Friday Favorite: Keen Footwear
When trying to decide what to write about for my Friday Favorites today I looked down and noticed what shoes I was wearing and knew. I had to write about my LOVE for Keen Footwear.
I have 3 pairs of Keens that I’ve acquired over the last couple years and will be replacing a few of my other shoes with Keens when they wear out. I’ve been looking for a pair to replace my gardening shoes (remember those), but I have yet to find a pair.
One of the reasons I love Keens is because of the roomy toe box. I have wider feet, so these shoes are super comfortable and I have no toe squeezing as I have with most other shoes. I also love the way the toe box is protected with rubber, this really helps the shoes look better longer and helps protect your toes, especially in the sandals & flip flops.
Keens are pricey, but they’re worth every penny. They last forever, so they end up being cheaper in the long run than less expensive shoes. The comfort factor is huge as well, my Keens are the most comfortable shoes I’ve ever owned, all three pairs.
I’m a barefoot or free foot person, so sandals and flip flops are my shoes of choice. I’ve found myself lately on our chilly evening walks wearing some wool socks with my sandals so I can continue wearing them as long as possible. Unfortunately I don’t have a pair of Keens to give away today, but I do have the winners from last week’s Friday Favorites giveaway of Al’s Beanery Coffee. Our winners are: Kat from Food, Literature, Philosophy and Susan. If you don’t get my e-mail contact me through the contact button in my sidebar.
What kind of shoes do you prefer, sandals, tennis shoes, no shoes? Do you have a favorite brand of footwear or do you just wear whatever?
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Planting Garlic
It’s that time of the year to plant garlic. I’ve read that you should plant it around fall equinox, which I missed by about a month. I received my planting garlic the day before we left on vacation and just planted it on Sunday. I ordered 2 garlic samplers from Gourmet Garlic Gardens again this year. Each year I’ve grown garlic, I’ve tried a few different method for planting. I’m hoping this year I’ll finally be able to grow nice big heads of garlic. Mine usually end up being small, but they’re still quite tasty. I chose a free-draining area of the front garden and amended the soil heavily with compost.
I used the planting method I tried 2 years ago which worked better than what I did last year. Gourmet Garlic Gardens recommends soaking your separated garlic overnight in a mixture of baking soda and fish emulsion (1 gallon of water + 1 heaping Tablespoon of baking soda + 1 Tablespoon of fish emulsion). The following day, remove garlic from this mix and soak for a few minutes in rubbing alcohol. I used this method 2 years ago and every single clove of garlic I planted sprouted into a bulb. Last year I simply planted the garlic without soaking and about 20% of the cloves I planted did not sprout. I decided I’d go with the soaking this year.
When I plant garlic, I loosen the soil about 10 inches deep. Then I measure out my plant spacing and add a teaspoon of bone meal where I want to plant each bulb (usually around 6 inches apart). I use my planting trowel and plant each bulb 4 inches deep. Then water in well and mulch with straw or leaves mixed with grass clippings. That’s it, plain and simple, the garlic will grow in the spring. What varieties of garlic am I growing this year?
Belarus is a beautiful Purple Stripe garlic with a rich garlicky flavor and is delightfully mellow but with a little bite when raw. The outer bulb wrappers are white and thick and becoming vertically striped with increasingly more purple stripes the closer to the cloves one gets. The clove covers themselves are a deep reddish purple. If you like a lot of red, you’ll love these Purple Stripe garlics. Belarus can be a very prolific garlic in cold winter areas and grows well in states with moderate temps but probably not for extreme southern areas.
Purple Glazer is one of the few Glazed Purple Stripes available and they’re fabulous garlics that grow well in most climates, although iffy in the warmest winter areas. Their bulb wrappers show a different texture than either the main group of Purple Stripes or the distinctive Marbled group. Glazed Purple Stripes are the tall willowy maidens of the garden and are usually the tallest garlics. With good growing conditions the bulbs can get very large, 2 1/2 to 3 inches in diameter. The inner bulb wrappers of Purple Glazers can be almost solid purple with purple clove colors and they are very beautiful bulbs of very rich color and they are a lovely addition to the table centerpiece until you’re ready to eat them. If you want to flash some stark, raving color to get someone’s attention, these garlics will do the job. Purple Glazer has that same sweet warm richness of flavor common to Purple Stripe garlics; excellent for raw eating and fabulous for roasting because of the exceptional sweetness of Purple Stripe garlics. They’re more like Red Toch or Burgundy in flavor and have a very pleasant lingering aftertaste. These bulbs store every bit as long and firm as the standard Purple Stripes, around 7-8 months at room temp after harvest.
Siberian really lives up to its name when it comes to thriving in cold weather. A top-notch producer in cold climates, Siberian deserves consideration for all northern gardeners. The cloves are protected by an attractive light pink skin that becomes even redder when grown in high-iron soils. This clean, medium-to-strong flavored garlic will warm your soul on the coldest winter evening. Best of all, it is prized for having a very high allicin content, possibly the highest of any garlic. Allicin supports normal cholesterol levels, boosts the immune system, and enhances circulation. Harvests mid-late season – stores 7-9 months
German Extra Hardy is a large, beautiful and well-formed porcelain garlic. Its flavor is very strong and robust and sticks around for a long time. From a growers perspective, it is a tall dark green plant and is a very good survivor, usually grows healthy and appears to be somewhat resistant to many of the diseases that can affect garlic. It originally came from Germany but grows well in all but the most southerly states, where it is marginal. Being a Porcelain German White/ Extra Hardy stores a long time at cool room temp, around 10 months or longer.
Georgian Crystal is a large and beautiful porcelain garlic with delightfully robust flavor but not very much hotness. If you want a richly flavored, long storing Porcelain that won’t burn you out, this one’s for you. It grows well in most states even some years in warm winter areas, but will be marginal there in years with early hot summers. From a growers perspective, it is a large and healthy garlic to grow and appears to be relatively resistant to most of the diseases that can affect garlic. It originated in the Republic of Georgia, the former Soviet republic between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. An excellent garlic for raw eating and in pesto, salsa, etc. Harvests mid-summer – a rich yet mellow garlic that stores into spring at room temp.
Music is a large, beautiful and well-formed porcelain garlic similar to Northern White. Its flavor is very rich and musky, strong and robust and sticks around for a while. It’s very popular for a reason. From a growers perspective, it is a tall dark green plant and is a very good survivor, usually grows healthy and appears to be somewhat resistant to some of the diseases that can affect garlic. I’m not real sure just where Music originated, but it likes cold weather and can get quite large in good growing conditions. Grows well in most states even some years in Warm Winter Areas, but will be marginal there in years with early hot summers. Harvests mid-summer – stores into spring.
Amish Rocambole may be an heirloom garlic, who knows? (a garden plant whose lineage can be traced for a 100 years or more) It was grown in Wisconsin and comes to us from Gale Waege and Keene Organics. It is a generally a vigorous grower with large foliage that is dark green and results in a pretty good sized bulb. Being a Rocambole garlic, its flavor is very strong, hot and spicy and sticks around for a long time. From a growers perspective, it grows well in cold winter areas, but does poorly in warm winter areas, and usually grows healthy fairly uniform sized bulbs. It has thin bulb wrappers that have a lot of purple and brown in them. It usually has anywhere from 8 or 9 easy to peel cloves that are of good size, with no smaller inner cloves. The outer bulb wrappers are thin and flake off easily so it is not a very good storer, but no Rocambole is – through the fall and into winter. Great taste is their claim to fame, not long storage. For those up North who want to grow their own garlic it only takes a year or two to grow all you can eat. It harvests in early summer along with most of the other Rocamboles. Bulbs are usually over 2 1/2 inches in diameter and are of good size are grown primarily for their particularly rich flavor.
I’m excited about trying all these new varieties as I haven’t grown any of them before. I always try to grow lots of garlic as we eat a lot of it. We love garlic in all kinds of dishes, I usually use a few cloves a day. It helps keep us healthy all winter long. Here’s a great article about the health benefits of garlic.
Are you a garlic lover? Do you grow garlic in your garden?
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A Disappointing Harvest
Last Thursday when we went to my parent’s house I harvested our sweet potatoes. It was a disappointing harvest because the voles had chewed on almost every single sweet potato, especially the nice big ones. They pretty much ate through our entire crop, which was really nice this year because of the hot summer.
Since sweet potatoes will cork over their wounds, I think managed to save enough that we’ll be able to enjoy them on Thanksgiving. Sadly sweet potatoes won’t be on the menu much this winter.
Have you had trouble with voles eating your harvests?
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Preparing for Dark Days
I’m a light person, I love to have lots of sunlight coming through the windows. I would love to have more and bigger windows throughout my house, but I have to make do with what I have. I enjoy the seasons and I enjoy the relaxed pace of winter here in NE Ohio, but I don’t like the darkness of it. The days are short and often gray and I do anything I can to get more of that light into the house during the winter months.
Cleaning the windows is an important part of keeping the windows bright, it always seems like so much more light comes through clean windows. I usually take advantage of the last warm days in October to give windows a good scrubbing. The insides of the windows get cleaned almost once a month (a must with 3 cats and a dog living inside). The outsides only get cleaned 2-3 times per year, once in spring and fall for sure, and occasionally a mid-winter cleaning if we have a nice warm day.
We had such nice weather this past weekend I took advantage and spent some time washing the windows. When I finished, they were so clean and sparkling, I just had to take a few photos, I knew they’d have kitty and dog nose prints on them before the day was over.
I often take down the blinds during the winter and sometimes I even remove the curtains, although they’re light and white so they don’t block much sunlight. I also make sure I remove the screens from the windows as they block a lot of light from coming in. After this weekend my windows are undressed for winter and I’m much happier!
Do you clean your windows for winter? or remove the screens? or do you live in an area with the opposite problem – too much sunlight?
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My Neighbors Must Think I’m Crazy
Why? Because I raked all the leaves from the driveway onto the front lawn and spread them out in an even layer.
Last week I started making mulch for my flower beds. I collect the leaves when they fall and chop them up with my mower. I then mix them with grass clippings and use this mix as mulch on my gardens.
Leaves make the best all natural mulch for flowerbeds and your edible garden beds. The worms love it and it does a wonderful job of keeping weeds at bay and it does wonders to help retain moisture. Leaves also help improve the soil over the long term as the worms turn them into the soil. The best part is that they’re FREE! I’m lucky that our gardens are surrounded by giant trees so I have leaves in abundance, but we also collect leaves from our neighborhood leaf drop off center as I don’t think you can ever have too many!
Do you make use of the leaves in your garden? Do you have any great free things that you use in the garden?
