Catalpa Ridge News–Vol 20 No 18–October 12, 2015

Garlic !

What a beautiful weekend to have a few garlic fests! First we participated at the Annual Sussex County Harvest, Honey & Garlic Festival on Saturday. Then on Sunday was the Annual Garlic Festival at the Hoboken Historical Museum. At both events we had a garlic tasting which introduces people to the different flavors that the varieties of garlic have. We also met some CSA members who stopped by as well as those new to wanting to plant garlic in their own gardens.

 

We are planning a trip to the farm to plant garlic for next year. The tentative date will be November 7^th starting around 11 am. It is a great family activity as well. We start by “popping” the garlic. This is simply separating the garlic bulbs into their individual cloves. Then we head to the field for the planting. Since the beds are all prepared we simply have to poke each clove into the soil and have our spacing boards to ensure the right spacing between each clove. The final step is to spread straw over the planted garlic to help protect them from the winter weather. In just an hour or two with the extra help we can plant thousands of cloves. We also have a great cookout to complete the day.

 

Apple Picking in Sussex - Hillcrest Farms has Pick-Your-Own-Apples on Saturdays in Sundays throughout October. They are located at the corner of Plains Road & Davis Road. You can also visit their dairy cows, take a scenic hayride and they have great fresh apple cider & cider donuts. For more information, call: 973.703.5148.

 

Weather Report: There was a heavy frost warning in Sussex County for Saturday & Sunday. We were fortunate that it didn’t hit at the farm, though Lisa’s house about 5 miles away got hit. It appears that this weekend everyone will be getting a frost in our area.