Foggy fall morning and garlic

One of my favorite things about living here is the view.  It is quite spectacular both in the morning and at night.  When we bought the property, it was identified by the timber company as "Misty Meadows" and as we live here, we can see why.  This picture was taken this morning as I was looking off of our side deck.  This is the west side of the house, so it is also the best side for seeing the sunset.

In the future, we hope for our barn to be to the left of where the composter and raised beds sit.  It is a relatively flat spot and we can utilize some of the hillside for pasture.  That way we don't have to mow it!

This afternoon, Kole and I worked in the raised beds.  Due to time constraints this spring and summer, I chose to do the "square foot gardening" technique and have three smaller raised beds instead of a large garden.  It worked out relatively well, although could have been better had we devoted more time to it.  Pregnancy and a deadline on our house took precedence.  While we do plan to have a large garden(s) next year and hopefully some high or low tunnels in the future, we will still try to use the raised beds.  This fall, we will plant garlic.

I mainly order seeds and plants from Seed Savers Exchange.  I have had great luck with them and I adore their variety.  I ordered three varieties of garlic, which is perfect since we have three beds!  We have two softneck varities and a hardneck variety.  Here are the descriptions:

WHITE SEEDLESS Donated to SSE in 1988 by David Ronniger via Filaree Farm in Okanogan, Washington.  Large white bulbs and cloves.  Softneck, 10-14 cloves.

LORZ ITALIAN Northwest heirloom brought to Washington State's Columbia Basin from Italy by the Lorz family before 1900.  Medium warm with a zesty flavor that is not harsh and lingers on the tongue.  Great for roasting.  Softneck, 12-18 cloves.

CHESNOK RED (aka Shvelisi) Originates from the village of Shvelisi, Republic of Georgia.  Beautiful striped paper with red cloves, easy to peel.  Good lingering taste, retains flavor well when cooked.  Rated as one of the very best for baking or roasting.  Hardneck, 8-10 cloves.

I ordered 2 bulbs of each variety, so theoretically if everything goes well, we could see anywhere from 30 - 42 bulbs of garlic next summer.  We are looking forward to braiding the softnecks.  How pretty will that be hanging in our pantry and root cellar next winter?