Small, golden potato onions, not bitter. Well preserved until the beginning of July.
Grower: Maija Galiņa, 79 years old, certified organic farmer, chemist from Bērzaune parish of Madona county, "Jānīši".
HISTORY
We have been growing these onions since I can remember, we have always had potato onions. These are from Latgale: one from Malta parish, the other from Preiļi. We have grown them all our lives: first my grandmother, then my mother, then me. I have never bought onions in a store.
GROWING
I change the growing place within the boundaries of the field, I never grow in the same place for two consecutive years. When the soil is tilled in the spring, I draw furrows to the width of the hoe using a wooden marker. I put the onions at a distance of around 20 cm and sweep up the soil with a broom. I stick the broom at the end of the furrow so that the leaves grow thick like a broom. This is an old belief from Latgale. When I hoe onions for the first time, I take the broom out.
When the leaves start to turn yellow in mid-July, the soil is removed from the bulbs. I pick the onions randomly in dry weather, and leave them to dry on the floor in the barn aisle. If the weather is wet, I dry the onions in the sun. I put the dry onions in a box and take them to the room, warp them on a string like a flower crown and then hang them from the ceiling, and the onions can be stored until next July, August. I harvest about 70 kg of onions every year. Now, after being sick, my children hired a weeder, I just tell what to do. They cannot imagine their life without these onions. The onions from Malta are thicker, those from Preiļi have thinner circles, but at least 10 bulbs in one nest.
RECIPES
The larger onions I fry and add to soups, the smaller ones I put in preserves.
Video with onions hanging from the ceiling:
Sandra, you have climbed high! Such a treasure! Perfectly good onions in the middle of summer! What will you do with them? Will you eat or plant?
Maija: No, for planting I will give the new onions in autumn; onions from last year I share for eating.
Maija Galiņa has braids of onions hanging from the ceiling. How long do you grow them?
Maija: Well, ever since I can remember, we have always grown them. At first I did the weeding, then I started to grow the onions myself. We have grown them all our lives: first my grandmother, then my mother, then me. We have always had potato onions.
Have you ever bought onions in a store?
Maija: No, never!
These are from Latgale, Malta parish, and also from Preiļi. I change the growing place within the boundaries of the field, I am planting in a different place every year.
Video in the onion field
Maija: Well, here everything is mixed up. This is the Latgale onions (thicker leaves), and there is the Preiļi onion with thinner leaves. I will show you Pepus onions right now.
For how long have these onions been with you?
Maija: All the time, I have never bought onions.
Well, here it is! (we see the Peipus onions)
Are the onions big?
Maija: Yes, yes, big - like fists, giants.
And you don't like it?
Maija: No! They were brought to me three years ago. Look how big they are already now, you can already see what it is like by the base of the leaves. They need such a long time to dry. And that chives are so thick when you cut them in the salad, you need a good knife to cut it finely. One end of the chive in the mouth, the other - in the butt! Seriously, I'm not kidding girls!
Video with French Marigolds
Maija: It doesn't matter what kind of flowers, but you need to plant them at the ends of the furrows along the side of the road. If a horse or any other animal passes by, they see beets or carrots, and immediately run inside the garden and eat. But they don't touch the flowers – they come, sniff them and go on, you don't even have to pull them by the chain. And if men drive by with a tractor, they don't run over the flowers.
Why should a broom be stuck at the end of the onion furrow?
It is a belief from Latgale that the onion leaves will grow as thick as broom branches! I use the broom to sweep the soil over the onions in the furrows. I will show you what a tool I have for planting.
Sandra Stabinge and Anitra Tooma visited Maija Galiņa on July 3, 2020.
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