Onion Overload Is Awesome!

This post is a little late in coming, perhaps as this is the picture of our first harvest on April 30 of our bulbing onions whose stems had flopped over. Since then, we have been harvesting onions about once a week as their stems bend, signaling that the roots will no longer be receiving nutrients from the foliage. We did not apply any additional water to the bulbs in the ground at this point in order to allow them to begin to dry and cure, although we did get a few rains that may have compromised some of the larger bulbs, which we took into the kitchen to use sooner than those we are trying to cure. We have developed a method for processing the onions. We harvest a bunch, cut their tops off for fresh use in the kitchen (yummy in homemade bread) leaving about 8"-12", and allow them to dry on a surface with good air flow in the sun for a day or two depending of the level of sun and heat until the roots are noticeably drier. Then the onions are moved onto upside down crates salvaged from the farm last summer which allow for good air flow. The onions are stored on the back deck in the shade to cure for another couple of weeks until the neck is thin and dry and the roots dry. The crates are perfect in the event of a rainstorm, when we can stack them and move the crates to the covered entry by the front door for more protection from moisture but air can still circulate between the crates! Then the tops are cut off to 1" and the roots cut off and they are put in perforated bags (from grocery store citrus) for storage. The small onions are taken into the kitchen after harvest for immediate fresh use. We have enjoyed a Spring Onion Soup found here http://www.sippitysup.com/spring-onion-soup-completely-unadorned/. Add some extra garlic into the recipe and some steamed broccoli and swiss cheese on top as garnish for the taste of fresh deliciousness in a bowl!