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  • From: Don Bowen <don.bowen AT earthlink.net>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Gardening as Antidote to World Conditions.
  • Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2006 09:32:45 -0700

At 9/20/2006, you wrote:
One of my favorite essays by Wendall Berry is the one where he compares gardening to protesting a nuclear plant.

I can't help them. About all any of us commoners can do is to lead
lives that others may find useful to follow. I wonder how many people
grow their own garlic.

Last spring while picking up a bicycle I found on Freecycle, the woman gave me a huge bunch of garlic that I quickly planted. I did little to prepare the soil, I just needed to get them somewhere. Now the heads have grown and I pulled a couple. They are nothing particular but they will do well in the garlic sauce reverse engineered from the Zankou version.

Zankou is a small chain of Armenian returaunts in LA. My son and I go in there and buy half a chicken, as many little cups of garlic as they will part with, and two orders of Pita bread. The last trip there I managed to get out of the place with several cups and used them for a month.

Here is the recipe my son sent me:
Here's the recipe from the chowhound forum (a bunch of people got together and worked it out):
Peel three small russet potatoes and boil in water until soft. Mash the potatoes (I used a food mill) and let cool.

Crush and peel a whole head of garlic (about 12 large cloves). Cut into quarters. Place raw garlic in a heavy duty blender (I used a 390-watt Waring) with 1/2 tbsp. of salt and juice of two large lemons (about 1/3 cup). Pour 1/2 cup of oil (I used canola oil) into a measuring cup and pour a small amount of oil from cup onto garlic (just enough for a light layer). Puree the garlic, salt and lemon juice on "Hi" and begin pouring a slow, steady stream of oil through the blender's handle hole until everything has coalesced.

At this point the sauce looked pretty damn good. I took a taste and it was a potent blast of pure garlic satisfaction. I would have stopped here, but I was after that elusive Zankou taste and texture, so on come the potatoes.

Add the mashed potatoes, about 2-3 tablespoons at a time. Add more potato after the sauce becomes consistent, and keep adding until all is incorporated in the sauce. You might want to transfer the garlic paste to a mixer before this step and add the potatoes in the mixer as my Waring was starting to show signs of stress towards the end of this process.

Transfer to a bowl and allow to cool completely in the fridge. After about an hour the flavors will blend together nicely and the texture will take on that library paste consistency like Zankou 's sauce. Fortunately I had smoked chicken left over from last night's barbecue, so I heated it up in the oven and used it a "delivery medium" for the garlic sauce. It was just like Zankou. I bet it will be even better tomorrow.

I even gave this Sonia's frying test. The sauce held together in the frying pan, even as it started to sear and transform into some sadistic latke.

Here are the ingredients again in an easier to read format:

-3 small russet potatoes
-1 head of garlic (12-14 cloves)
-1/3 cup of fresh lemon juice
-1/2 tbsp. salt
-1/2 cup canola oil



Don Bowen Awl Knotted Up KI6DIU
http://www.braingarage.com
My travel journal
http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/Journal.html

I am omnivagant.
From gloriamorris59 AT gmail.com Wed Sep 20 12:58:13 2006
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Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2006 11:58:11 -0500
From: "Gloria Morris" <gloriamorris59 AT gmail.com>
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Subject: Re: [Homestead] Gardening as Antidote to World Conditions.
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Gene,

I cycle in and out of news reading for the very reasons you cite. I want to
know what is going on in the world, but sometimes it is simply overwhelming,
and there is little that one simple person can do to effect real change.
When the news of the day is overwhelming, there is nothing like refocusing
on the garden, and one's self-sufficiency goals. My current project is
creating a raised bed for a spring planting of strawberries. That sounds
quite simple, but there isn't a level spot for the bed on the entire place,
so I'm working on a terrace to start. Once I have the area reasonably level
and the sod removed, I will put in the sides for the bed. Then I will dig up
the soil. I will follow that with a generous helping of composted horse
manure. And I will let the bed rest for the balance of the winter. Next
spring I will likely side dress the new planting with organic corn gluten
meal, as the last strawberry bed that I started that way did phenomenally
well.

This is all complicated by the fact that in moving recently I aggravated my
old carpal tunnel problem, and my hands and wrists are healing too slowly
for my gardening desires -- Vitamin B Complex works wonders, but it isn't an
instant fix. But, it is a project that I can do slowly as I am able, and it
gets me outside and away from all the awful news.

I've not grown garlic for several years, but if all goes well I hope to
plant some next fall. Lots of beds to build between now and then!

Gloria


On 9/20/06, Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com> wrote:
Journal entry 9/19/06: Gardening as Antidote to World Conditions.
Most mornings I read news via satellite. The Net positive is that one
has access to international happenings. The Net negative is that one
now confronts an endless deluge of information about man's inhumanity
to man. Ignorance, intolerance, meanness. Greed. The inability of
leaders to improve conditions. This morning I reached a breaking
point while reading the plight of India's farmers. Many have become
convinced to plant genetically modified Monsanto seeds. They have
fallen into the same trap that wrecked American farm families,
borrowing to make a crop and burdening unpredictable harvests with
interest payments. Crop failures increase indebtedness at high
interest from money lenders who take land deeds as collateral.
Farmers unable to pay lose their land. Poultry farmers are wiped out
due to avian flu. It is reported that in only six of 35 districts in
Maharashtra, India's third-largest state, nearly 1,900 farmers have
committed suicide since 2001. A common choice is drinking pesticide.
A farmer's last borrowing is money for his bottle of death.
A factor is crop prices. American farm subsidies are decried as
unfairly affecting the world market. Some point to inadequate Indian
bank policies. Whatever the various causes, I finally found myself
unable to continue. Enough. Too much. Shut it down.
Looking out at the trees of early autumn found no answer. Change the
focus. Do something positive. Following the view outside led to the
garden. The garlic bed beckoned. Dreams of future gustatory
delights--roast chicken and garlic pizza, poached salmon with pasta
and pesto, heavy on the pesto.
Last year I planted cloves from Baker Seeds, partly to be supportive
of their heirloom program and partly to see what flavors of exotic
varieties I had been missing. German Extra-Hardy and German Porcelain
are tasty but once mixed with other ingredients the uniqueness is
lost. This year I went back to supermarket bulbs.
Fluffed the soil, mixing it with what's left of mulch, last fall's
revenue of grass and leaves. Garlic likes fluffy soil. It also likes
rich soil. Sighed, cut down the Rose of Sharon that had sprouted in
front of the Taj Mahen people door. Unchickened for five years, the
floor has a thick layer of old droppings mixed with sawdust and
planer shavings. Tied a moist bandanna over my nose and filled a
bucket with the dusty stuff. Shook it onto the fluffed soil followed
by bone meal and some old seaweed extract. Raked all into the top
inch or so of soil.
The planting board is over twenty years old but still in good shape.
Punched in three rows of holes. Chris helped break the bulbs and poke
in the cloves. Garlic filament bounced about the garden in the light
breeze. Birds chattered. One hundred fifty-six cloves planted.
Covered with fine soil, used the back of the rake to smooth, then
tamp. Watered well, went back later in the day and watered again.
Made a note in the garden journal to feed in early spring with manure
tea or fish emulsion.
I feel better now. I am still sad about the plight of those poor
bastards in India trying to make a living off the land as their
families have done for generations but now beset with conditions
beyond their knowledge.
I can't help them. About all any of us commoners can do is to lead
lives that others may find useful to follow. I wonder how many people
grow their own garlic.




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