Good. We have just harvested lots of fat and delicious garlic. Maybe I don’t want to share these with the vampires, tell them to grow their own! They get too much publicity lately anyway. Vampires just ain’t what they used to be!
Once clean of all the dirt, these were plainted into ropes and hung in the new storeroom, Le Cave. Is that right ViV? Le Cave or La Cave.
Charlotte and Peghorn are at war.
Peghorn is getting very fat and shiny on baby pig food.
And the Shush sisters have begun to move him along. Frequently, I hear the cackle and flutter of hens accompanied by the breathy chuckle of little pigs. 
The lavender is coming out. This week I shall make lavender jelly. But not too much because this is the second favourite flower of the bees. 
Lucerne or alfalfa is the first! Or maybe borage I shall ask. Though bees are not big talkers. 
Is that rain coming? No. We are still having a lot of warm wind and it is full of dust as it dries out the cracking fields. The sun just keeps baking down from the rainless sky. 
Someone is showing off!
Good Morning. Daisy has begin calling to me the last few mornings. Standing at her milking parlour gate. So i feel a little hurried! Yesterday all together she gave three and a half gallons of milk. This will steadily increase as she gets stronger. In a few days we will strain some and see if it is ready for us to drink. That will be a wonderful moment, as it has taken us almost three years to raise our own house cow. A long time dream this one.
After chores, TonTon and I are off to see the Old Codger this morning and take him his walking stick. I believe he is in the last week of his stay at the retirement home. Training him from the walker to the walking stick will make him a lot safer getting about the house. So cross those fingers again. I will know more this afternoon.
Take care. Have a great day.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
68 responses to “Do you want help with your vampires?”
Haha I like the title 😀
Yea I suppose vampires are abundant in Australia so this fat juicy garlic shouldn’t go to waste 😉
For the vampires I promise 😛
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Garlic jelly!! Heh.
How wonderful, to be harvesting such good things: garlic, lavender and MILK! All your hard work is bearing fruit (so to speak). What good news that Daisy is now falling into the rhythm of milking, and even calling you. This is a good news post.
Peghorn is a little bossy – ha! Love seeing your garlic and the lavendar is BEAUTIFUL:) Have a Great Day!
We are cutting our scapes now too. We planted more this year and hope to get several bushels. We grow the hard neck garlic here, no braiding for us! We recently found a source for raw grassfed milk. The cream is to die for! You have to whisk it by hand or risk making butter. (Which wouldn’t be so bad if we weren’t wanting whipped cream for our strawberry shortcake!
Our farmers’ market has a vendor who sells fresh raw garlic bulbs. He says they don’t keep as long as the dried, but is stronger in flavor. I buy as much as I can use a week at a time. It’s wonderful.
Could you dry them yourself?.. how interesting.. i bet that is tasty! c
Your garlic is lovely! I think it looks so nice plaited. Peghorn is shiny, and dare I say, pudgy. That little lamb was kicking up its heels for sure! I’ve never heard of lavender being made into jelly.
You have so much patience, c!! I admire that in you. (Along with a whole host of other things.) Unbeknownst to me I’ve planted many lavender plants (6) so my local bees should be very pleased with me;) xo Smidge
Hope you have some rain soon, Celi. Our spring is cold indeed. Very strange…however, now I know why Duc la Chat grew such a thick winter coat and still hasn’t begun to shed. Instead of naming hurricanes, we’re going to have named cold fronts. In the summer!
Am fighting to keep the tent caterpillars from completely devastating my cotoneaster, rose bush and smoking royal bush. They are everywhere. The roads are covered with them as they stream to more greenery. My cherry tree and mountain ashes are bare. Neighbour’s apple trees are bare, too. It’s the worst infestation I’ve seen and I’ve lived here 32 years. We don’t believe in using chemicals so we have to wait them out. The trees will leaf again, but the fruit is highly unlikely. Guess what I see whenever I close my eyes.
So it’s a joy to see your abundance, Celi. Just some rain for you…
so miserable when you get a plague! your poor trees and roses, we get japanese beetles, dishwashing soap kills them weirdly but when there are a million eating a tree it is not terribly much use.. after our mild winter we are awaiting them with trepidation.. c
I am growing my first garlic! When do I know to harvest? Leaves are just starting to dry, and look
close to yours. Your pictures are just beautiful, I could move right in–Stacey
Morning Stacy, the rule of thumb is to harvest on the longest day, but we are so hot and dry that the leaves died off earlier so JOhn went ahead and dug them, One tip is to stop watering a few days before you harvest so the dirt on them is dry and falls right off. If they are dying off they are probably pretty close.. let me know who it goes!! c
Can’t wait to grow my own garlic! Love that Daisy is ready for her milking and letting you know. It must be a relief for her to let go of some of that milk weight she’s hauling around.
Looking forward to seeing the lavender jelly! ~ April
Beautiful garlic and just look at that baby kicking up it’s heels!
I adore lavendar – I tried to grow it here but the bunnies – or something – ate it all. My grandparents from Scotland loved it. I have never had Lavendar jelly! Must be amazing! I did have lavendar ice cream out in WA State once…interesting, that’s for sure!
I’m looking forward to the lavender jelly recipe. Does that mean jelly as in jam or jelly as in wobbly dessert?
jelly as in a jelly in a jar.. it is so sweet, i shall get onto it pronto!
Love the purple flowers!