Silver Spring Farm Garlic Fundraiser

** UPDATE: The garlic sold out on Sunday, August 5th. **

Silver Spring Farm opened their gates today for the start of their 16th annual 'Choose Your Own Garlic' fundraiser. This fundraiser is in support of the Ottawa-Carleton Association for Persons with Developmental Disabilities (OCAPDD).

Their sale hours are from 10:00 am to 6 pm every day, until they sell out.

Silver Spring Farm is located near Bells Corners at 3501 Richmond Road, where it meets up with Baseline Road.



For this garlic season they planted 40,000 cloves of garlic. The dry weather worked in their favour. Not only was it a faster growing season by 3 weeks, the harvesting was not as onerous for pulling and cleaning because of the drier soil. Of the 40,000 heads harvested, about 8 to 10,000 are kept as seed for next year.

They grew both Music and Majestic garlic. They are both Hardneck garlic and belong to the sub-group Porcelain. My eye is not keen enough to tell them apart. Music is likely the most popular garlic grown in Ontario.

Liz Primeau, author of In Pursuit of Garlic, has this to say when describing these two cultivars.

"Music: A strong, dependable grower brought from Italy and now seen frequently at fairs in parts of Canada. Its big cloves are hot and pungent when raw, mellow when baked, although texture isn't as creamy as that of some other cultivars."

"Majestic: Developed in eastern Ontario. A lovely big bulb with good-sized cloves and a full garlicky taste."

Once the garlic is cleaned, they go through an orderly process for sorting the garlic by size. This simple block has the stalk fed down through the channel of finishing nails from the widest to the narrowest part of the device. The garlic head stops at its measured width of 2 up to 6. If the garlic head pulls all the way through, it is considered a '1'.



The larger heads are priced at $3 and $4 each.





The smaller heads are sold in groups, 3 for $2 or 2 for $3.





They also grouped the very smallest together in bunches for $4. I counted one of the bunches and it had 10 small bulbs.



They also sell pretty arrangements and braids.





Their raffle this year is for a very large braid. Tickets are $2 each for 3 for $5.



I stuck to the 2 for $3 table and picked up a number of heads, some destined to be mailed to our darling son.



Readers can call the Garlic Hotline at 613-569-8993 ext. 409 for updates on the sale and also to confirm their hours of operation.

'Choose Your Own Garlic' fundraiser at Silver Spring Farm

The 15th annual 'Choose Your Own Garlic' fundraiser at Silver Spring Farm started today at 9:30 am out at 3501 Richmond Road. (Where it meets up with Baseline Road.)



They said they have between 30,000 and 40,000 bulbs to sell. They expect they will be all sold out in a weeks time. Last year the crop was smaller and they sold out in 3.5 days.

They sell only the Music garlic. It is a hardnecked, porcelain garlic and grows well in our climate.

The bulbs are sorted and priced by size. They range from $1.50/bulb, 3 bulbs for 2$, $3/bulb and $4/bulb.









Also, the braids ranged in size so also in pricing. I saw braids from $12 up to $32. They have done up gift braids too for $7.





New this year is a $5 cup of garlic cloves. Sometimes the larger bulbs come out of the ground with the cloves spreading and starting to come off the bulb. They can't sell the incomplete bulbs along with the others so they have cupped up the cloves for a special deal.



I didn't do much thinking about the pricing as this is a fundraiser. I bought 3 cups of the loose cloves. It weighed in at 390 grams. There were 45 cloves in total and some were so large they were essentially the size of half a bulb.

Our plan is to mince the garlic, cover it in extra virgin olive oil to be jarred and refrigerated for 30 days. It can also be stored in the freezer for 3 to 4 months. Read more about how to safely preserve garlic in olive oil.

Any cloves that we don't peel and mince will be stored in a paper bag in a dry, dark, cool location. No putting them in the fridge.

Scape lovers might be interested to know that the farm's scapes are sold locally at the Metro in Bells Corners and Kanata at the beginning of July. Something to watch out for next year.

If you are interested in supporting this worthwhile cause, make time in the next few days to go out to Silver Spring Farm. I have started the peeling and the cloves are a beautiful white. So fresh. You will be pleased.



Readers can call the Garlic Hotline at 613-569-8993 ext. 409 for updates on the sale and also for hours of operation.