Recycle...

There are so many things I enjoy about gardening. From winter browsing seed catalogs, tucking in the first radish seeds as soon as the ground thaws, cutting baby lettuces, eating that perfect tomatoe fresh off the vine with juice running down my chin, picking strawberries at peak ripeness, to digging the fat brown spuds and baking the first acorn squash, there just anything that a garden presents to me that doesn't ring my joy bell - well, maybe not the bugs.
Harvesting is just part of that flow of happiness that comes from Mother Earth. Canning, freezing and drying takes care of a good amount of produce storage. But one of the more uncommon methods just tickles me everytime I do it. I save pantyhose all year just to get my onion kick each fall! It's one of the best ways I know to recycle those nylons with "runners".

Max and Jayden's onions did very well. Max planted the "pink" ones, of course. He watched me slice one for sandwiches a few days ago, and was tickled pink (ha!) to see that the onion was pink inside, too! Then he carefully laid paper thin slices on his daddy's sandwich. He likes to share. He informed me,that is what God wants us to do. Share, that is. He licked his fingers several times, testing the taste. You have to sneak up on these things, you know. It's not normal for little boys to eat vegetables that aren't mashed potatoes...
I can always count on a sidekick to help with any jobs I have on hand. I rarely have to ask, they just appear and take up a part of the task. Collin trimmed the tops, while I stuffed onions. Jayden and Lee had loaded the wagon with onions from the drying shed and hauled them to the back porch for me. It's so fun, to have many hands and legs to do my jobs!
Here's the finished storage system. The onions will hang in a cool place on the porch until the weather hits freezing, then I'll move them inside to a cool corner.


When I need an onion, I just take the scissors and snip below the lowest knot. Each onion is in it's own little net bag, preventing any that happen to start to spoil from affecting the others. The nylons allow good air circulation, flexible storage, and are a great conversation starter when people spot them hanging in the kitchen!