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This week at the farm, we began garlic harvest. This was Frog Hollow’s first go at growing garlic, and it is looking like a success. We tried several different varieties of garlic, both hard neck and soft neck. Soft neck garlic is the type of garlic we are used to seeing at the grocery store. It has a better storage life, the bulbs contain more cloves, and the flavor is usually more mild. Soft neck garlic is also the type used for making garlic braids, because as the name suggests, the stalk is soft and flexible. Hard neck varieties are more common to find at the farmer’s market. It is more closely related to wild garlic, the cloves are larger, the storage life shorter. Also, the flavor is usually stronger and more complex.
Garlic takes a long time to grow. We planted our seed cloves in early November and now in Mid June they are ready for harvest. During those six months we weeded the garlic beds by hand and top dressed the beds with Christophe’s lovely compost as a mulch. It provides additional nutrients and weed suppression. In our Brentwood soils and climate, we read that softneck varieties usually have more success. From our planting trials we found this to be true, however both types flourished quite well. When garlic is first harvested, it is extremely difficult to peel and bruises easily. This is why the first step is to cure the garlic. We did this by hanging it in bundles in a cool, dry place. We’ll wait a few weeks and then it will be garlic galore!
After being knee deep in garlic for the week, Marlene and I began sharing stories we had heard about the medicinal benefits of garlic. I eat raw cloves of garlic when I get a cold. While my breath becomes atrocious, I have found I usually feel better fast. This made me curious, so I talked to other co-workers and did some research about other medicinal uses. It turns out that garlic has been used by herbalists all over the world for over 2,000 years, and the benefits are widespread. One of my co-workers told me that she has had great success using garlic to treat her kids’ earaches. She explained that she chops up the garlic, mixes it with oil, and then puts it in a dropper. Next, she puts a few drops of the oil in her daughter’s ear and the ache is relieved. The medicinal uses of garlic have been prompting scientists to look deeper. Recent research has shown garlic extract to reduce blood pressure. Even more fascinating is the U.S. National Cancer Institute’s research, where they have found garlic to reduce the risk of contracting certain types of cancer. Dr. Herbert Pierson at the Cancer Institute says:
“Garlic is a veritable pharmacopeia. That’s why garlic has been found in every medical book of every culture ever. For thousands of years, garlic has been used for the treatment and prevention of disease. So there has to be something there.”
