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Post by feather on Jul 18, 2019 3:08:00 GMT
Weed, glad you liked that. I think I told you but to remind you. We couldn't get a 3 inch pipe to get hot enough with a propane torch for cutting the landscape fabric. And I think you said you used an acetylene (sp?) torch to heat one to cut into that fabric. We used an old soldering iron tip. First he laid it out on the driveway, and we marked it using acrylic pens, the circles measured out. Then cut each one with the hot soldering iron. It took a bit of time. It's art. Since we cut most of the landscape fabric to fit, garlic, onion, tomatoes, peppers, some we just cut lengthwise to put between rows of cucumbers....it is mostly all cut. Once it is cut, it is permanent. We've had good luck reusing fabric with the holes as they are, but maybe just different plants this year. Good luck with your layout. I'll get the camera out and show the fabric, next time I'm out there. It's hot outside (and inside) and the air is almost thick enough to cut with a knife.
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Post by Weed on Jul 18, 2019 21:27:36 GMT
feather , are you selling garlic this year?
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Post by feather on Jul 18, 2019 21:40:17 GMT
Weed, we aren't selling anymore. Sorry!
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Post by Weed on Jul 20, 2019 3:14:25 GMT
No problem. I made several gallons of Fire Cider (aka Master Tonic) & I'm spending this year's crop like it's going outta style and began worrying about my seed stock but just remembered I have the Russian Red bulbil project to fall back on for seed if I use all the RR up. This year's harvest from those rice sized bulbils planted last fall, already yielded nice little 1"+ divided bulbs. Next year they'll likely reach 2" - so I'll just plant double the usual amount to compensate for size. š
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Post by conservatvhippy on Jul 20, 2019 16:19:34 GMT
I have gotten about half of my garlic bed dug up and drying. I have about 300 heads dug. My wife has given at least 100 heads to her "CSA" members. I call it "people wanting free food". It sounds like I disapprove, but I don't. I am the idiot that grows so much for 2 people.
Weed, Please tell me about this Master Tonic. I googled it and it sounds like I should know something about it. Also Weed, How much garlic you looking for?? I don't keep track of the varieties. I started 5 years ago with a bunch of different varieties, but since I only grow for the fun of it, keeping track is just added work. But it is nice hard neck garlic.....
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Post by Weed on Jul 20, 2019 17:44:43 GMT
Hippie, Just something that I've been meaning to make for several years now but this is my first time making it. It's touted as a cure all/preventative tonic taken once or twice a day in the fall/winter. Cant remember the last time I was sick...main reason I'm giving it a shot is to improve circulation but I figure it'll also help with the occasional sniffle/runny nose too. I couldn't find any fresh turmeric so I used a jar off the supermarket spice rack. Growing most of the stuff, it cost me roughly $11 per gallon - entirely organic. Here's a copy of the ingredients from my notes:
Ingredients "per" gallon///everything chopped fine
1# Horseradish (garden) 1# Ginger 1# Onions (1/2 yellow-1/2 white - garden) 1# Garlic (garden) 1/2# JalapeƱo peppers (garden) approx. 7 tsp organic ground turmeric (1/2 of McCormick 1.37 oz jar) 3 tsp. dried/ground red hot peppers (garden) 2 tsp. Cayenne pepper (McCormick jarred) 4 tsp. Fresh ground gourmet peppercorn (black,white,red) Filled each jar with Bragg's organic apple cider vinegar with mother
I made 4 gallons yesterday and plan to press one of them out 8-10 weeks from now. The ingredients left over after pressing will get dehydrated and milled to powder for cooking etc... may even pack someinto gel caps to use as a supplement?
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Post by Weed on Jul 20, 2019 19:53:52 GMT
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Post by feather on Jul 20, 2019 20:24:08 GMT
Weed, that Master Tonic is full of antioxidants and flavinols, those things do wonders for oxidative stress, free radicals, and oxidized lipids. Stay young!
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Post by feather on Jul 20, 2019 21:16:37 GMT
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Post by 1shotwade on Jul 20, 2019 22:59:25 GMT
I have something new with my garlic! I didn't get it out last year so planted what was sprouting this spring. It didn't do much. It started browning so when about a third was brown, I went ahead and pulled it. I have had it out on the covered porch curing for a couple weeks. Checked it yesterday and it is growing scapes! (Did not produce scapes when in the ground) I cut them to use, then went ahead and cut the stems short on the bulbs and put them in the dehydrator to finish drying.
Anyone ever experience anything similar? Wade
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Post by Weed on Jul 21, 2019 0:24:20 GMT
I have something new with my garlic! I didn't get it out last year so planted what was sprouting this spring. It didn't do much. It started browning so when about a third was brown, I went ahead and pulled it. I have had it out on the covered porch curing for a couple weeks. Checked it yesterday and it is growing scapes! (Did not produce scapes when in the ground) I cut them to use, then went ahead and cut the stems short on the bulbs and put them in the dehydrator to finish drying. Anyone ever experience anything similar? Wade I had something new and weird going on with several of the Martin's this year...probably due to all the rain we had. After digging and drying the bulbs, about a dozen of them (about 3" bulbs) never shrunk to the point of being able to clearly see that they were divided. I laid those and a few with exposed cloves aside to use up first. When I opened them up they were clearly divided but each clove had begun sending up new growth from within. Judging by the way they were curled up with the paper wrappers still on, each clove had approx. 2" of new green growth sprouts all ready to break out of the top and resume growing.
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Post by 1shotwade on Jul 21, 2019 11:33:02 GMT
Sounds like they wanted to grow! I'd stick them right back in the ground and let them do their thing! Wade
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Post by feather on Jul 26, 2019 1:47:29 GMT
this is the landscape fabric cut for the garlic, which we planted beans in after the garlic was harvested.
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Post by feather on Sept 1, 2019 20:44:54 GMT
Hippie, Just something that I've been meaning to make for several years now but this is my first time making it. It's touted as a cure all/preventative tonic taken once or twice a day in the fall/winter. Cant remember the last time I was sick...main reason I'm giving it a shot is to improve circulation but I figure it'll also help with the occasional sniffle/runny nose too. I couldn't find any fresh turmeric so I used a jar off the supermarket spice rack. Growing most of the stuff, it cost me roughly $11 per gallon - entirely organic. Here's a copy of the ingredients from my notes: Ingredients "per" gallon///everything chopped fine 1# Horseradish (garden) 1# Ginger 1# Onions (1/2 yellow-1/2 white - garden) 1# Garlic (garden) 1/2# JalapeƱo peppers (garden) approx. 7 tsp organic ground turmeric (1/2 of McCormick 1.37 oz jar) 3 tsp. dried/ground red hot peppers (garden) 2 tsp. Cayenne pepper (McCormick jarred) 4 tsp. Fresh ground gourmet peppercorn (black,white,red) Filled each jar with Bragg's organic apple cider vinegar with mother I made 4 gallons yesterday and plan to press one of them out 8-10 weeks from now. The ingredients left over after pressing will get dehydrated and milled to powder for cooking etc... may even pack someinto gel caps to use as a supplement?
This stuff is now a month and 10 days old, not long to go!
I'm going to make a gallon of it, with what I have on hand. With the vinegar mother in it, it will continue fermenting all the sugars in all the ingredients. Garlic and onions have a lot of sugar in them!
All the anti-oxidants are so great, for everything.
Check in here if you get time. I'd really like to hear how it all turns out. And what's it taste like?
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Post by Weed on Sept 2, 2019 1:38:08 GMT
feather, Can't say I like the flavor but for anyone who doesn't dislike the ACV taste with a passion probably wouldn't mind the taste too much. First time I tried it was straight up and I drank about 4ozs, it's got a bite to it! Since then, best way I've found to drink it is: 2-3 tablespoons of tonic with a teaspoon or so of raw honey, diluted with a few ounces of water stirred well. I chase it with a glass of cold fresh water because the AC vinegar isn't good for tooth enamel. I've been drinking it everyday hoping to gradually better the circulation in my feet...nothing worse than cold feet while hunting! Back to taste...I took a bottle down to Tennessee for a relative on my recent visit and she liked it so much she ran out the next day and bought the ingredients & I helped her make a batch before I came back. I haven't tried making salad dressing with it yet but she emailed me & said it's awesome...when she said she liked it, she wasn't kidding. Anyway...I strained it off after 30 days and squeezed all the ingredients leaving a little liquid behind and reloaded them back into 2 gallon jars and added more ACV to make more. The 4 gallon jars yielded just shy of 2-3/4 gallons of tonic. I loaded it up into 16oz flip top Amber beer bottles (home brewing type) and stowed it in the root cellar to use as needed. It's said to have an indefinite shelf life so no worries with storage
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Post by feather on Sept 2, 2019 2:03:30 GMT
I used your recipe as a guideline then tortured it, as I usually do to all recipes. Left out the cayenne pepper (dh doesn't like hot much), put in warm anaheim peppers, also left out the horseradish (didn't have any) but I put in everything else. I added 1 cup of sugar, because the sugar goes to alcohol (it's just more fuel), then to vinegar with the mother in there. I'll have to leave it 2 months to get all the fermenting finished.
Use it in salad dressing, what a great idea!
Yours sounds just awesome! I can say with a high degree of confidence, that live vinegar w/mother will keep just fine in glass containers (canning jars with lids) for a few years. After 3 years, I started to see a degradation in the metal lids, but on the positive side, nothing blew up. whew! Even though it is strained, the mother over time, sinks to the bottom, so you can stay away from that slimey thing if you pour it slowly.
Take care!
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Post by Weed on Sept 4, 2019 5:10:17 GMT
Master Tonic, Fire Cider, Torture Tonic....it's all the sameš
If you plan to add honey, it neutralizes the heat quite a bit if you go overboard with peppers. Good point you mentioned...I was aware of the possible issues ACV can cause with metal lids so I used a layer of Saran Wrap between the screw on metal lid and the jar during fermentation (I used 1 gallon glass pickle jars that the local deli saved for me) It's also why I chose to use the flip top beer bottles that have ceramic tops with rubber seals that clam up tight.
Don't forget to come back with a review when it's done! 30 days was all the time it needed here (fermented @70*)
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Post by feather on Oct 19, 2019 23:56:10 GMT
Master Tonic, Fire Cider, Torture Tonic....it's all the sameš If you plan to add honey, it neutralizes the heat quite a bit if you go overboard with peppers. Good point you mentioned...I was aware of the possible issues ACV can cause with metal lids so I used a layer of Saran Wrap between the screw on metal lid and the jar during fermentation (I used 1 gallon glass pickle jars that the local deli saved for me) It's also why I chose to use the flip top beer bottles that have ceramic tops with rubber seals that clam up tight. Don't forget to come back with a review when it's done! 30 days was all the time it needed here (fermented @70*) I'm letting mine go 2 more weeks. Weed, where you been lately? You're awfully quiet. I saw this and thought of this torture water.
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Post by feather on Dec 8, 2019 21:19:19 GMT
Hippie, Just something that I've been meaning to make for several years now but this is my first time making it. It's touted as a cure all/preventative tonic taken once or twice a day in the fall/winter. Cant remember the last time I was sick...main reason I'm giving it a shot is to improve circulation but I figure it'll also help with the occasional sniffle/runny nose too. I couldn't find any fresh turmeric so I used a jar off the supermarket spice rack. Growing most of the stuff, it cost me roughly $11 per gallon - entirely organic. Here's a copy of the ingredients from my notes: Ingredients "per" gallon///everything chopped fine 1# Horseradish (garden) 1# Ginger 1# Onions (1/2 yellow-1/2 white - garden) 1# Garlic (garden) 1/2# JalapeƱo peppers (garden) approx. 7 tsp organic ground turmeric (1/2 of McCormick 1.37 oz jar) 3 tsp. dried/ground red hot peppers (garden) 2 tsp. Cayenne pepper (McCormick jarred) 4 tsp. Fresh ground gourmet peppercorn (black,white,red) Filled each jar with Bragg's organic apple cider vinegar with mother I made 4 gallons yesterday and plan to press one of them out 8-10 weeks from now. The ingredients left over after pressing will get dehydrated and milled to powder for cooking etc... may even pack someinto gel caps to use as a supplement? When I made this, I didn't use any hot peppers, horseradish, or cayenne. Dh isn't a fan of hot flavors. I added some sugar. I squeezed it out today, and it tastes like a mild garlic balsamic vinegar, to me, like a mild pickle juice. I like it. It'll make a great addition to salad dressings. I'm glad we tried this fire water.
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Post by mogal on Dec 28, 2019 16:57:08 GMT
Weed, very clever idea to use the dehydrated pulp as a ground seasoning. However, I was curious about your adding more vinegar. Does a second batch using the same ingredients have enough "umph" in it to make a it strong enough? Do you combine batches? Thanks. MO
You said: "I made 4 gallons yesterday and plan to press one of them out 8-10 weeks from now. The ingredients left over after pressing will get dehydrated and milled to powder for cooking etc... may even pack someinto gel caps to use as a supplement?
"Anyway...I strained it off after 30 days and squeezed all the ingredients leaving a little liquid behind and reloaded them back into 2 gallon jars and added more ACV to make more."
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Post by feather on Jan 2, 2020 23:10:19 GMT
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Post by Weed on Mar 28, 2020 23:01:40 GMT
mogal , for the 2nd batch i allowed it to ferment several extra weeks...i thought it had just as much umph reusing the same ingredients but when it was finished fermenting, i did combine both batches to equalize any difference in taste - then shelved it in amber beer bottles with the flip tops. It was a mild winter here but not so much as a sniffle this year. Its a keeper
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Post by bowdonkey on Mar 30, 2020 10:27:28 GMT
Two days ago I noticed where the snow was melted off the garlic was up. The bed of Martins was looking good. The bog garlic not so good. The voles really did a number on it. Looks like half was knocked out. I hate voles. Anything you have to mulch over winter is prey to the little devils. It's been a real challenge trying to control their numbers over the years. This has been a banner winter for rodent invasion.
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Post by feather on Apr 3, 2020 21:00:47 GMT
How disheartening! We lost 1/3 of our garlic to something digging them up. Worse than any other year, 116 gone. We'll have enough to plant next year and to eat but few to share, which is a huge bummer because it's fun to share. Not great start to 2020 gardening. So I have 116 holes to fill, maybe kale, we're not sure yet. I have three kinds of kale, one is blue purple, one will look like a palm tree by fall, and the regular ruffled stuff.
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Post by feather on Apr 11, 2020 1:25:23 GMT
Late last night, it was a dark and stormy night.....not really. I come across the woman on the market place on facebook selling 'garlic transplants'. Now, you know here in WI we grow them starting in oct/nov/dec, then harvest in july. They start to break the ground about last week. She is selling them for $10 for 50 'transplants'. Now, they are growing and I don't know if they'd really transplant well, being uprooted then putting them in the ground again. I got to wondering, I wonder where this woman is? It turns out she is 3 minutes from my home if she walked. And I'm short by 116 garlic. Hmmm...
So......we set a trap out at the garlic. (nope we really didn't)
She must have a lot of garlic transplants because she sold 100's of them on facebook today meeting people and all that. Our garlic grew from 3 inches to 7 inches in the past two days. We must have a garlic-liking squirrel or voles or something. They've been pretty animal proof in the past many years. This is the first time we lost many.
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Post by solargeek on Apr 11, 2020 4:30:28 GMT
feather, I only "liked" your posts so you would know I sympathize. The last 3 years voles have gotten into my garden beds. So that is why we switched to raised beds with 1st hardware cloth 1/4", then layers of cardboard, then compost then potting soil. Last year no voles. Hoping to repeat. Good luck with them.
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