2021 Garlic is now on sale

2021 Garlic is now available to order for shipping in September.

It gives me great pleasure to share our garlic crop with you this year. I am proud to say that our garlic is resilient and willing to thrive even through difficult seasons. Each year that we plant this crop in the fall, tend it in the spring and harvest it in the summer I learn something new. All of the months that pass in between planting and harvesting bring unexpected challenges and events. This past year was very unique for all of us.

The Covid 19 virus affected all of our lives and is still affecting us now. In 2020 I also experienced some challenges with my eyes that made me appreciate my sight which I had taken for granted. One thing I learned this year was not to take anything for granted.

Every time I hear a story from a customer about how successful their garlic crop was I am thrilled and inspired to grow garlic for seed for another year. I feel connected to the larger world out there and to you through my garlic. It is a collaborative venture that we are part of. I try my very best to offer quality seed and with your good growing practices we produce superior results together. It is a lot of shared work. The seed loves to grow but it is tended by you the grower and that brings our shared success. Congratulations!

As I get older, I think about how to make my life more manageable and more joyous and more meaningful. This fall in 2021 I will grow less garlic than I did in 2020 and scale down. I will continue to select seed and offer it for sale next summer but as our world changes I think my life is shifting. Jim and I have been working non stop since buying this farm in 1989. It has been exciting and often exhausting fixing up this home of ours, raising a family and food and growing garlic for sale along with running another business and working off farm to keep everything afloat. We are going to take more time for ourselves in the next few years and hope to learn how to relax. I have a great desire to paint and write! Jim wants to sail.

So, this year think about being more resilient and plant some extra garlic to save some of your own seed. This year think about sharing some of your garlic with a family member or friend and spice up their life. Garlic helps to keep you healthy and tastes great. It grows through tough times and challenging weather conditions. Climate change is real! Garlic helps to make new friends. Grow more garlic in 2021 and 2022.

Each year I have new people who decide to grow garlic for the first time. They have lots of questions. I do my best to answer them. I taught elementary school for many years and spent the vast majority of them in Vermont working to teach young children to read and write. It is so important to share what we learn with others. I know that I could do a better job teaching others about growing garlic if I take the time to write it down. My family has encouraged me to write about growing garlic. I am calling my book Garlic Queen. It has been a goal of mine to be just that and I think of garlic as the queen of the garden.

Stay healthy, be kind, do something to help make our world a better place. Become more resilient and independent by growing more of your own food. Share with others. Play with children. Take time to learn something new and find joy in simple things.

Happy Garlic Growing!
Mary-Ellen

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