Moving the Garlic Giveaway Up!

We have changed our moving plans and will be heading out-of-town sooner than planned.   The internet provider where we are going can be unpredictable and I want to make sure I have the winners picked and the garlic mailed to them before we leave.   So with that the Garlic Giveaway winners will be picked August 12 and have 48 hrs. to contact me.   You can leave a comment on this post or the previous Garlic Giveaway post.   There is also a post at the Growing Phases Farm blog where you can leave an additional comment.   A total of two winners will be picked – one from each blog.

Thanks and Good Luck!

 

Borage in Bloom

Borage is a great companion plant – especially with tomatoes to ward off the tomato hornworm!

Sunflower Beauty

Add your photos to the Wordless Wednesday collection below and see more entries here.

Also don’t forget to comment on the Giveaway Post for your chance to win some Gourmet Garlic!

Another Gourmet Garlic Giveaway!

Last year I held a giveaway and one lucky winner won Gourmet Garlic from my harvest.   I decided this year I should do the same …

Garlic freshly grown in Illinois

All you have to do is leave a comment here or on Growing Phases Farm’s blog .  You can  leave a comment on both blogs – one winner from each will be picked and receive the Garlic as a gift to either use in your recipes, give as a gift or plant in your own garden.

Include your contact information (email address or website) so I can find you if you win.   If you rather not post your email you can send it privately to mailbox@therunninggarlic.com .   The winner will be announced and posted here on August 26, 2011 and will have 48 hrs. to contact me with their address for mailing otherwise a new winner will be selected.

Finally the Sungold Tomatoes are beginning to turn color and should be ready to EAT any day now … I can’t wait!   Also the Black-eyed Susan are in full bloom – they are biennial and bloom every other year – this is the year.
I have a few more pictures of happenings around the farm posted at Growing Phases Farm, so make sure to stop by and leave your comment for yet another chance to win the Gourmet Garlic…..best of luck to you!

Garden Wrap-up

Fall is upon us and the summer gardening season has pretty much ended – a few tomato and pepper plants remain, but most have been removed.   It came on suddenly, hot in the 90s very early in the season and the temperatures reached heat indexes of over 100 – now all the sudden it’s Chilly!   The cooler weather is welcome and fall colors have to be some of the most spectacular of the year; just hoping those cold snowy days don’t arrive too soon!

The Nasturtium flowers continue to grow and bloom in the container on the deck and I am sure they will flourish up until a frost covers the ground.

These flowers were planted as a team GROW project with many other gardeners across the country and all documented their progress throughout the summer months.   “I’m growing Nasturtium “Spitfire” for the GROW project. Thanks, to Renee’s Garden for the seeds.”  

I also planted and just recently harvested TriColor Bush Beans also received from Renee’s Garden and I will be blanching and freezing these later this afternoon.

 TriColor Bush Beans – yellow, purple, green

I have some mini pumpkin gourds I will be working on this week and these were actually from last year’s harvest.   My mini gourds this year didn’t take off like I had hoped so I only have a few and they will have to dry before I can work on them.   The larger gourds are still out in the field and they were doing great until the 115 degree weather hit and I was not there to water them – they suffered, but I will have some gourds regardless.

 Mini pumpkin gourds setting in the sun to dry after I washed and scrubbed them getting ready to decorate.  

I want to Thank everyone that entered the Garlic Giveaway and we did announce the winner last week … this will be the last week the garlic is listed for sale in the shop; then it’s Garlic Planting Time!!!     

Thanks again and Happy Fall!

Garlic muffins and puffs!

Yes … Garlic Muffins!   Never heard of them until the other day when I decided to do a search and sure enough there is such a thing AND they are addicting!   I ate 2 fresh out of the oven with a slab of butter …..yummy!

Garlic Muffins – Add 2 cups of flour with 3 teaspoons of baking powder.   Beat up one egg, add to that 1 cup milk and 1/4 cup melted butter.   Combine the flour mixture with the liquid mixture and 4 minced garlic cloves.   Fill muffin cups and bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.    So Good!   My next batch I may add some shredded zucchini … why not, it’s waiting on something!

I also have been using a very simple dressing for my salads – it consists of only 3 ingredients.   Olive oil, red wine vinegar and minced garlic.   Mix together and let sit in the refrigerator for a few hours so the flavors can blend and then just drizzle atop your salad and fresh veggies from the garden!

This morning I tried a little experiment which went so so.   I had crescent rolls in the refrig. for some time now and decided today was the day to use them.   I obviously didn’t observe the use by date on the can and the dough had lost its crescent roll ability.

So I gathered it all together and made little rolls of dough (was going to just make bread sticks) but decided to fold them into some type of form.

Actually …. the finished product looks alot like mini crescent rolls.   Before I baked them for about 12 minutes at 375 degrees I brushed them with olive oil, sprinkled on minced garlic and some specks of basil.   I could definitely taste the garlic, but the basil taste was very faint.

Mini crescent rolls or garlic puffs as I nicknamed them.   Make sure you don’t miss the Garlic Giveaway underway right now for a chance to win some great fresh garlic!   All you have to do is leave a comment here under this previous blog post along with all the wonderful folks who have done so already and the winner will be picked September 21st.   Thanks to Everyone and best of luck!!!