Last week, the day after the Pender Islands fall fair, I went to the open house at the garlic farm down the road.
We went last year, and it was wonderful. I knew I had to go again. I rode my bike to their place, and then hiked up the hill. I was greeted by the friendly farmers, and the sight of gorgeous garlic, EVERYWHERE!
They have heads with the stalk still attached...
Bulk heads in many varieties...
Beautiful garlic bundles ready for gift giving or kitchen decorating.
They also had a tasting area. My favorite! There were so many varieties, some spicy, some mild, all delicious!
I was also introduced to the garlic flower. It is so beautiful!
I was told that these little bits in the flower that look like garlic cloves are what is planted to start new garlic! The heads that were for sale took 4 years to reach that stage, being planted and dug up each year! That's crazy! Really makes me appreciate good garlic!
Here are some of the garlic scapes with the flowers still attached. Very elegant looking.
I ended up leaving with two bags of garlic! Two varieties to try out in the kitchen! I can't wait!
Of course nobody will be able to come near me for weeks, but it's worth the price! I love garlic! Especially when it's grown within a mile of my house! Hurray for local produce!
Please excuse me while I go buy some breath mints.
Wow.. I didn't know garlic could be so beautiful... the flower is gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteWow these look awesome and I am really appreciative of your photos; I decided to grow a few heads of garlic myself this summer, and I had no idea how to tell when they were ready to be harvested! Lucky you that you got to go to this place!
ReplyDeleteI do feel lucky! I simply LOVE that I have amazing food so close to home. Anna, I agree, the flowers are amazingly beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThat would be my ideal day out! And I never knew there were so many different varieties of garlic to try - at least you shouldn't get a cold for a while! :)
ReplyDeleteLooks like lots of fun
ReplyDeleteLove garlic! What a fun day... you really got some great shots to capture the details. Nicely done!
ReplyDeleteGreat post. I LOVE garlic and someday hope to grow it at home, I learned a thing or two from your post, thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI had never seen a garlic flower before and had no idea about the 4 year maturation time! Thanks for the great post.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I think garlic smells good, I'll bet I'm not the only one.
I haven't seen a garlic flower either, though I love the scapes and make pesto from them. I love this post, garlic is such an amazing food...it's really not that hard to grow, we threw some in the garden one fall and pretty much ignored it and it came out lovely!
ReplyDeleteI am so glad everyone found this as interesting as I did! I love learning about local food, especially when it's something I might want to try growing myself. Three cheers for garlic!
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