D&V Organics 2021 CSA
Week 9
This week we harvested our 2020-2021 Garlic crop in its entirety. Harvesting this crop has been a long time coming in terms of when we started growing it. In October of 2020, we ordered the garlic seed for planting, which isn't actually a seed, but a head of garlic (certified to use as "seed"). We purchased 2000 heads, which we then broke up into individual cloves and planted them in November of 2020. Over the Winter and into the new year, the garlic slowly grew, gaining size as the Spring came. After harvesting the garlic, we lay it out in our greenhouse to dry out and become more shelf stable. The drying process of garlic requires warm temperatures, low humidity and good air circulation for a duration of about 2-3 weeks. Our main greenhouse provides an adequate drying space for our garlic crop. Different from the garlic that is usually found in the grocery store, our garlic requires cold temperatures to grow and is known as "hard-neck" garlic. Hard-neck garlic has more flavor than the soft-neck garlic that is typically grown in California and found in the grocery stores. In this week's photo is the two main varieties of garlic we grew this season. The red/purple variety is called Chesnok Red and the white variety with some slight purple veins is called German White. In the next couple of weeks, after they have cured, we'll have them available to put in shares.
Enjoy,
Derek & Vicky
