Fall Colors in Full Swing and New Linky!

The yellow, orange and red leaves are definitely making a statement this fall and it seemed like it happened overnight!  

Now with these high winds we have been experiencing the last 2 days the leaves are flying all over … we will have quite a lot of leaves to mulch up and add to the compost and layer over the gardens.   All of the garlic has been planted for the 2011 harvest – 5 different varieties this year.   Two softnecks Chet’s Italian and Inchelium Red and three hardneck Chrysalis Purple, Chesnok Red and Persian Star.   The hardneck have a larger clove and are easier to work with but the storing time is not as long as the softnecks.

Here is a picture of the famous Garlic Cake I had posted about previously.   It was quite involved to make and has a rather unique taste – you can definitely taste the garlic!   I will share the recipe once I add it to a recipe site since the format for recipes is all laid out and posting on the blog doesn’t flow as well.   I may join another recipe site I spotted “Just a Pinch” and see how user friendly they are.   If anyone has experience and a preference in regard to recipe sites, please do share!   I did take some awesome pictures of the roasted garlic and that is the flavor of the cake … a deep smokey flavor.

I also planted some Ginseng seed I received from Seed Savers Exchange.   I had ordered them last year and recently received them since they ship for fall planting.   I did order a book on ginseng planting and will be reading up on it – since we have quite a few acres of forest I figured it would be an ideal plant to grow.   I  have heard that ginseng farming is popular down south in our area – wild ginseng grows and the market price is quite hefty.   It will be interesting to see how successful I am with this – it takes several years and the root is what gets harvested.

I decided to use Sarge as my mascot or avatar for promoting the Linkys I create on my website.   He looks so content and cute!   A linky is a tool that enables many people to share something from different sites all in one area.   This newest linky I set up allows readers to click on different pictures and go to various shops on the internet.   If you create something handmade and it fits the theme I create (Party Items this month), by all means feel free to add your listing.   The holiday season is upon us and the fun has just begun!!!