Quail Hill Farm: Field Report Week 8
July 16, 2026
By Madison Aldrich
Garlic — the "stinking rose," its name translated from the French, itself a (mis)translation from the Greek. This year’s crop was planted on Halloween — it’s a tradition! — in the Town Lane South fields. Just visualize six 330-foot beds, each containing 3 rows of garlic planted 4 inches apart. Mulched in straw to keep the individual cloves warm and insulated, the garlic basically sat in the ground over the winter, slowly growing until the harvesting of the scapes in June — the “flowers” a treat for farm members, but necessary to send a final burst of energy into the bulb before its harvesting in July. Harvesting took place in two sessions — 4.5 beds last week, the final 1.5 beds earlier this week.
The ground loosened by the digger bar attached to a tractor, our farmers pulled up the garlic by hand — all 16,200 bulbs! —and piled it up on the farm’s new trailer. Towed back to Quail Hill, the trailer was backed up into the barn where, in its shade, farmers clipped the stalks to about 5 inches. Then they sorted the bulbs into three categories: C, the smallest which get distributed to summer share holders every two weeks; B, slightly larger and distributed to winter share holders; and A, the largest which is saved for seeding next year’s crop.
Garlic gets cured to lengthen its shelf life and, some say, enhance its flavor — a process lasting approximately 3 weeks. So for now, we’re enjoying the more mellow, yet delicious, fresh garlic while the bulbs are drying in the racks designed and built by farm member Jon Rose, after researching various curing methods. Thank you, Jon! Do visit the barn and marvel at the 10 racks, their tops covered in chicken wire, the individual bulbs inserted upside down into the holes. When cured, the farmers will bag and hang the garlic in the shop.
In the past, QH farmers bundled the garlic — a messy and time-consuming process — hanging them from the shop’s rafters. The racks are far superior. They allow for better air flow (aided by two large fans and the barn’s four doors fully open) and, requiring less effort, they also cut the time involved by two-thirds. This “found" time allows farmers, in a more relaxed way, to tend to peak season chores: stringing the tomatoes and weeding the sweet potatoes and newly transplanted winter squash.
While harvesting, Bryn, a field coordinator, held up a bulb and remarked that she knew the garlic’s mother and grandmother. As an apprentice in 2024, she harvested that year's crop. Last year, she returned in the fall to help plant and mulch the 2025 cloves. And now, she’s harvested their offspring. Some of the farm’s current garlic goes back generations, the seed carrying on generation after generations of farmers. It’s a cool way for the farm crews of different seasons to communicate with each other. It's the season before that plants, and it's the season after that harvests — which I think is really sweet and symbolic.
Madison Aldrich
Senior Farm Manager, Quail Hill Farm
MAldrich@PeconicLandTrust.org