By Analiese Paik

The Slate or Blue Slate variety was formally recognized in 1874 by the American Poultry Association and is growing in popularity according to the Slow Food USA Ark of Taste. Photo c/o Slow Food USA

Thanksgiving is just weeks away and plans for creating delicious and memorable family feasts are in full swing.  Apples, pumpkins, winter squash, quince, chestnuts, sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, turkeys and just about anything else you’d need for this harvest celebration are available locally. While buying pasture-raised turkeys from local farms as well as Heritage breed turkeys has gotten easier, some advance planning is still required. Since these turkeys are highly coveted and in short supply, my best advice is to consult this guide and place your order immediately.

The following guide lists all know sources for locally grown and Heritage breed turkeys in Fairfield County that we were able to reach at publication time. I compile the guide each year to make it easier for you to find and order the bird of your choice. While Heritage birds are considerably more expensive than broad-breasted whites, the once-yearly splurge is worth it when guests tell you it’s the most flavorful turkey they’ve ever tasted.

Turkey Cooking Advice

Turkeys are tricky to cook because the breast meat is always cooked through before the thighs are. Every chef I have spoken to advises removing the thighs and roasting them longer than the rest of the turkey to avoid overcooking the breast. There’s no undoing overdone! So whether you cut off the legs before or after roasting, cook low and slow at 325 degrees, and take the turkey out of the oven when it reaches 150 degrees. Let it rest tented in foil and the temperature should gradually rise by 10 degrees or more. If any juices are not running clear as you begin to carve the bird, return the pieces to the oven until they do. Note: Always take the temperature of the stuffing to make sure it’s reached 165 degrees when removing the turkey from the oven. If it has not, remove the stuffing from the cavity and spoon it into a casserole, then bake it until it reaches 165. I prefer cooking the stuffing as a side dish that even my vegetarian relatives can enjoy and filling the cavity with aromatics instead.

A Word about Heritage Turkeys

According to Slow Food USA's Ark of Taste, the Black turkey originated in Europe as a direct descendant of the Mexican turkeys brought back by explorers in the 1500s. The turkey made the voyage back to the Americas with early European colonists where it was crossed with Eastern wild turkeys to create the Black. Photo c/o Slow Food USA.

Almost all the turkeys grown in the US are broad-breasted whites, an industrial breed created with the singular goal of producing a bird with more white meat that matures as quickly as possible. Although these birds don’t taste like much when grown in confinement on commercial farms, they have become so popular that other breeds of turkeys nearly became extinct. Less than 10 years ago, a concerted effort was made to save these endangered Heritage breeds by convincing consumers to buy them from the few farmers that were still raising them.

Not only are Heritage turkeys richer and more flavorful, they’re part of our cultural and culinary patrimony. These are the turkeys that generations before us ate before broad-breasted whites became ubiquitous. Heritage turkeys bear a close reassemble to their wild ancestors so expect long and lean-looking birds with a lot of dark meat. Heritage birds are raised on pasture on small sustainable farms, allowed to roam freely and forage, are supplemented with organic feed, and take twice as long as broad-breasted whites to mature. The price tag will reflect these additional costs. Note: You won’t typically find Heritage turkeys weighing more than 24 or so pounds.

The Naragansett is named for Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island where it was first developed by early colonists who crossed Eastern Wild turkeys with domesticated European turkeys (that were originally brought to Europe from Mexico) according to Slow Food USA. photo c/o Slow Food USA

I’m happy to report that the efforts of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy and Slow Food to return Heritage turkey breeds to their rightful place on our dining tables have been successful and it’s now easier than ever to purchase one of these special turkeys for your Thanksgiving celebration. The following Heritage turkey varieties are cataloged in Slow Food USA’s Ark of Taste and some are recognized as either “threatened” or “endangered”. It may sound strange, but the only way to save them is to eat them. This year’s demand for these rare turkeys will influence next year’s decisions by breeders and farmers about raising them.

• American Bronze
• Black, also referred to as Norfolk Black and Black Spanish
• Bourbon Red
• Jersey Buff
• Midget White
• Narragansett
• Royal Palm
• Slate or Blue Slate

Where to buy a local or Heritage turkey

Please read through the entire list before making your first and second choice selections. Pasture-raised turkeys from CT, NY, PA and VT plus a few options for Heritage breeds are available, but only in limited quantities.

Ekonk Hill Turkey Farm in Moosup is the largest grower of free-range, pasture-raised turkeys in the state and this year their turkeys are available for home delivery through CT Farm Fresh Express CTFEE (see more below) and at retail from Saugatuck Craft Butchery (see more below). While the breed is Broad-Breasted White, they taste nothing like supermarket turkeys from industrial farms. These turkeys are raised on pasture where they forage for bugs and insects and are raised without antibiotics and hormones. For anyone accustomed to eating store-bought turkeys, these are an excellent step up and a vote for local food!

Saugatuck Craft Butchery in Westport is offering three different types of turkeys and will take orders as soon as their doors open (any day now!) starting Saturday, Nov. 5 at 11 am when they open for the first time. Their Grand Opening will take place on November 19. Ekonk Hill Turkey Farm’s Broad-Breasted Whites are raised on open green pasture with free access to feed and shelter and full access to green grass, sunshine and fresh air. The turkeys are processed humanely right on the farm in a State Inspected facility by the farmers who raised and cared for them, treating them with kindness and respect throughout the process. The birds are raised naturally, meaning without growth stimulants or hormones. No additives or preservatives are added during processing. The turkeys come to you exactly as mother nature intended. Sizes and pricing TBA.

Owner Ryan Fibiger explained that the shop is making an exception to their local sourcing credo to offer something truly special this holiday season. “We’ve been incredibly fortunate to have a relationship with Bill and Nicolette Niman, true pioneers in sustainable farming and raising animals according to the principals on which we built Craft Butchery. Bill and his new company, BN Ranch, are raising some of the most unique and sought after birds in the country from the bloodlines of some of the original Heritage breeds. We have sourced a small number of these birds for a few lucky customers.”  According to BN Ranch, their Heritage turkeys are direct descendants of five distinct old breeds (Standard Bronze, Narragansett, Bourbon Red, White Holland, and Spanish Black) from Frank Reese’s Good Shepherd Turkey Ranch in Lindsborg, Kansas. Frank Reese is a renowned breeder of American Poultry Association (APA) approved breeds and is recognized as a crusader in the movement to conserve Heritage turkeys. His turkeys, and those of farmers associated with his ranch, are otherwise only available to our market through Heritage Food USA, which ships turkeys via FedEx Overnight. On the Niman’s ranch the breeding flock is allowed to roam freely on grassy pastures most of the year, grazing and foraging to supplement their all-natural grain and soy vegetarian diet. They are never fed antibiotics or other chemicals to promote growth or replace good animal husbandry. Sizes and pricing TBA. Broad-Breasted Whites from BN Ranch are also available.

Connecticut Farm Fresh Express (CTFFE), an online seller of exclusively CT Grown foods, is selling fresh, Broad-Breasted white turkeys from Ekonk Hill Turkey Farm for home delivery by their drivers for $4.50 per pound. Ekonk’s turkeys are raised on pasture without growth stimulants or hormones. The majority of their diet has been grass and bugs; they are grain fed as a supplement only. To reserve your turkey, download, complete and mail this form with a $20 deposit to CTFFE. Home deliveries will be scheduled for Nov. 21 or 22.

John Boy’s Farm in Cambridge, NY, a “beyond organic” grower of vegetables, poultry and livestock, is offering something new this year: free-range, Broad-Breasted Bronze turkeys. They’re “a cross between the Broad-Breasted White and American Bronze varieties which have the characteristics of both the large breast and the heritage flavor” according to John Boy. These turkeys are GMO-free and are only supplemented with feed grow organically on the farm. Choose from 14-28 pounds at $5.50 per pound for pick up only. To place a turkey order, email johnboysmarket@aol.com right away with the weight and where you want to pick it up.  Pick up options are: Nov. 20 at Muscoot, Pound Ridge or White Plains during farmers’ market hours and Tues. Nov. 22 at Erica’s Kitchen in Bedford from 3-8 p.m. Note: Your turkey is not confirmed without location.

Concierge Foods of Bedford Hills, NY, an online seller of farm-fresh and sustainable foods, is offering two different turkeys this year. Fresh, free-range, Broad-Breasted Bronze turkeys from John Boy’s Farm in Cambridge, NY are “a cross between the Broad-Breasted White and American Bronze varieties which have the characteristics of both the large breast and the heritage flavor” according to John Boy. These turkeys are GMO-free and are only supplemented with feed grow organically on the farm. Choose from 14-28 pounds at $6.50 per pound. Also available are two heritage varieties, Bourbon Red and Narraganset, from Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative of Lancaster, PA for $5.75 per pound up to 22 pounds in size. These birds are grown on small, sustainable family farms where they are free to roam and forage. Turkeys are delivered fresh to your door up until the day before Thanksgiving. To place an order, contact chef/owner Marc Alvarez with the variety, weight and preferred delivery date at 914-241-9200 or marc@conciergefoods.com. Concierge Foods currently serves Stamford and Greenwich communities.

Mike’s Organic Delivery is selling pasture-raised, Broad-Breasted White turkeys from Hemlock Hill Farm, one of the oldest working family farms in Westchester County, New York. The DeMaria Family raises their turkeys without the use of antibiotics or hormones and feed them natural, locally-grown grains. These birds are free to scratch in the fields and get plenty of sunshine. Size options are: 12-15 lbs, 15-18 lbs, 18-21 lbs, and 21-24 lbs. The smallest size runs about $115 and the largest size is about $175. Fresh (not frozen) turkeys must be ordered by Friday, November 18 for home delivery. Cooking instructions are included. Mike’s Organic Delivery currently serves most of southern Fairfield County, from Greenwich up to Rowayton. Delivery dates are Tuesday, November 22 or Wednesday, November 23, depending on location. All orders must be placed online via the website.

Graze, a specialty provider of Vermont artisanal and farm-fresh foods, is selling fresh, free-range turkeys from Misty Knoll Farms. Ten percent of the proceeds from the sale of these turkeys goes to support Westport’s Wakeman Town Farm, an organic demonstration homestead open to the public. When you order, please use the code WAKEMANTURKEY to activate the promotion. Misty Knoll Farms’ free-range, Broad-Breasted White turkeys are raised on the farm’s lush Vermont meadows, where they are afforded a natural, stress-free environment, a wholesome, all-natural diet and plenty of access to lush pasture, sunshine and fresh water. There are never any pesticides, hormones or antibiotics used to raise these happy birds.  Graze will deliver FREE to your door throughout Fairfield County on Monday, Nov. 21. Email or call 1-888-WE GRAZE to reserve your turkey. Or, place your entire Thanksgiving order online at Graze.

Sport Hill Farm in Easton is selling fresh, pasture-raised, Broad-Breasted Whites from an Amish farm in Pennsylvania. Choose from Naturally raised and Certified Organic turkeys from 12-14 pounds up to 28-30 pounds. Naturally raised turkeys are $3.10 lb.,  certified organic are $4.29 lb., and both need to be ordered by November 10. To place an order e-mail farmer Patti Popp at farmgal596@yahoo.com or stop by the farm on 596 Sport Hill Road. Patti will e-mail buyers when the turkeys have arrived to arrange pick-up at the farm the weekend before Thanksgiving.

Greyledge Farm in Roxbury, well-known for their high quality, grass fed beef and pastured pork and chicken, usually sells fresh (not frozen) pasture-raised, Broad-Breasted White turkeys for pick up at local farmers’ markets. Please direct inquiries to 860-350-3203 or email the farm at inquiries@greyledgefarm.com or in person with Greyledge at the Westport and Darien farmers’ markets. No information was made available to  us by publication time.

If you are unable to source a Heritage turkey locally, visit Heritage Foods USA online to place an order for direct shipment to your home. At publication time, only 8-14 pound turkeys were still available.

November 18

7.30 pm

at the new Christ & Holy Trinity Church

75 Church Lane, Westport

The Westport Farmers Market  invites you to the Fairfield County premier of the documentary film Farmageddon: The Unseen War on American Family Farms. Filmmaker Kristin Canty’s quest to find healthy food for her four children turned into an educational journey to discover why access to these foods was being threatened. Farmageddon highlights the urgency of food freedom, encouraging farmers and consumers alike to take action to preserve individuals’ rights to access food of their choice and farmers’ rights to produce these foods safely and free from unreasonably burdensome regulations.

Watch the trailer here: http://farmageddonmovie.com/

Come for an educational evening filled with local food, wine and great networking.

After viewing the documentary Farmageddon the audience will have the opportunity to participate in a Q&A session with guest experts Annie Farrell of Millstone Farm, Michel Nischan from Wholesome Wave and The Dressing Room and Suzanne Sankow from Beaver Brook Farm.

Tickets are $10 and available for purchase at http://westportcinema.org/.

About the Guest Experts:

Annie Farrell

Annie Farrell is the Master Farmer at Millstone Farm, a 75-acre property in Wilton, CT. Millstone Farm, a vision of owner Betsy Fink, is a working farm and serves as a hub for education and outreach. Millstone regularly hosts workshops and action-learning activities, and partners with farmers, community organizations, school groups, restaurateurs, and others interested in learning about diverse, chemical-free farming. The farm’s practices are geared towards achieving a closed loop system where the farm’s varied parts contribute to the whole working body. Millstone Farm produces food for local restaurants, local family-owned markets, and a small CSA. The farm strives to use best farm practices, encourage their implementation, and promote awareness about their positive impact on local economies, the community, and our quality of life.

Annie Farrell was born, and raised in NYC, and spent summers in Northern Westchester County where she fell in love with the farms that still operated there. Inspired by Helen and Scott Nearing, she settled in Bovina, NY, in Delaware County in 1973, where she built a stone house and learned farming skills from the old-timers who remembered how to farm productively before ‘modern’ agriculture took over. As the farms began to disappear, she was determined to offer alternatives to diversify the dairy farmers. The Delaco Agricultural Co-op, which she started, organized 40 farms into producing and delivering products locally. She was inspired by Flying Foods International, the first Specialty Food venture in NYC, to demonstrate other, more valuable crops for the region, and built a business called ”Annie’s”, which delivered her and other producers’ specialty wares to NYC and the Union Square Green Market. Organic Mesclun was unheard of, and she was selling it at Greenmarket, and to top Chefs. After selling that business, she was the first Director of the CADE project, (Center for Agricultural Development & Entrepreneurship), which continues to help farms diversify. She founded NELA, the New England Livestock Alliance, using several European models, and introduced Devon cattle as one of the best breeds for efficient grazing production. Since 2006, she has been working with Betsy Fink to build a community and model for small, diversified farming at Millstone Farm. In addition to her work on the farm, Annie also acts as the Ag & Food Systems Program Coordinator for the Betsy and Jesse Fink Foundation. In this role, Annie has added her expertise to such programs as the Wilton High School Garden, Stepping Stone’s Edible Garden, and Fodor Farm thereby complementing  the foundation’s grant making in the sector.

Michel Nischan

Michel Nischan, CEO, Founder and President of Wholesome Wave, grew up with a great appreciation and respect for local agriculture and those who work the land. He translated these childhood values into a career as a James Beard Award-winning chef, author and restaurateur, becoming a catalyst for change in the sustainable food movement. An Ashoka Fellow, Michel serves on the Board of Trustees for the James Beard Foundation, The Rodale Institute and The Center for Health and the Global Environment (Harvard Medical School).

Suzanne Sankow:

Owned by the Sankow family since 1917, Sankow’s Beaver Brook Farm in Lyme CT started as a dairy farm. In 1984 Suzanne and Stan introduced sheep and in 2002, they reintroduced cattle. Now, this beautiful one hundred and seventy five acre farm is a sheep and cow dairy farm featuring raw milk products. The Sankows are committed to producing the highest quality goods while protecting the environment. Their products are available to consumers at the Westport Farmers’ Market.

Farmageddon is presented by the Westport Cinema Initiative and Westport Farmers’ Market and sponsored by Whole Foods Market.  The screening will take place on Friday, November 18th, at 7:30pm at Christ and the Holy Trinity Church on 75 Church Lane in Westport.

SYNOPSIS:
Americans’ right to access fresh, healthy foods of their choice is
under attack. Farmageddon tells the story of small, family farms
that were providing safe, healthy foods to their communities and
were forced to stop, sometimes through violent action, by agents of
misguided government bureaucracies, and seeks to figure out why.

Filmmaker Kristin Canty’s quest to find healthy food for her four
children turned into an educational journey to discover why access
to these foods was being threatened. What she found were policies
that favor agribusiness and factory farms over small family operated
farms selling fresh foods to their communities.

Instead of focusing on the source of food safety problems — most often the
industrial food chain — policymakers and regulators implement and
enforce solutions that target and often drive out of business small
farms that have proven themselves more than capable of producing
safe, healthy food, but buckle under the crushing weight of
government regulations and excessive enforcement actions.

Farmageddon highlights the urgency of food freedom,
encouraging farmers and consumers alike to take action to preserve
individuals’ rights to access food of their choice and farmers’
rights to produce these foods safely and free from unreasonably
burdensome regulations. The film serves to put policymakers and
regulators on notice that there is a growing movement of people
aware that their freedom to choose the foods they want is in
danger, a movement that is taking action with its dollars and its
voting power to protect and preserve the dwindling number of
family farms that are struggling to survive.

By Elizabeth Keyser

J. Porter's at the Marriott Trumbull now sources eighty-five percent of their food from local farms under the direction of Executive Chef Chris Molyneux.

If you need proof that the local food movement is here to stay, check into a Marriott.  Last year, the international hotel chain introduced a sustainable seafood program in its restaurants, and now a core group has instituted farm-to-table menus.  J. Porter’s, the restaurant  in the Trumbull Marriott, is the latest.

Executive Chef Chris Molyneux is quietly rolling out his farm-to-table menu. Greyledge Farm delivers their grass-fed and hormone-free beef, free-range chickens, and pastured pork.   Connecticut Farm Fresh Express delivers farm fresh produce and artisan products from across the state.  Seafood comes from Stonington.

Institutional  frozen products are out. Whole salmons, chickens and bags of fresh vegetables from the farm are in. “It’s a little more work,” Molyneux says, “but it’s a great payoff. The quality is far better.”  Bones are used to make sauces, stocks and demi-glaces. Hamburgers are formed in the kitchen. The chefs use the in-house smoker to make the salmon, pulled pork and the beef in the prime-rib sandwich.

Preparing food from scratch isn’t new to Molyneux. One of his first cooking jobs was at Captain’s Galley in West Haven. “I’d peel 100 pounds of shrimp,” he says, “Onions rings? I’d prep 200 pounds of onions.” In J. Porters kitchen, the cooking staff has had to adjust. Picking lobster meat from the shells is the job no one wants.  But if he hears a grumble, Molyneux has a ready reply, “I’m standing right here next to you, man.”

Customers have responded with enthusiasm, interest, and some protests when a favorite, like Chilean Sea Bass, has been removed from the menu.  J. Porters servers and chefs help educate the guests about the changes. “When we tell people that Chilean Sea Bass is endangered, they are shocked.  They say they didn’t know.”

Wild salmon from Scotland has replaced farmed salmon on the menu and is a reflection of Marriott's move to a sustainable seafood program begun in 2010 with CleanFish.

Chef Molyneux says that the veggie burger is a surprise bestseller. This generous burger is a mix of beets, brown rice and black beans.

One surprise on the new menu is the popularity of the veggie burger. “We sell out almost every night,” says Molyneux. The burger is a hearty mix of beets, brown rice and black beans, served on a whole wheat bun.  “It’s like a three-hour process to make it,” says executive sous chef Michael Dunton.

Salmon is another favorite. The Loch Duart salmon comes from Scotland where it is farmed sustainably. “I definitely saw a huge difference in the taste of the Loch Duart than regular farmed salmon,” says Molyneux. The salmon arrives whole.  “We see the quality,” he says.  At a recent lunch, the salmon was simply roasted, and accompanied by ramps and turnip greens.

Look for seasonal New England seafood on the menu like this soft-shell crab served on a bed of local arugula.

Molyneux knows fish. “I’m a seafood guy,” he says. Growing up in West Haven, the grandson and nephew of commercial fishermen, he was on a boat at 2 months old. As a young man, he worked as a commercial fisherman, spending 9 days on the seas at a clip. He still holds a captain’s license.

He graduated from Johnson & Wales culinary school and cooked at a farm-to-table restaurant in Mt. Snow, Vermont, before joining Marriott four years ago.

When he talks to guests about the source of J. Porter’s seafood, sometimes they’re surprised that it comes from Long Island Sound. “We’ve gotten away, as a society, from understanding where our food comes from,” he says, “our industry relies on the waters around us.”

Next January, J. Porter’s will be remodeled to make the décor as fresh as the food. It will join four other Marriott restaurants in West Palm Beach, Dallas, Cleveland, and Columbus, Ohio that have rebranded as farm-to-table restaurants. Molyneux is still discovering new sources for products, and has many plans. “We’re going to introduce a bar menu – steak tips, flat irons, maybe individual short ribs.” Already on tap at the bar is Ten Penny Ale, a micro brew from Olde Burnside Brewing Company in Hartford.

Molyneux says that he has relied on the staff (“we have a great team”) to help “translate the vision to the customers.”  The revelatory nature of farm fresh food is clear when Bonnie Caravaglia, the assistant general manager, talks.

“Remember those carrots?” she says, with a tone of amazed appreciation. What did they taste like? “They had a natural sweetness. They were meaty. They were fresh. They tasted like a real carrot.”

Editor’s Note: If you planted garlic last year, hopefully your plants are doing well and have a good amount of top growth. Thanks to the generosity of CT NOFA and farm member Wayne M. Hansen of Wayne’s Organic  Garden, we are are able to share some of the best garlic planting, growing, cultivating and harvesting advice available for the organic backyard gardener in Connecticut.

Growing Garlic at Wayne’s Organic Garden

By Wayne M. Hansen

Organic garlic growing in my raised beds that was planted late November 2010. Clearly, it's time to get some mulch in there.

Garlic is a perennial but is grown as an annual.  It is not difficult to grow, but, as with almost everything, attention to detail gives best results.

Generally speaking, there are three easily distinguished types of garlic: softneck, hardneck or stiffneck, and elephant garlic.  Softneck garlic is the kind most commonly found in the supermarket; larger cloves surround smaller cloves in a bulb.  Hardneck garlic bulbs feature four to eight larger cloves around a central stem.  Elephant garlic, actually more closely related to leeks, has very large bulbs and the cloves are around a stem.  Being very much milder than true garlic, it is good when roasted or baked or even sliced raw in a salad.  Many varieties of softneck and hardneck garlic are out there, but there seems to be only one elephant garlic.  Try two or three varieties to see what you like and what works best for you.  I find the porcelain or continental varieties such as “German Extra-Hardy” are easy to grow and give good results.

Soil Preparation

Good garden soil with a pH near 7 (6.8-7.2) is best.  Bury any green manure crop a couple of weeks before planting.  I try to apply compost to the bed and linseed meal, greensand, and azomite in the row.

Come June, scapes will grow from the center of this hardneck garlic. They make delicious pesto, are wonderful in stir fries, and an even be grilled.

Seed Selection

As a rule, plant the largest cloves selected from the largest bulbs.  Save the smaller cloves for kitchen use, or plant for spring greens.  Bulbs two inches in diameter and larger seem to work best.  Remember that garlic acclimates.  Seed from a source local to you is often your best bet.  If you try seed from a distance, like the West Coast, replant it for a couple of years even if it doesn’t do well right away. Be aware that the devastating Bloat Nematode has been recently found in garlic in New York state. Be careful about the source of your seed garlic.  “Pop” the cloves from the bulb not more than a day or so before planting.

Planting

I try to plant in the last two weeks of October.  This allows some root growth and a minimum of top growth before the ground freezes.  Too much top growth can lead to winter kill when the really cold weather hits.

I plant cloves with the root end down, the base about three inches below the surface.  I space the cloves five inches apart in rows twelve inches apart.  I use a six-foot dibble board for even spacing and to save time in a large planting (I plant about 3,500 row feet).  Smaller plantings can be punched out with the handle of a hoe.  For elephant garlic, I place the cloves twelve inches apart in rows eighteen inches apart.

Make sure that the root end of the clove is down.  It will grow upside-down, but with the stem coming up in a “J” and the roots like an umbrella, and the energy required for that reduces the bulb size.  I cover the holes using a wheel hoe with a small cultivator shovel on each side of the row, pushing dirt up over the holes.  I mark varieties plainly on a stout stake and mulch right away with four to six inches of loose straw (more on elephant garlic).  Then, I leave it alone till spring.

Early Spring Care

Squirrels have dug holes in every raised bed that I did not have a wire cage on. The garlic has been protected with wire cages, but I had to remove them when the top growth hit the roof of the cage. I'm hoping the squirrels leave them alone.

After the harshest weather is over (late March?) check to see that all the bulbs are sending up leaves.  Some varieties will show before others.  If a lot are up but there are gaps in the spacing, check to see if the leaves have grown sideways under the mulch.  If so, just lift them up straight.

At three inches or so of top growth (early April?) I try to spray with Neptune’s Harvest fish hydrolyzate or fish with kelp.  Doing this every three weeks or so has worked well for me, but often I get in just one spraying.  Garlic likes plenty of nitrogen and blood meal is a good source of it, spread between the rows.  I’ve not done this since I stopped removing the straw mulch as  I used to.  David Stern of the Garlic Seed Foundation has recommended that I resume the blood meal, even atop the straw.  But, he says, the garlic does not benefit from nitrogen applied after early May.  I would say that the fish spraying could still be beneficial in late May if you have the time.

Late Spring Care

I irrigate if it is a dry spring. I use drip lines atop the straw.  Stop irrigating about mid-June.  Scapes, those flower buds that grow up out of the stems of the hardneck and the elephant garlic, should be snapped or cut off to get good bulb size.  These appear around the second week in June.  I begin to take them off as soon as they are a couple of inches above the top leaf.  I try to get them before the buds have swollen much.  Use or sell these.  Minced and stored in the refrigerator, they are a good addition to salads or dressings, and they make a dynamite pesto!  Add them to cooked dishes late in the cooking as their flavor goes quickly with heat.  They’re excellent raw in sour cream as a dip.  They will keep a few weeks or longer whole or minced in plastic in the refrigerator, and minced, will freeze for winter holiday dips.  Sheep and goats go wild for them, but it may affect milk flavor.  I don’t know.

Be sure to keep weeds out of the garlic plot. Like other alliums, garlic does not compete well with weeds.  The straw mulch will keep most of them down, but occasional hand work may be necessary.

Harvest and Storage

Garlic top growth ends about June 22 in the Northeast.  At that point, the energy goes to the bulb.  David Stern advises harvesting within thirty days after June 22.  He also says that most of us harvest too early, and that when garlic is at its harvest peak, the bulbs will show a tiny space between the stem and the clove.  You can only know this by cutting through a bulb.  I have always gone by the six green leaves rule.  When most or many of the plants have the sixth leaf from the top beginning to brown, it’s ready.  This has done well for me, but I’m also going to try David’s suggestion.  As head of the Garlic Seed Foundation, he is exposed to a lot more information than I am.

At any rate, I find that I harvest usually in the second and third weeks of July.  With garden cart at hand, I plunge a spading fork alongside the garlic row and pull back to loosen the plants.  I do this for a few feet, the pull up the bulbs by the stalks and brush away any clumps of heavy dirt.  The bulbs are stacked in the cart and moved to the storage shed and NEVER EVER left in strong sunshine where surely they will bake.

Using loops of twine, and usually with the help of two assistants, we gather six or eight plants into a bunch and secure it at one end of the loop, a second bunch at the other, then hang the two connected bunches over a nail on a joist in the barn.  They need a well-ventilated spot out of direct sunlight.

Another new (to me) suggestion from David Stern is to wash the bulbs under a spray like that from a hose nozzle.  Dunking in a bucket is likely to spread any disease present.  Spraying is done before hanging.  Stern says that this leaves the garlic whiter and saves cleaning.  I’ve not done this, but may give it a try.

After the garlic is hung, particularly in rainy and humid conditions, a fan helps to dry it.  In 2000, a cool, wet summer, friends of mine lost all their crop to rot from inadequate drying.  I use a twenty-inch window fan in each of the three bays of my carriage shed to keep the air moving.  If you do wash the bulbs, I think this would be especially important.

The bulbs are well enough cured for storage when the stem is dry when cut one half-inch above the clove tops.  I usually cut and store them in clean onion bags at 55 to 65 F in a well-ventilated area out of direct sunlight.  You can also store them with the stem on, if you have room, or braid bunches.  I recommend braiding softnecks soon after harvest while the tops are still pliable.  Most varieties will store four to eight months or longer after curing, elephant garlic often longer.

For further study, get Growing Great Garlic by Ron. L. Engeland, available from Filaree Farm, 182 Conconully Highway, Okanogan, WA 98840.  Filaree has a great catalog of seed and information.

Join the Garlic Seen Foundation, c/o Rose Valley Farm, Rose, NY 14542-0419.  $15 for the first year, $20 for two-year renewals gets you the occasional newsletter, The Garlic Press, with festival listings, recipes, and garlic and medicinal information.

To contact me:  Wayne Hansen, Wayne’s Organic Garden, P.O. Box 154, Oneco, CT 06373, 860-564-7987; waynewog1co@sbcglobal.net

Related article: Living on the Earth: Harvesting Garlic, by Bill Duesing, Executive Director of CT NOFA and an organic farmer.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Fairfield, CT – On Thursday, April 29, 2010, at 3:35 pm, North Stratfield School (NSS) will hold a Ground Breaking Ceremony for its raised garden bed plots.  Members of the school’s Brownie and Girl Scout troops will work together to measure and dig out the grass for the two plots.  Inspired by the success of Roger Sherman and Mill Hill Elementary Schools, the NSS PTA leadership, with the support of Principal Deborah Jackson, prioritized the project of creating a school vegetable garden of its own.  NSS parents and former educators, Anika Knox and Aimee O’Brien, are the co-chairs of the Garden Committee.

The goal for the garden is to inspire students, teachers, and the North Stratfield community with a hands-on connection to the food cycle, the natural environment, and the physical benefits of gardening.  The Groundbreaking Ceremony will be the first of many activities related to the garden that will bring the school community together to achieve this goal.  Seed planting by all first graders will take place Friday morning.  On the following day, Saturday, May 1^st from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm, members of NSS Boy Scout Troop 95 will be constructing the raised garden bed frames.

Knox and O’Brien received an A.C.T. Grant of $400 from the town of Fairfield in the fall.  A.C.T. stands for Adults and Children Together.  Fairfield Green Food Guide founder and NSS parent, Analiese Paik, arranged for an additional contribution from Whole Foods Market (WFM) in Westport equaling $500 worth of in-kind donations of seeds, seedlings and healthy snacks and refreshments for the volunteers involved in the establishment of the NSS school vegetable garden.  Katie Cole from WFM will be in attendance.

“Even before Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution show came about, I was determined that my children were going to know what foods came from which plants,” stated O’Brien, a former NSS 5^th grade teacher and mother of three.  “I am proud to be a part of this exciting school community effort.”  Knox, the experienced gardener of the two, received her graduate degree in developmental psychology and worked with pre-school children in Head Start programs, finding links between gardening and positive behavior.  She added, “The possibilities for learning from the garden are endless.  We are happy to provide the garden as a resource for teachers in whatever way they may envision.”

Currently, three elementary schools and two of the middle schools have established gardens.  North Stratfield School is among a number of schools in the district that have begun plans this school year to establish vegetable gardens.

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For more information, contact:

Aimee O’Brien, (203) 610-5090, dancinaimeeg@yahoo.com

You are invited to attend a free screening of the documentary food film FRESH at Norfield Congregational Church, 64 Norfield Road, Weston at 7 pm on October 28 in the Parish Hall. FRESH, a widely-acclaimed production of documentary filmmaker Ana Sofia Joanes offers “new thinking about what we’re eating” at a time when the potentially lethal consequences of our industrialized food system have become standard items in our daily news diet. Please call 203-227-7886 to reserve your seat.

The First FRESH Screening in Connecticut Was Held on August 12, 2009!

Read Full Story: FRESH: Getting Back to Basics, by Eileen Weber

Join the Eat Local Challenge: 10 Ways to Eat FRESH

Meet the Panelists & Exhibitors and View Event Photo Gallery

This was the positive, uplifting event that we had all hoped for. Thank you to the 200 guests who were the most engaged audience an event organizer could ask for. You rock!

Looking for a FRESH DVD? The copies we had for sale at the event sold out in 10 minutes! Please visit the producer’s web site to order a DVD online.

To join a waiting list for a future screening in the area, please send an email to marketing at fairfieldgreenfoodguide dot com.

The Fairfield Green Food Guide has teamed up with the amazing folks at Pequot Library in Southport, CT to present the first community screening in Connecticut of the newly released documentary food film FRESH on Wednesday, August 12 at 7 pm in the Library’s auditorium.  FRESH, a widely-acclaimed production of documentary filmmaker Ana Sofia Joanes offers “new thinking about what we’re eating” at a time when the potentially lethal consequences of our industrialized food system have become standard items in our daily news diet.

FRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. Among several main characters, FRESH features urban farmer and activist, Will Allen, a 2008 MacArthur’s “Genius Award” fellow; sustainable farmer and entrepreneur, Joel Salatin, made famous by Michael Pollan’s book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma; and supermarket owner, David Ball, who is creating a new market model for our family farmers. Each has witnessed the rapid transformation of our agriculture into an industrial model, and confronted the consequences: food contamination, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources, and morbid obesity. FRESH’s focus on these inspiring individuals and their initiatives around the US provides the audience with actionable solutions. FRESH is a call to action.

This film beautifully portrays the rapidly growing local-sustainable food movement and the critical role we each play in supporting local farms and creating a local market for sustainable products. The guest panelists and exhibitors participating in the screening will offer practical ideas about small but important steps we can take to join and strengthen this grass roots movement.

“Screening FRESH at the Library fits perfectly with our commitment to make the Library a greener place and share the newest information about sustainable living with our patrons so we can all reduce our environmental impact at work and at home” explains Dan Snydacker, Executive Director of Pequot Library.

Immediately following the film, I’ll moderate an educational panel discussion by the leaders of our own local-sustainable food movement including Bill Duesing, Executive Director of CT NOFA (Northeast Organic Farming Association of Connecticut); Sue Cadwell, Chef/Owner of Health in a Hurry; environmentalist Janak Desai and Ken Kleban of Kleban Properties, co-founders of Fairfield’s Farmer’s Market at the Brick Walk; Deb Marsden, Founder of Connecticut Farm Fresh Express; and Annelise McCay and Amie Hall, founders of three of Fairfield’s organic, edible schoolyard gardens. Following the panel, a wide variety of exhibitors in the Library’s community reading room will offer practical advice about how individuals can contribute to and benefit from the local-sustainable food movement.

Seating is limited to 100 200 guests and tickets must be pre-purchased online for five dollars plus a small processing fee at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/75164. All event profits will be donated to the Pequot Library and a local-sustainable food initiative. The event is being organized and sponsored in part by the Fairfield Green Food Guide, LLC and hosted by Pequot Library. Thanks to a generous donation by Steaz, guests will enjoy a complimentary organic, fair trade beverage. State-of-the art sound is being provided by our sponsor M Communications.

See you at the FRESH screening!