Nov 20, 1999
   John started getting ready to plant some garlic, they have some giant ones, a couple were two pounds each! They are really big and John says that they are called 'Elephant Garlic' and are really a kind of leek, but look and taste like a mild garlic. John started with just a small amount and each year takes the largest that grew the year before and plants those, that way he will eventually have the largest elephant garlic around.

Nov 22,
  Vickie showed me the compost pile while John was in town at work. The pile is big, and they have two of them, Vickie said they make about ten or fifteen tons a year, and that it is really good for the soil in their garden. They make it from horse manure mixed with straw. Vickie took a pitchfork and lifted some of the compost and then there was all this steam that came from inside, Vickie said that it will get 140 degrees inside from the microbes that are digesting the manure. She said that they let it 'cook' like this for about six months turning it several times and keeping it just the right amount of wet. then they can put it into the soil before they plant. When it was getting dark John came home with another load of concrete chunks for the terraces.