Although we have several weeks of harvesting left, the coming of autumn also means that it is time to start working on next year's garlic. The preparation of the field and the planting itself will take place in a few weeks, but first we have to select our planting stock (seed garlic) and then, right before planting, we do plenty of "clove popping."
Right now we are at the seed garlic selection stage. This means that we climb into the barn loft where our garlic is stored. Then we move from variety to variety and select the largest, healthiest looking bulbs for our planting stock. The bulbs that do not make the grade are slated for food. In other words, the best garlic is planted, not eaten.
Above we see Bei up in the loft sorting German Porcelain garlic. Bei is a statistician, so we are quite confident in her sorting prowess.
The first one on the left is Todd, who is clipping the stems of garlic destined for food. The pile of stems behind him will eventually end up in one of our compost piles. Jennie, Olivia (with her back to us) and Nina are involved in the sorting. Tyler, back on the right, is also clipping, but his bulbs are the ones that were selected as seed garlic.
Once all our garlic has been sorted, the planting stock is "clove popped." That is, the seedbulbs are broken up and separated into individuals cloves, a process that can take some time to complete. By then the field should be ready for planting. After planting the cloves, the field is covered by a fairly thick layer of straw mulch. At this point the garlic cloves are ready for a cozy winter. One of the exciting signs of early spring is to see garlic shoots poking out of the straw.
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