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Locally, Robert is known as "the Garlic Man"
of the Pend Oreille Valley.
Newport Naturals has been
growing garlic since 1984.
our
main varieties are
German red, Spanish red,
and Italian purple.
in the last six years,
Robert has added
Romanian, metache, Korean red, and
chesnok.
in 2001
Robert added polish, peskin,
leningrad, and musik varieties.
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Our garlic planting
crew , Fall 1998, with a basket weighing about 10 pounds of German
Red garlic cloves ready to be planted. |
Our garlic is planted in beds four
rows wide (20 inches) and 60 feet long, depending upon which field is being
used. We have 3 areas for rotation of garlic. We use organic methods
for raising our garlic, but we have not taken the steps to become organically
certified. Our customers respect the fact that we have used traditional
organic methods for growing since Newport Naturals was established in 1979.
Furthermore, this land has been in Linda's family since 1912 and has only been
used for dairy animals (prior to 1934) and for alfalfa and pasture until 1979
when we broke ground for gardens.
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May
11, 2002 garlic fields, with alpacas in the background. |
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We
plant our garlic in late September. We mulch our paths and rows with
straw. Garlic shoots are usually coming through the ground as the snow
goes off in mid to late March. By May 1, our garlic is about a foot tall.
We
harvest our garlic in late July to mid August, depending upon when about 25% of
the leaves start to yellow. We have found, contrary to popular opinion,
that the garlic must be harvested prior to complete browning of the leaves to
insure that the garlic bulb has adequate wrapping, thereby preserving the garlic
for winter use.
Italian
Purple is a soft necked garlic suited for braiding. Linda is in charge of
the braiding detail. Below are several of the undecorated garlic braids
Newport Naturals offers at the Pend Oreille Valley Earth Market on Saturdays.
Most braids weigh about 3 pounds, although larger or smaller braids can
be ordered.
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(Left) Robert holding several of the garlic braids for 2001.
(Right) Robert holding the color-coded net bags we use
to hold garlic. Bags will hold up to 4 pounds of garlic, but we
usually bag in one-pound bags. |
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