Last week was our main garlic harvest. As you know we have been snitching out a few heads for CSA and market along the way, but now all the varieties are fully mature and ready to move from the field into the barn for their six week curing period. After that they will more closely resemble the usual garlic you find at the supermarket with dry papery skins wrapped around the bulbs. You will be able to witness this transformation in your weekly bulb. WE are so grateful to the Garden Raised Bounty crew of youth garden workers for coming out to help us with this gigantic harvest task, as they do every year. It is so nice to have an extra 20-30 hands to make the work lighter. Every year our garlic harvest is even more amazing than the one before. We have been saving our own seed from our softneck, silverskin variety the whole time we’ve been farming, 15 years! Each year we choose out the best ones, the biggest ones and break them apart and replant for the following year. So each year the whole crop becomes larger, exponentially. Did you know that even serious farmers refer to garlic bulbs and cloves as mothers and daughters? Isn’t that sweet? I know I keep saying this about every crop, but garlic is really one of my favorite crops. I love the continuity of it, the turning of the wheel of it, the daughters becoming mothers becoming daughters forever of it.

By some fortuitous alignment of the stars and planets and weather, we found ourselves with three types of beets in the field all at once. My first impulse was to give you three bunches of beets, but then my genius husband suggested a mixed bunch with a few of each, so that is how you came to possess such unusually gorgeous boquets of beets this week. In each boquet you will find Merlin Red Beets, Chioggia beets, and Golden beets. So now you can try them all together and see what the similarities and differences are. Enjoy!


Tofu Broccoli Cashew Peanut Madness-Rob Summerbell
1 Tbsp butter 1 onion chopped
1 minced garlic clove 1 pound tofu, cubed
2 TBSp tamari 1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
3 tsp. Lemon juice 1/4 tsp. Cumin
cayenne to taste 1 medium head broccoli peeled and chopped
hot, cooked brown rice handful of roasted cashews, chopped
Heat butter or oil in skillet; add onion and garlic; sauté until soft. Add tofu and 1 tbsp tamari; sauté until brown. Remove from pan. In same pan, mix peanut butter, lemon juice, remaining 1 tbsp tamari, cumin, and cayenne. Thin with up to 1 cup of water to obtain gravy like texture. Stir in tofu mixture. Steam broccoli. Serve sauce over broccoli and brown rice, topped with cashews. Four servings. Farmer Genine would make this with almond butter, as she is deadly allergic to peanuts. And I also think that this would make a nice pad thai sort of dish with those nice wide rice noodles instead of the brown rice.

Green Bean and Potato Pudding
Green Bean and Potato Pudding-Madison Herb Society Cookbook
1 pound green beans 2 Tbsp chopped parsley
1 pound potatoes 2 Tbsp fresh marjoram
4 eggs salt and pepper
1/2 cup grated parmesan 2 Tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves minced 1/2 cup bread crumbs
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook beans and potatoes in boiling water until tender. Blend until smooth in food processor or blender. Blend in 1 egg at a time. Mix in cheese. Saute garlic, parsley and marjoram in olive oil 1 minute. Combine the two mixtures. Add salt and pepper to taste. Oil large, shallow baking dish. Dust with half the bread crumbs, shaking out excess. Pour in bean mixture; top with remaining crumbs. Bake 45-50 minutes, until puffed and golden. Four servings.

Fresh Garden Salad with Beets and Goat Cheese
First trim the tails off the beets and roast the roots. You can roast slices or wedges, or whole beets, no need to peel them. You can toss them in a bit of olive oil before the oven, or not, up to you. About thirty minutes at 350 should do the job. Let them cool down a bit. Wash up and chop that head of lettuce. Add a few thin strips of the beet greens, and some spinach if you desire. Toss with the cooled, roasted beets and olive oil and balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Sprinkle crumbled goat cheese on top. Maybe add some nuts, or some carmelized nuts. If you like that sort of thing.