July 14, 2019
A Seriously Great Garlic Harvest
by Farmer Derek

And just like that, it is done. The Great Garlic Harvest of 2019 has been successfully completed by your farmers and 50 or so CSA members. We don't just say that it is one of the best workshift tasks to lure unsuspecting members out to help in this process. It is truly a wonderful team-oriented endeavor with our food community. Many hands do make lighter work. We start at 8am with 2,100 feet of garlic bulbs planted in 3 rows per bed, 6 inches apart in row. That's a total of 12,600 plants that need to be tugged out of the ground, bundled and tied together in groups of 5, then hung from wire and beams in the barn. It sounds and looks like a lot to accomplish, but with everyone working hard and together we were actually able to finish well before noon. Now, we simply let the garlic plants do what they want to do while they hang in suspension above our heads. Their outer skins dry out while the energy of the plant moves into the bulbs allowing for extended storage life. We'll replant 12,000 cloves in early November for a 2020 harvest. Our garlic has been saved and replanted every year for the past 16 years, so we can authentically call it Anchor Run Garlic.