The weekly, local Farmer’s Markets are coming to an end. My Dad and I went to his town’s market and I was excited to see that almost everyone there was selling organic produce . I got some squash, giant apples and tomatillos . I never tried tomatillos before. The lady selling them said they are very easy to grow and make a good jam or green salsa. They’re also nice just as a bit of tang in a salad. I fermented mine with some of the last pickings from the garden.. red peppers, green tomatoes and garlic. I fermented some carrots with grated ginger too.
The local Garlic Festival was held this past weekend. I try not to miss it because I buy my planting garlic from the same farmer there every year. Besides ordinary cloves there is every garlic thing you can imagine…garlic ice cream, pickles, breads, kimchis, oils, vinegars, cheese, relishes, spreads and jellies. They also have vendors selling their crafts, honey, maple syrup, soap and produce. Did I mention lots of food trucks ? Our Garlic Festival started out with about 15 tables and a few curious people poking around. Now it’s huge, attracts more than 10,000 visitors and even has an official Garlic Queen.
handmade. homegrown. beautiful life 
Love the garlic queen. Sounds like fun.
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Her garlic suit was made by a lady in town, lol. It was fun!
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I love her suit! It’s beautiful!
two years ago, Peter, my husband and I went to Gilroy Garlic Festival. the best part of it was the garlic ice cream!
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What a nice day for it – I adore the Garlic Queen; she so look the part 🙂
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Me too! She is a good sport. It was a real project for her to sit down in that costume and pretty heavy to wear all day.
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What a lovely day it must have been! And I just love these autumn colours of the tree, just such a lovely time of year!
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It’s beautiful this time of year. We lost a lot of leaves to the dry before they even turned. An odd foliage year..but still much enjoyed
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I had a friend who’s mother was once Miss Mule, but the Garlic Queen has her beat!!! I love garlic and your garden medley looks divine, Cynthia. I so wish I was your neighbor, I would be so inspired.
Ginene
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Miss Mule, lol! I would love to be your neighbor as well, Ginene.
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That is quite an event
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Very popular in this neck of the woods, lol.
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The Garlic Queen!! Fantastic and I wonder if the lady knows about the nickname of garlic: Sticking Rose..it would have been even more magnificent if the there were a few Sticky Roses as ladies in waiting for her! Btw I love garlic and eat almost every day and garlic in the garden is the best!!! xo Johanna
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A few Stinking Rose ladies would be a great touch! Lol!
I’m with you on the garlic, Johannna:)
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Sounds like a great time. I, too, love the garlic queen and her costume. Isn’t it interesting how small fairs can grow and grow until they become events?
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That is interesting. For years this fair was so small and sparsely attended. Now it is a huge event, for here anyway. I hope they never bring in carnival rides, lol.
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Maine’s Common Ground Fair started out very small. The first few years seemed like a high-school science fair. But boy oh boy did it ever grow. Now many thousands of people come to it, and its science fair feel is long gone. No carnival rides at Common Ground. They don’t even allow coffee 😉
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High school science fair… perfect description! I kind of like the fairs better when they are small but I’m glad for the vendors when they do well.
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That garlic costume is hilarious. Thanks for the laugh!
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You bet!! lol
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We do make homemade green salsa with tomatillos we buy at the farmers’ market – delicious! The garlic festival looks like fun, but I’ll pass on the garlic ice cream. Near Judy’s home town in Ohio they put on a sauerkraut festival with some good stuff – but also sauerkraut ice cream, which I don’t recommend.
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It makes me smile to read how much the popularity of your festival has increased. It’s encouraging to see how much people want to reconnect with our agrarian roots these days. And I spy a delicata squash in your basket. We grew those for the first time this year and LOVED them. In fact I just had some for lunch. 🙂 We’ll definitely be growing them again next year.
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That is very encouraging! Delicata squash is on my garden list for next year. I just tried it for the first time and loved it too. My favorite so far
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Yes, tomatillos are easy. I had a plant volunteer from last year’s, this year. I want to be garlic queen some day!
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Good to know! Thanks. I saved some seeds and decided that I quite like them. They were delicious fermented. LOL..
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