For the Love of Garlic

Garlic runs in our veins.

Not literally...but every meal we cook DOES start with garlic. This love stems from deep seeded Saskatchewan roots. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you would be hard pressed to find a Saskatchewanian who doesn't enjoy it!

If you are still buying the garlic from the grocery store, I gotta say, you are missing out! The smell in our garlic drying room alone will knock you on your feet and I LOVE it!

Whether you are someone who eats raw garlic to stave away sickness or you are a lover of garlic steak (don't worry, recipe to come!) Specialty varieties, such as the Russian hardneck we are growing this year is definitely worth a try.

Our soil preparations are well under way for seeding this fall.

Beginning with expanding our original garden plot, we dedicated a 1/4 acre this year to plant our first crop! We will be planting 10,000 individual cloves of the good stuff.

Seeding by mid October will allow it to root in before the frost arrives. We have started with preparing a drying room with the garlic that will be used for seed. Once they have dried enough, we then will start the tedious task of separating all the individual cloves as this is what we plant. Now, I bet you might be wondering, how on earth will they plant ALL that garlic? Surely, not by hand. While, we are not the type of people to shy away from hard work we luckily have Landis (co-owner & equipment manager) who has a line on a trusty planter. Road trip, anyone?!

Once the planting work is done, we just need to insulate with some straw and then the waiting game begins. Once the snow melts, we will remove the straw and let the warm sun work it's magic. It requires quite a bit of water but luckily we got our hands on a restored 1972 Ford F600 water truck which should easily streamline the process.

With any luck, our crop will produce near 10,000 bulbs. Harvest will begin in September 2023 and then we can all reap the rewards of this labour of love. Garlic farming is a process. One we are relatively new to0, but hey, you don't know if you don't try. Based on the past few years of planting larger quantities in our backyard boxes we KNOW it works and are ready to share it with you.

So, follow along! We hope to continue to share all the ins & outs and the ups & downs of our journey. If you, or someone you know is interested in trying out what we have to offer, just send an email to info@ruralroutefarms.ca

Let's spread the love of garlic!

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Written by Jessica Grant.

(Co-owner, email/social media coordinator)

All images provided by @JG Photography