a visit to the farm

Last Saturday I spent the day planting garlic up at Sun River Farm, the farm where all of my lovely CSA vegetables are grown. I've been meaning to volunteer up there all summer, so when my friend Gavin suggested that we join a volunteer outing coordinated by Denise, owner of One World Cafe (a local restaurant with no set menu that runs on donations), I quickly agreed.

Sun River is in Cache Valley about an hour and a half north of Salt Lake, near some very lovely mountains. The Haggertys have a small garden at their home and a larger farm closer to the mountains. We did our planting at the garden: 6400 cloves, about 1/8 of the total planting for the year. The cloves look lovely in their tidy rows, don't you think?



It was a good way to spend a day--in the dirt, separating bulbs of garlic from their papery skins, dropping the plump cloves evenly down the line. I learned a little about how to make garlic grow (should I ever have my own plot of land). I learned why James decided to become a farmer. It's a long story, but part of it includes a love of food (when he quits farming, he wants to go to culinary school); I wasn't surprised--anyone who grows garlic and tomatoes like he does must love food. I told him that he grows the best garlic in the state, but he wouldn't accept the compliment. (There are other growers with very nice garlic, he says). But I still think his is the best. And now, of course, I think it's all the better because of my fabulous planting skills.

On the way home, Denise observed that there was a full moon, telling us how her grandmother only planted garlic on a full moon because it would grow best. We'll see if our eighteen rows grow better than the others.