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It's Planting Season at Trout Lake Garlic

Warren Alto and Jesse Davis own Trout Lake Garlic, a 4th generation farm in Trout Lake Township, near Grand Rapids. Late fall is planting season for garlic, which sends down roots and then waits until spring to send green shoots through the mulch. Garlic isn't mulched to keep it warm, but to moderate the temperature so the cloves won't succumb to constant freezing and thawing over the winter.

The most time consuming part of planting is taking the heads apart beforehand. Each single clove will make a new head. Warren has a planter made out of a barrel that he pulls behind a 4-wheeler. It spaces 4 cloves 6" apart in a wide row, with 8"space along the length of the row (pictured above) .

To learn more about Trout Lake Garlic, visit theirFacebook page or website.

In the interview below Warren and Jesse talk about their planting operation, some of the challenges of  growing garlic, and Jesse's role as a panelist at the Food Access Summit in Duluth.

Maggie is a rural public radio guru; someone who can get you through both minor jams and near catastrophes and still come out ahead of the game. She pens our grants, reports to the Board of Directors and helps guide our station into the dawn of a new era. Maggie is a locavore to the max (as evidenced on Wednesday mornings), brings in months’ worth of kale each fall, has heat on in her office 12 months a year, and drinks coffee out of a plastic 1987 KAXE mug every day. Doting parents and grandparents, she and her husband Dennis live in the asphalt jungle of East Nary.