This week at Coteau Valley Farm we repeated a 7000-year-old tradition. Harvesting the Allium Sativum, the pungent root vegetable. Renowned for its culinary and medicinal uses, garlic has been used for centuries by man, it is unarguably a culinary giant. I could write pages and pages on this particular vegetable as it is excellent for your health and for the palate of garlic lovers around the world but I will instead complain or rather muse over our crop. The harvesting here at the farm went as expected, only I was somewhat disappointed with my work. I had expected larger bulbs. I also think that I missed the mark when it came to the proper time to collect it from its earthen womb. I feel like I had just been examining it one weekend and saying to myself, yes the time is here to harvest. I let a week or so slide and I was saying, yes the time has passed to harvest and all the leaves were brown. Regardless of my novice, uneducated, mistakes, it does not seem like there was too much of a loss to the crop because of those mistakes. I am lucky that it is a forgiving vegetable as I would have lost the entire crop. It was not my first crop of garlic, but definitely the largest. I think first of all I unknowingly picked the right spot because the field does seem to be sub-irrigated and I did not have to water the garlic for the entire growing period. Also, this garlic variety lends itself to wet soil, so wet ground worked well. One fundamental problem I ran into was weeds. I should have used a weed barrier. The weeds went crazy and I bet that is why the garlic heads were not as large as perhaps they might have been had they not had to share the earth with a barrage of weeds. I guess I could have gone out there and pulled them but that will not work in the future if I am going to plant a larger crop, so the weed barrier idea I hope will work in the future. As I said the late harvest accounted for a few split bulbs and some growth of flowers or even double bulbs on some plants. There is a good amount of larger bulbs that look really nice. Honestly, if you get past my unrealistic expectations it is a really good crop. Either way, it is harvested and will now cure for up to eight weeks. After the curing process is over, I will cut the stem of the garlic about two inches above the bulb and maybe peel the top layer of skin away and also trim off the roots. It will then be ready for storage. This particular garlic is Russian Red which is a hard-necked garlic. I will choose the largest bulbs and replant all of them and perhaps keep some smaller bulbs to prepare for meals. I am not sure if I will try to sell the smaller bulbs with fewer cloves in the farmer's market. I don't even know how many smaller bulbs there really are in the bunch. I am more interested in replanting them and seeing if I can improve the weed problem, and harvesting on time, next year. The garage where they are being cured is filled with an obnoxious odor of garlic. I have also covered the windows to keep out direct sunlight and put a fan on the garlic for air circulation. It will be a while until they are ready, but the time to plant will be upon us soon the seasons are changing. Sadly the other morning, I was up early and I was looking out the window and saw the reflection of a migratory flock of birds in the window, my heart sank. I blinked to see the birds more clearly, hoping I was mistaken, and realized I was only seeing a reflection from the windows in the back of the house. I made my way outside to the deck to see if what I hoped was not true, was actually there. The flock of probably geese or ducks was gone and I did not see a single fowl, but I knew they were there, as I heard the distinct call in the distance. The oh-too-recognizable sound of the great migration of birds to their southerly homes. The time seemingly went too quickly and I wish the warm weather would always stay on the prairie as there is nothing like a field of tall grass blowing in the wind. But the wind is blowing on the prairie and with it change which means we need to prepare to greet the Fall and whatever it brings to the Coteau.
Coteau des Prairies
South Dakota Hobby Farm
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