Landon comes from a fine garlic pedigree. The New York farm where he honed his skills grows over an acre of garlic every year. That’s about 70,000 bulbs sold to some of New York City’s most discerning chefs and food enthusiasts. So when we started our farm in 2011, we knew garlic was going to be a cornerstone of our business. We were going to be a garlic farm.
Our soil, however, had other plans. By Season 3, it became clear that the land we farm was not conducive to growing garlic profitably. Its clay composition and high winter water table meant wet conditions and nasty disease problems. But hadn’t they heard? We were a garlic farm, so we soldiered on.
Things got even trickier at the beginning of this season with news of a new garlic pest from Europe–the allium leafminer. The bulbs hardy enough to survive the wetness faced an onslaught of hungry bugs come May. Our yields continued to ebb.
And yet it’s garlic planting time again, and we are lovingly pushing those precious cloves into an uncertain future. Because some dreams are more important than dollar signs.