Garlic Drying Trays

This year we harvested over 200 pounds of garlic. I wondered if we would use it all but we have!

Actually, we haven’t really “used” it but the whole garlic is gone. I smoked some of it and dried that, along with plain garlic, put it through the blender and made garlic powder – probably enough for several years but it has desiccant packs in it so it’s good for a while. I gave several jars of each to Chad. I’m always amazed at how much stronger the homegrown, homemade powdered garlic is than the storebought. It takes about 1/4 the amount called for in most recipes.

As I was maneuvering around trying to get a picture of the trays, I got Cat’s cozy little setup in one picture. On cold nights, we turn this heat lamp on for her and she loves it. If it’s windy, Vince stacks up ice chests with gallons of water in them (to keep them from blowing)and makes wind shields for her.

You can barely see at the left side of the photo, part of the setup Vince built for her. It has three levels. The top level has her food. The bottom level has her water and she prefers to drink water out of a red coffee plastic container rather than the traditional water bowl. That makes it easy because when we go out of town, we leave several clean coffee containers out there and whoever is taking care of her doesn’t have to mess with washing them out, they can just grab a fresh one, fill it with water and set it out for her. We leave several containers, big and small, around outside for critters that need water – cats, roosters, foxes . . probably raccoons and possums too.

Just another glimpse of our life out here . .