Garlic bulbils.

Do you know what this is a photo of?

These are garlic bulbils or garlic flowers.

They grow from the top of the stalk of the hard neck varieties of garlic.

They start off white and as they dry out they become more and more purple.

Many farmers of hard neck garlic remove the bulbils as they are forming to promote the growth of the bulb below the ground. At Daylesford Organics we believe in allowing a plant to grow in its natural form so we leave the bulbils on the plant. Cutting them off is like cutting off its reproductive organs.

The advantage of not removing the bulbils is that we harvest them as well as the garlic cloves when they reach maturity.

There are several things you can do with these flowers.

You can replant them. This is an economical way of building up your planting stock. It will take two years of replanting for the bulbs to reach a decent size. Alternately you could plant the bulbils in your herb garden and harvest them as spring garlic, like spring onions.

The other use for the bulbils is the one we are most excited about and that is to eat.

Over the past few weeks we have been sprinkling these gorgeous seeds on salads, bruchettas, stir fries and eggs.

They look gorgeous as a garnish, they give that delicious garlic kick and all without the bother of having to peel them or prepare them in any way.

Can you tell we are excited!!

If you buy some garlic bulbils from us over the next few weeks, we would love you to share your own personal bulbil recipe with us. Please leave a comment on this blog or email us at kate@daylesfordorganics.com

See ya.

Floods & dogs.

Our farm gate stall will not open this season.

The market garden is under water for the third time since September. When and if the ground dries out enough to plant a crop, there will not be a long enough growing season to ripen it.

You can still buy our certified organic, free range eggs and garlic from Tonnas and Harvest in Daylesford, from The Slow Food Farmers' market and The Collingwood Children's Farm Farmers' market in Melbourne, from The Ceres shop and from Organic Wholefoods.

Farmer Bren just emailed me this photo from his phone and as I type this the rain is crashing down.

This week's The Weekly Times's letters section has one that reads:

Man and his dog just clicked

I would like to compliment the photographer of the brilliant picture for October in The Weekly Times' 2011 calendar.

It is without doubt one of the best pictures seen anywhere in a long time.

I also compliment the gentleman in the picture for his compassion and appreciation, clearly expressed in the picture.

He has obviously spent considerable time and effort training this loyal dog-just look at the connection between the two.

The trust and appreciation they show for each other is very touching.

The composition is sensational-the brilliant colours and the way it captures the emotional interaction between man and his faithful dog.

Knowing the wonderful loyalty of Maremma guardian dogs, I appreciate the connection between this dog and master.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. It is impossible to put a figure on the number of words condensed in this picture.'

Gavin Wall

Mt Evelyn.

Thanks Gavin, you've made our day.

Thanks also Jane for letting us know.

And while we are on the subject of Maremmas, look who opened their eyes two days ago. Willow's six puppies are super cute little fat fluff balls. Their fur is white and thick and the pads on their feet and their noses have turned from pink to black. Their legs are still not strong enough to carry them, but they can certainly move around to get to their Mama. Willow is still being patient and kind with them although she is taking a break occasionally to lie under the house. She seems much happier for us to have a cuddle these days too.

And finally, our thoughts go out to all those affected by the devastating floods in the North of our country. Wishing you and your families safety, dryness and relief from it all.

Misters October.

When you buy a copy of this week's The Weekly Times you get a dog calendar as a free gift. The calendar is full of gorgeous photos of man's best friend.

When October 2011 comes around, you get to look at our Farmer Bren and Bingo for the whole month. Now that's something to look forward to.

Our calendar is already hanging in the kitchen open on October which is making our two little October babies just a bit excited thinking they might have birthdays all year through.

In other exciting news, we've started harvesting our garlic.

We've spent the past few days while the sun has been shining pulling up the glorious, juicy bulbs.

We've got many rows left to harvest, but I have to tell you that it feels great to stop worrying about the wet and the locusts and to focus on something positive for a while. Great!

After we pull up a row, we rack it all up to cure for a few weeks.

You can get your hands on the best, most delicious garlic in town, at the Slow Food Farmers' Market next Thursday the 23rd of December at The Abbotsford Convent from 3pm-8pm.

Garlic toast for dinner tonight I think.

See ya!

Garlic @ six weeks.

Our garlic has been in the ground for six weeks.

This year we've planted most of it in between the new apple trees.

Better look busy, the supervisors are on their way.

Farmer Bren is checking how much the roots have grown in six weeks.

Pretty impressive huh?

Once you remove last year's garlic clove,

you are left with the start of this year's bulb.

He likes to taste things to see how they are going, but can't understand why I wouldn't kiss him for the rest of the afternoon.

The other Brendan is using the wheel hoe to weed in between the garlic plants.

Liam is hoeing between the little garlics,

and playing funny buggers.

Its looking like a wonderful crop so far.

Want to see it for yourself?

There's still a few places for the Walking The Talk farm tours.

Date: Saturday 22 and Saturday 29th May.

Time: 2 - 4pm.

Place: Daylesford Organics. 19 Foxs Lane Muskvale.

Cost: $20per person, 15yrs and under free.

Booking: Email info@daylesfordorganics.com

Hopefully: See you then.

Sunday at the farm stall.

Bren's Mum asked me to do a post showing what produce we have in season at the moment, so I thought I'd take you on a tour of the farm stall today and show you.

We have basil,

rainbow carrots,

Rainbow chard/silver beet top left and rocket just in front of it.

We have pullet eggs, large eggs and extra large eggs.

We have turnips,

garlic,

red onions,

eshallots,

and four more varieties of onions.

Not in the photo but also available are beetroots and radishes.

Coming soon are potatoes, swedes and kale.

I hope you are having a great weekend.

Garlic & a blog post.

These five kilos of garlic were part of an order picked up this morning to be delivered to Circa, The Prince in St Kilda, Melbourne.

A few months ago Juliette from Homingpigeon came to visit Daylesford Organics and interview us for her book. You can check out what she thought of her visit on her blog here.

Scenes from the farm stall.

So ace to meet you and the family Emma.

Can you see me crocheting under the blackwood?

A most unwelcome guest. Indi named him Simon.

It was a ridiculously hot day today. The customers were few but so lovely.

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend.

Farm gate stall.

We had such a great first day at the stall.

Thank you so much to everyone who came and supported us.

Looking forward to seeing you soon.

(Tim I'll post a map tomorrow).