AN INTERESTING WAY TO USE GARLIC

We like garlic here at the shed, we like it a lot in fact but we like it even more now that Raymond Kukkee over at Incoming BYTES showed us how to grow it correctly. But garlic is a team effort after all, and here is Glory Lennon from the award winning gardening blog Glory's Garden with a simple but useful and delicious suggestion!

How to roast garlic

There was some discussion on Facebook recently on the merits of garlic and one person suggested eating raw garlic at which a few people balked. No this was not suggested to fend off vampires, although I never have seen one while I cook with garlic, but that may be because I rarely cook without garlic. Some folks think the taste of garlic a tad too harsh, but the benefits of this medicinal herb are too great to disregard.

Thus, I came across a way to soften the taste while keeping most of the health benefits and I thought I’d bring it along to you. Why? Because I’m that kind of gal.

Roasting garlic while it is still in the bulb will actually soften the texture as well as the taste. You can literally spread it like butter on bread or for use on vegetables or anything. Want to learn how to do this? Don’t suppose you’d still be here if you didn’t.

How to roast garlic.

1.       Use whole bulbs of garlic. Each average bulb yields about one tablespoon of garlic spread.

2.       Peel some of the outer papery covering but make sure you leave the bulb intact.

3.       Slice off the very top of the bulb (~1/2 inch), just enough to expose the individual garlic cloves.

4.       Drizzle the cut end of the bulb with 1/2 teaspoon olive oil.

5.       Place on cookie sheet or baking pan.

6.       Bake in 350 ℉ for ~40-60 minutes or until lightly browned and cloves are soft.

7.       Allow to cool.

8.       Separate individual cloves using a paring knife.

9.       Squeeze each clove from root end to use.

Nothing could be easier, nothing could be better on warm crusty bread, or on steamed vegetables or…well, anywhere you’d like yummy roasted garlic.


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Thank you, Glory! That really looks both simple and delicious. Now march that idea straight off to the Garlic Festival in Saugerties, NY and you be the Belle of the Ball, the Apple of every Eye and the Schmear on every Cracker!

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Stay tuned for our next "Children's Hour", wherein Leatherface explains where to take a leek. 

WHO'S GOT THE LINKS? WE DO! WE HAVE LINKS, LYNX, LOST BOYS, WEEDS, TANKS, GARLIC, WRITERS AND ARTISTS! YEAH!

We have links to the works of many talented, informed and entertaining folks who have a lot of interesting material to share. I know you will enjoy reading these at least as much as we enjoyed finding them for you, and so with no further ado, we will see to it that you have the links to take you to them!

Have you ever found yourself driving down a highway and suddenly wondering, "where the heck am I?" A disconcerting feeling to say the least.

How much more so when this happens in the deep woods, along about nightfall, when you are on foot?

Mike Logan, woodsman and author of Saturday Sunshine knows the feeling well, although I doubt he'd own up to actually being lost.

To paraphrase Henry Frapp in the epic scenic movie, "The Mountain Men":

"Lost? Ain't never been lost! Been fearsome confused for a month or two but I ain't never been lost!"

Check out this true story, right HERE!

Now that the emerging flowers are starting to brighten our world its time to turn to every one's favorite flower child, Ms. Glory Lennon. Glory, the author of the award winning gardening blog "Glory's Garden" is going to tell us about the many faceted but always colorful Clematis, just click HERE to learn what she has to share.

But even weeds are welcome and pretty upon occasion, as Glory shows us right HERE.

Tragically, many gardeners today have yet to experience the pure joy that comes with growing Rock soapwort. Oh they fiddle faddle around with Creeping phlox and other bush league substitutions but there can be no substitute for the real deal, Saponaria ocymoides. Recall the enthusiasm of the B-52's in their major hit; "That was no rock, that was a Rock SOAPWORT!" Says it all, our view.

That is nothing compared to the euphoria that you will experience once you have mastered the craft. Glory comes to your rescue, and does so HERE.

Well. Just when you thought the door was safely bolted, here comes the author of Weeds and Seeds, Low Crimes and Misdemeanors and the totally unnecessary cooking blog, Unnatural Foods. He wants to tell us all about the Carro Armato M13/40 tank and its ilk.

"This is a gardening blog!" I told him, with what I thought was justifiable asperity.

"Yeah", replied the ever eloquent one, "And its my gardening blog, Bud. Link it."

So here ya go folks, The old Carro Armato; if you can dig one out of the Libyan Desert I'm sure it will make a lovely planter. For soapwort. Just click THIS!

Two random lynx and a couple of very cool cats indeed.

Random Link number one.

Random Link number two.

We are pretty good at growing most common veggies here at the shed, but we certainly don't know everything. Garlic, good as it is and highly desirable has always been a problem for us. And so, we turn to the wisdom of Raymond Alexander Kukkee, a man who knows his garlic. Right away we see where we went astray.

You can learn about the right way to grow garlic as well, it is right HERE at your cursor-tip.

Stop by Raymond's always entertaining, always surprising Incoming BYTES and be sure to become a member, you won't want to miss a thing!

Are you a writer, professional or aspiring? Perhaps frozen somewhere in between? If you are looking for a quality site to display your work, one that is inspiring by content and design then you need look no further than Mandy's Pages.

I will not attempt to summarize or describe this wonderful site, I could not do it justice. Simply click on the link, and see for yourself that all "writing sites" are not alike!

Have you ever wanted to own a work of original art? A bit too pricey, isn't it. Or did you ever want, perhaps to commission a work yourself? Certainly would strain the budget to the breaking point, would it not?

Well now. Take a step down Dagon Alley, third shop on the left and say hello to Lynn Paret, owner and artist. There are many finished works to chose from but Lynn is happy to review all requests for commissioned work and rejects very few of them.

And we are talking affordable, here!

(for now)

HERE are the keys to the shop...go on in and browse a bit.






That's about it for this set of links at Uncle Mac's today - thanks for stopping by!

Or is it, "Thanks for stopping. 'Bye!"

FARM GIRL'S CORNER - Why bust your onions?

FARM GIRL

Hi! I'm Farm Girl, I help Uncle Mac whenever there is work to be done, out in the garden and around the shed and that kind of thing. But some times he just wants to play! Why just this mornin' he said to me:

"Hey! Farm Girl!"

"Yes Mac?" I said.

"Lets play the farm tool game! I'll be a rake, and you can be a hoe!

"Well that's sounds nice", I said.

What was I thinkin'? It was fixin' to rain but still. Sometimes I wish he'd go stay at Wooly Acres where old goats are always welcome.

But today I'm here to talk about growing onions.

Have onions been problematic for you? You are not alone. There are lots of gardening folks who grow onions when they plant them, but they just seem so much smaller than expected. And that could be because they are simply missing a few essential onioning facts.

Usually I don't plug one particular company here at the Corner but that is more of a guideline than a rule. When someone goes the extra mile, we like to tell you about it!

http://www.dixondalefarms.com/ is one such outfit. They specialize in onions and relatives (like garlic, not their grandmas) and have done so for 100 years. They tell you things about onion culture that are not generally known; things that can help you grow a successful onion patch. 

And they offer a nice selection of onions aiming for success throughout the USA.

If you haven't already bought your onion plants why not click on over to their site and take a look? You have nothing to lose, and alliums to gain!

As always thank you for stopping by at Farm Girls Corner!

(And if you see Uncle Mac tell him where he can put his rake next time it rains!)