A few days ago I saw our grandson Blake fold $200 into his wallet. “Sell some more firewood?” I asked. “No. Just 20 pounds of garlic. I priced it cheap. For seed garlic, most big growers charge $25 to $40 a pound or more.”
August 22, 2020 By Jerry Carlson — Having seen Blake and a helper, Holly Long, drying several loads of garlic this summer, I mentally multiplied his harvest by $40 a pound and asked more questions. “How do you sell it?”
Blake said he’s attracting lots of “likes” on his Facebook site, Deep Root Acres, which posts for-sale offers on Facebook Market. Buyers can either pick up garlic locally or pay shipping costs. Commercial growers of seed garlic gradually accumulate a widening client base among garlic gardeners.
Update. August 25: Today Blake sold 200 pounds of garlic to a single buyer. “I should probably raise my price,” Blake told me.
One commercial seed-garlic grower who sells on eBay charges $12.75 for one-fourth pound and advertises with the slogan: “Shallots are for babies; onions are for men; garlic is for heroes.”
I thought about the possibilities: Repeat customers. Recurring income every year. Zero marketing cost.
My interest perked higher. Yesterday my appetite for garlic rose when I read an e-mail from Dr. Joseph Mercola detailing the long-proven health benefits of garlic. His analysis eased my aversion to smelling like yesterday’s pizza.
Dr. Mercola notes, “In ancient Egypt, workers were given garlic to support heavy labor. During the first olympic games in Greece, athletes used garlic to improve their stamina.”
You can see in the photo nearby that Blake is muscular. I’ve marveled at how he chain-saws logs and splits wood for 8 to 10 hours a day in his commercial firewood busines. “Before going out to cut wood, I eat some garlic cloves, or dice the cloves and put them on toast,” he says. “Warms my whole body. Gives me energy.”
Working with chain saws and a big hydraulic wood splitter, Blake often gets cuts and abrasions. “My open injuries always heal quickly, without infections,” Blake says. “That’s a signal of a strong immune system.”
Yet I’ve never noted a whiff of garlic on Blake, even on a sweaty afternoon. “I chew some peppermint leaves before going out to Bible studies or other meetings,” he says.
Dr. Mercola’s report reveals little-known scientific facts, and makes comments that often raise hackles on government epidemiologists, who are committing billions of taxpayer dollars for vaccines in the Covid-19 struggle. He writes: “Despite long-standing evidence that garlic has natural antiviral and antibacterial properties, some are diverting attention away from its use in helping prevent Covid-19, as they seek instead to concoct chemical solutions and pursue the development of a new vaccine.”
One scientific study in Turkey concluded that compounds in garlic “… may be an acceptable preventive measure against COVID-19 infection to boost immune system cells and to repress the production and secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines as well as an adipose tissue derived hormone leptin having the pro-inflammatory nature.”
You can download Dr. Mercola’s analysis from the link above and discern for yourself the benefits of garlic for your health and stamina. Like other physicians open to alternative and natural healing methods, Mercola is being censored by Facebook, Twitter and at least one medical-industry front group.
One of our local physicians purchased a supply of Blake’s garlic bulbs to distribute free samples to his patients. Some of these clients have located Blake’s Facebook site, Deep Root Acres, and asked for more of his garlic.
As you’d expect, Blake foliar-feeds all his garden crops and trees with soluble NPK, trace elements and biologicals — amplified with WakeUP Summer. One of his challenges: About 20% of the harvest is small garlic bulbs which are just as tasty as the large ones, but not as saleable. “I’m looking for ways to use them effectively so they don’t go to waste,” he says. He raises 10 different varieties of hardneck garlic, all of which are hardy in our northern latitude.
Several times on our Renewable Farming website, we’ve emphasized that our Creator endowed a myriad of medically beneficial properties in plants. This is consistent with our root philosophy that you, as a producer, are the foundaton of the nation’s health.
Pharmaceutical firms typically search out plants’ natural healing compounds — then try to duplicate them synthetically so they’re patentable and profitable.
For years, Dr. Mercola has cited many scientific studies confirming the primary role of a healthy “biome” — trillions of beneficial gut organisms — in building a strong immune system. He has also taken a courageous stand pointing out that today’s food supply is laced with residues of glyphosate, which is a powerful antimicrobial. (Patented for that use by Monsanto in 2010). In the soil, glyphosate residues decimate beneficial bacteria, allowing fungal pathogens to dominate. In your gut, similar distortions occur when antibiotics are introduced medically or in your food.
We’ve reported observations from research and pediatric physicians who confirm that when children are switched to organic foods, glyphosate residues in their bodies fade in just a few weeks or less. When that happens, children’s chronic pathologies often fade away.
It’s never too late to improve your diet and enjoy foods that offer special benefits for your well-being. If you have a question or suggestion for Blake, or anyone on the Renewable Farming family team, click here to contact us.
