The Louisville 2024 harvest--a joy to braid!

I had harvested the Louisville garlic crop—four varieties—Thai Fire, Broadleaf Czech, my unknown variety soft neck artichoke garlic and the crop of Inchellium Red grown from new seed from Allicins Ranch— before July 09, 2024 when I went to harvest and braid the Monticello crop. Jim harvested the Louisville crop still in the ground on July 29. Those were Music and Inchellium Red grown from new Filaree Farms seed that had arrived after I’d planted the rest of the seeds.

Now I’m processing the Louisville, KY crop. And it has been a delight to find most of the crop is sound. There is the very rare damaged bulb—a few are split open, but do not have wet leaves nor are they infested with any pests. Yay! Praise Yhwh! So I’ve been able to select the largest and best cloves for seed braids and to clean and braid the rest.

**6 bulb Thai Fire (Lou) SEED braid.** Not for sale.

In 2024, I forgot that I had not yet created an Inchellium Red SEED braid and sold all the braids. And that’s why I had to buy new SEED for the Louisville crop. To prevent that happening again, I’m making the holder and tie for the SEED braids completely different than those on the product braids that are for sale.

**9 bulb Broadleaf Czech (Lou) SEED braid. NOT FOR SALE. To distinguish seed braids, the tops are braided differently than the holder and tie on braids for sale.**

I also felt compelled to buy new Music garlic SEED because I suspected what I’ve been growing as Music wasn’t that variety any longer—my Music seed was no longer growing scapes, nor did it have hard necks. And the crop from the new purchased seed indeed looks different than my saved seed. I consulted with Ben of Allicins Ranch and he suggested a mislabeling would be a likely cause for why my Music wasn’t acting like a hardneck. Sooo … now I have an unknown softneck variety from seed I’ve saved. It looks most like Inchellium Red, so I suspect I mixed up the labels at some point a few years ago. The braids from this seed are large and quite lovely—I just can’t say what exact variety of the hundreds of garlic varieties it is, except I know it is a softneck. I don’t think most people would be concerned since usually what we buy at the grocery or health food store is NOT labeled with the variety of garlic it is. So this is the usual experience we have. We pick up the garlic available, look it over, and take it home.

The crop from the 2023 purchased Music SEED looks different than the bulbs from my saved seed. They are hardnecks that produced scapes which I cut off early to extend the “keeping” quality of the bulbs. Thus, I’m convinced, I made a mistake and my saved seed was not Music.

Since I had already braided all the Lou Thai Fire, my first Louisville braid was of the unknown softneck variety for which I had saved seed.

**#4 unknown softneck (Lou) 7 Very Large bulbs, 2 very small $30 SOLD**

#13 6 bulb Inchellium Red (Lou) with fresh mint and dried winter savory Large $25 SOLD

**#1 unknown softneck 10 bulb $35 SOLD**

The second braid of the unknown softneck is 9 bulbs with a sprig of winter savory, an herb we procured from Louisville Grows and we’ve grown with organic practices. This braid showcases the roots of the garlic especially well. The roots are as long as they were when I lifted them from the soil.

**#2 unknown softneck 9 bulb with winter savory and all the garlic roots SOLD**

Garlic roots amaze me. Ben confirmed that the plant has been studied and found that a garlic root can grow 8 feet into the soil if the soil will let it. And look at how many roots each plant has.

When I loosened the bulb with a spade and turned it upside down still surrounded by the soil it grew in, the root system looked at me as though they were white tubes reaching for the center of the earth, but I had just broken them all off. I decided to celebrate the roots and leave them on the braids this year. (Any buyer who doesn’t like the look can snip off the roots.)

**# 3 unknown softneck (Lou) 8 bulbs, very large center bulbs SOLD**

I’m pursuing the “from the soil look” that I began last year. I’m preserving as many of the leaves of each bulb as I can since they are its protection. The leaves and clove papers harden as the bulb cures and will preserve the bulb and lengthen it’s storage life. But the outer leaves are sometimes torn and often have dirt spots on them, so they’re not pristine or white. I used to remove papers for the silky white look, but I was shortening their storage life for a different appearance of beauty. Now I’m celebrating their natural beauty, dirty spots, loose papers, roots and all. I hope you enjoy them in all their earthy wonder.