Yesterday the weather was perfect for working outdoors, so we decided to get busy cleaning the rest of the garlic.
Cleaning the garlic requires cutting the dried (top) leaves off and trimming the roots. (An interesting fact – to be sold in the United States garlic that is grown in the U.S. is not required to have the roots totally removed, while garlic that is imported into the U.S must have all of the roots removed.) After removing the tops and trimming the roots we then use a scrub brush to remove the dried dirt that is still clinging to the bulb. We also sort the bulbs at this time – the largest will be saved for seed, any bulbs that have a damaged clove or are too small to be sold are set aside and will be used to make garlic powder or sold as seconds to a customer who does the same, and the rest will be sold as culinary garlic either to individual customers or to the retail locations that are selling our garlic.
The beautiful weather motivated us to do other fall activities like airing out the beach umbrellas so that they can be stored for the winter. The wasps had begun building their nests inside the umbrellas.
After a few hours of cleaning garlic my husband and I both decided to shift gears, so with about 500 bulbs still hanging in the barn we packed up our garlic cleaning project and moved on. I spent the next couple of hours cutting grass while he cut up some fire wood for last nights fire then dragged downed trees to the wood lot where they will be cut into fire wood.
Quite honestly the best part about working out doors yesterday was the beautiful sky. It was as blue as I’ve ever seen it yet filled with fluffy white clouds. I couldn’t help snapping photos to share with all of you.
I hope you enjoyed this. Thanks for visiting. 🙂
Don't Eat It! Soap and Skin Care 
I had no idea about cleaning garlic, it’s one of those things I guess you don’t think about if you don’t have it and grow it. Such a blue sky indeed, gorgeous day! =]
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You’re right. I never thought about it until we started growing garlic – now when we are in the middle of cleaning several thousand bulbs we think “why in the world did we grow so many?” LOL.
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Your cloud pictures reminded me of when we were little girls and we would spend hours lying in the grass looking up at the clouds and picking out the shapes we could see in them. Great memories 💞
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Great Memories Indeed! ♥♥♥
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Oooo very blue sky indeed, definitely the perfect day for it! 🙂
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It was the perfect day for being outside. 🙂
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did the wasps sting you when you tried to disturb their nests? I am shuddering thinking about wasps nests in umbrellas that you have to move! I enjoyed reading your adventure! xo
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No, my husband carefully opened the umbrellas anticipating that there may be wasps or spiders inside. We let them air out for a few hours, then he took them down.The wasps had gone so he was able to remove their nests without harm. Thanks so much for reading. I am glad you enjoyed it.
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Hi Ruth, my blog is no Private please request access would still love it if you would follow me just go to my site to request access
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Ok. Thanks for letting me know.
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Beautiful autumn skies! Your customers are lucky to have such wonderful garlic, too!
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Thank you. It has taken some time to develop a market for our garlic but more and more we are finding repeat customers and that makes us happy. 🙂
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There is nothing like a beautiful blue sky and fluffy clouds – especially this year which has been so dark and gloomy and full of rain. We had rain this morning, this evening, overnight and every day but Wednesday this week … well, the trees are well watered for the Winter anyway. Ruth, I have a suggestion for you. I listen to WWJ and one of the reporters, Sandra McNeill, has a regular feature about Michigan products called “Made In Michigan” … I heard this yesterday about a natural soap company (Little Flower Soap Company) … if you click on this link you can hear the short interview with the owner and scroll to the end of the page on the left and the website is here. I think this is a weekly feature, it seems like it, maybe every other week, but always local merchants – you could contact them and tell them you sell the garlic individually as well as to small retail stores locally. Here is the link:
https://wwjnewsradio.radio.com/media/audio-channel/made-michigan-sandra-mcneill-little-flower-soap-company-0
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Thank you Linda.
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You’re welcome Ruth – do think of contacting Sandra McNeill about your garlic, or your soap..
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Beautiful Photos, Ruth~
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Thank you and thanks for visiting 🙂
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What a glorious day to be out and about! Thank you for sharing!
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You’re welcome – thanks for visiting. 🙂
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Looks like a beautiful day to take care of your garlic..💗
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It was – we are hoping for a few more just like it. Thanks for visiting. 🙂
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You sky shots are beautiful. I enjoyed reading about your cleaning garlic, too.
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Thanks Anne. Cleaning garlic, and farming in general, is a dirty job – but hey. I am a soap maker – LOL. 🙂
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You have it all covered! Good for you!
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That sounds like a beautifully, productive day. xx
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Indeed! 🙂
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Sounds like a really productive day.
I was marveling at how blue the sky was yesterday, too.
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Yes, I’m happy for the things we got done – especially since the rains moved in over night and have been around all day today.
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