

How to Choose Garlic

There are two basic types of garlic and a number of varieties within those types. Like any other plant, the specific varieties have different advantages in terms of flavor, storage, etc.

Hard Neck Garlic

These bulbs of garlic are different from the kind you normally find available in the store. The bulb forms a hard center stem that grows up through the bulb to support the leaves. When you open the bulb, there are typically 6 or 8 cloves of garlic around this center stem. The cloves are full and large. Varieties include Music, Bogatyr, and German Red.

Soft Neck Garlic

This garlic does not form the hard center stem. Softer leaves shoot out of the middle and many cloves form around this center. The outer cloves are reasonably sized with smaller ones near the center. Even the outer cloves do not attain the size of the hard neck types mentioned above. Varieties include Inchelium Red and Burgundy.

Soft neck garlic can be stored in braids by leaving the stems attached and braiding decoratively to hang.

Planting

After you receive your garlic bulbs, either through a mail order supplier or somewhere local, do not remove the papery outer cover. Store the bulbs in a cool, dry place until ready to plant, then peel off the outer covering and separate the cloves, leaving each clove cloaked in its paper cover.

Choose a sunny location that is well drained with rich soil. You will need 6-8 inches of space per plant. Push each clove into the soil approximately 2 inches deep with the pointed end up. Cover with soil and mulch.

In Central Illinois, mid-October is a typical planting time, with harvest the following June.

If you have questions about planting garlic or any of the other crops grown at Five Feline Farm, you can contact us through social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) or email. In the meantime, be sure to check out our online Mercantile for other available products.

How To Shop The Farmer’s Market

A Farmer’s Market can be overwhelming. Who has the best product? Who has the best prices? How do I know I am getting a good value for my dollar?

This post will answer your questions.

Get to know the vendors.

Ask questions about their products. Growers and market vendors should be able to answer your questions. Some questions you can ask are: “When was this picked? Where was it grown? Has it been sprayed? Is it a GMO seed?” Based on answers to these questions, you can make your decision about what to buy.

If this is your first visit to a market, do a quick sweep around the market to see what is available and prices. In small markets, prices will usually be similar with only a bit of variance based on the variety or quantity available. Larger markets may have a more significant price difference among vendors. If you are a regular customer, you will know what to expect from your favorite vendors.

After a quick perusal of what is available, go back and make your purchases. One caution however, vendors may have limited quantities of some items. If you have an established relationship with particular vendors based on their reputation for quality and price, you may want to shop those vendors first.

Learn what is in season.

Eating seasonally will not only provide the most nutritious bang for your buck, but also the best flavor. Local produce has a limited availability due to growing conditions and climate.

For example, you can find tomatoes in Illinois in May, but these are not likely to have been grown locally. The best tomatoes in Central Illinois are available from early July through the end of August, sometimes even stretching into mid-September. These tomatoes will be fully vine-ripened, bursting with tomato flavor.

Shop a Farmer’s Market first.

Above all, find a local farmer’s market and shop there before the big box stores. Produce will be fresher and there are other some great finds like honey, balms, craft items and much more.

Plus you have the opportunity to develop relationships with great people. What could be better?

If you would like to read more about how we found a community at the 18^th Street Farmer’s Market, check out this book: The Long Road to Market. And don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

How To Remove Seeds

Do you like seeds in your jam?

I’ve only met one person who reported liking seeds in her jam. In fact she said “the more the better”. But most people seem to prefer seedless jam. The same is true for tomato sauce. No seeds.

How do you remove all those tiny seeds?

Blackberries, raspberries and tomatoes all have bothersome seeds. I have two different methods for removing seeds. The choice of which to use depends on the final product.

For blackberry or raspberry jam, I use a Juice Mate.

This hand cranked strainer has a spiral inside that pushes the berries through and squeezes it against a fine mesh strainer. It will remove almost all seeds of these berries. The resulting pulp and juice makes a fine seedless jam.

The Juice Mate also works wonders for tomato juice. After washing, coring and quartering the tomatoes, the Juice Mate will remove seeds and skin.

One downside to this system is the cleanup, but here’s a tip: take the screen outside and use the garden hose for the first rinse. The power of the hose blasts out the stuck seeds allowing for an easier wash back in the house.

What about tomato sauce?

When making tomato sauce, I want the meaty sections of the tomato intact and an occasional seed is not as much of a concern. After removing the skin, I cut the tomatoes in half and drag out as much of the seed section as possible with a finger. Sometimes with juicier tomatoes simply squeezing the tomato half does the trick.

If you have any tricks or tips for removing seeds, we would love to hear about it. Send us a message through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram or an old-fashioned email.

Tea Tree Oil Balm

Are you interested in using more natural products to replace chemicals in your life?

So are we.

In fact, to that end we have created a line of skin care balms with all natural ingredients. Most are infused with essential oils for a variety of uses.

Below is an unsolicited but used with permission, customer testimonial about our Tea Tree Oil balm.

“I was cooking a salad dressing that contained oil in the microwave. When I opened it, the dressing exploded and splashed on my face. I immediately thought of my little jar of Five Feline Farm Tea Tree Oil balm and slathered it on the burn.

I called a family member who took me to the emergency room. At my followup appointment with my regular doctor, he told me the burn was healing beautifully. I told him what I did with the balm and he said that helped with my healing so much that I probably will not have a scar!”

—B. C.

We love to hear these kinds of testimonials about our products. We think our balms are pretty fantastic, but it is great to hear when someone else thinks so too.

What is Tea Tree Oil?

Tea Tree Oil is an essential oil distilled from the leaves of the Tea Tree which is native to Australia. The aboriginal people have used it for hundreds of years to treat minor skin conditions. It is reported to have antiseptic, antifungal and antibacterial properties. People use it for nail fungus, insect bites or stings, dandruff and other skin irritations. It is typically used in a carrier oil or as we do in a beeswax based balm.

Our Balms

We make two different formulas of our skin balms; each named after cats who have lived on the farm. Both have straightforward simple ingredients (beeswax, sweet almond oil and Vitamin E oil) in addition to an essential oil.

Phantom Balm is created with a higher proportion of beeswax to almond oil resulting in a more solid product that requires a small paddle to remove from the jar. Reine Balm is a bit softer with a lower beeswax to almond oil ratio.

Both are available at our Farmer’s Market booths and our on line Mercantile.

Disclaimer: this information is not medical advice and we do not have medical degrees. You should consult your medical professional about any and all medical treatment.