Garlic adventures...

A couple of years ago I mentioned to Michelle that I wouldn't mind trying to grow organic garlic to sell. She had the brilliant idea of asking her friend, Terry, if we could use a bit of his land to have a try at it. (Terry has 1700 acres of certified biodynamic land in a little town, called Callawadda, near Stawell.) Two years down the track we have just planted our second crop of organic garlic and boy am I pooped! This is the story of my weekend...

On Friday I set off for Callawadda, leaving misty Daylesford for the flat, dry plains of the Western Distric. The countryside along the way was mesmerising as I drove through farming country, past rolling hills & brittle twisted bushland. A quick stop at the Avoca op shop was fun, I'm loving the huge, colourful crotched blanket I found there. The bakery at Avoca is excellent too if you are passing through that way. This is Terry's house, above.

After a long drive it was lovely to arrive to a bowl of Michelle's bean soup...yum.

Then it was off to work. First we marked out our beds and Simon set to with his handy hole puncher. Michelle did an amazing job organising everything. She planned, shovelled, planted, raked, made cuppa's, washed dishes, provided us all with beautiful food, kept us laughing & never complained. What a superstar.

Simon worked away steadily on the hole puncher all weekend, not bad for a Collingwood supporter! Gracie, our supervisor, counting the holes.

Me with some of the beautiful, organic silver skin garlic.

Michelle planting ANOTHER clove....

Michelle's aunt & uncle, Lesley & Buster arrived from Geelong to help with the planting. Terry whipped us up another hole puncher & Buster jumped on to try it out. Planting garlic by hand is very labour intensive and we are trying to find any way we can to make it quicker and easier.

The girls hard at it while the boys get distracted by an eagle.

Back at Terry's after a hard day's work it was good to relax on his deck, have a chat & watch his washing go round & round on the Hills Hoist.

Terry's farm originally belonged to his grandparents - he told me a story about his grandmother riding in a horse & cart to church.

Before I knew it Saturday afternoon had rolled around and I had to head back to Daylesford. We had planted just over 9000 cloves & would finish up with about 12,000 when the others finished on Sunday morning.

Of course we hope the crop does well again this year, & we'll be back to weed & water several time before harvest. One of the best bits of the weekend was hanging out with friends, meeting new people and experiencing a totally different kind of life. It is very isolated where Terry lives and the landscape so different from the Central Highlands. It was fun working outside but boy was I sore when I got home!! I think a long hot bath tonight will be just the ticket. See you soon, x