Washington Co., WI – What exactly does a garlic farmer do other than grow, well, garlic – that popular seasoning used worldwide. Dana Krebs, Emily Thiel, and Lisa Stuht of Krebs Pleasant View Farms, 4680 Kettle Moraine Road., Hartford, WI can tell you. Their family has been in the garlic-growing business for over nine years and has nearly 2 acres dedicated specifically to garlic.
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It’s a family affair with 6 brothers and one sister, along with their children, running the operation and Mom/Grandma Jewel in the wings “keeping everyone in line.”
“We were having a tough time after my dad started getting sick and we were taking over a lot of the operations of the farm and helping mom and dad out,” said Lisa. “Once he passed, we did an analysis on all the different crops and realized we were losing lots of money, lots of money. So, we started doing research on what crops grow well in Wisconsin to produce a good money base, and we found garlic was at the top.”
In the garlic industry you will hear words most people don’t use every day such as nematode, softneck and hardneck.
You’ll also hear all about garlic farming and production strategies, including crop selection, nematode testing, taste-testing, and preservation methods. The team of ladies said they use every opportunity to educate about garlic crops.
Fun fact, the garlic plant is actually a part of the lily family much like shallots, onions and leeks.
Different varieties have different flavors, and the Krebs farm has a team that tastes them raw. “There are over 300 varieties of hardneck garlic, we’re growing eight of them. So we get to try all of them and sell all of them, said Emily.
Dana said, “We do have a lot of customers that ask which one is best raw.”
“I think the hardneck is more hardy, more robust. Like if you think about a yellow onion versus a red onion, more of the varieties of hardneck kind of lean towards the potency of that red onion,” said Dana, “I like the spicy ones.”
Getting down to the nitty gritty of garlic farming, “You take your bulb and break it into the clove – so you’re planting the individual cloves. We plant in October,” said Dana. “Hardneck garlic, you usually plant in the colder climates, and softneck garlic you plant in usually the warmer climates.”
“Over winter, we plant those individual cloves, and then we cover [the crop] with our straw,” said Emily. “We let it go all winter long. In the spring it’s already started sprouting through that straw.”
“From now into June, the scape, which is the part [of the garlic plant] that goes all the way down through the middle, will start sprouting. Around Father’s Day weekend is when we cut those off and then you can start eating those.
“Then around July 4 weekend is usually when we harvest, and we hang out in the barn to cure for four weeks. We actually created a couple of pieces of machinery to do some of this stuff because it is so hands-on labor intensive. They don’t make machinery for some of this stuff.”
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Local garlic farmers stepped up to mentor and encourage the team at Krebs Pleasant View Farm, even selling them starter seeds to set them on their way to success.
“They welcomed us and started showing us the ropes of what their operations were, answered any questions, and they actually sold us some of their seed stock,” said Lisa. “We knew that they grew naturally, we knew that they were bloat nematode tested.”
Garlic Bloat Nematode (GBN) is a devastating disease in garlic that is spread primarily in infected seed stock.
“We are part of a group in Minnesota. In order to be part of that group, we have to actually prove that we are bloat low, nematode free,” said Dana.
The draw of locally grown fresh garlic is attributed to appearance, taste, texture, and shelf life. “Most of time the stuff at the store has been through a chemical process – bleaching process, which is usually why it’s a lot drier and it doesn’t last as long,” said Lisa.
When folks see the garlic on the Krebs Farm that has been unaltered by chemicals, they may not think it is fresh. That’s why the Krebs Farm Store has boxes with descriptions and customers are sent home with informational sheets.
To preserve the garlic, Krebs Pleasant View Farm dehydrates it into garlic powder. “We sell that when it gets closer to wintertime, that way our customers can enjoy the garlic through their season ticket to the next,” said Lisa.
The powdered garlic is much stronger than store-bought stuff and customers are told to use small amounts to adjust to the change in potency.
“Our garlic powder is 100% pure garlic. We don’t use any fillers, additives, nothing,” said Dana. “We actually just got FDA approved so we can ship it within the United States.”
Krebs Pleasant View Farm also sells soybeans, corn, wheat, oats and hay with garlic being the most recent addition to the crops.
An open house is planned for Saturday, August 24, 2024, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Krebs Pleasant View Farms is also at the Hartford Farmer’s Market every Saturday, 8 a.m. to noon, May through October (except on Holy Hill Art Farm weekend), September 21 and 22, October 12 and 13.
