Bloosqualls Garlic Farm

January 1, 2010...happy new year folks. 

I wish tell ya'll about what I read on a bottle of garlic capsules a few weeks ago.  I was reading the back when I saw "this is made from allicin potential garlic".  This means that they really have no idea if this stuff has any of the good chemicals in it or not. I would really think that it doesn't because heat kills the stuff that is supposed to be good for you.

I make my own garlic powder, The raw cloves get dehydrated at around 125 degrees, probably hot enough to destroy anything good. What do you think they do to this garlic to get it into a capsule ??? 

The picture of a garlic bulbs on the bottle is of an artichoke variety. Studies have shown that the porcelain has the highest amounts of this good chemical. I would bet the farm that the artichoke variety they are using comes straight from china which is crap to say the least. I read an add in some magazine that said this company has all this scientific studies showing how their product is the very best in garlic capsules.  I shall write them and ask to see said research and really dig in to see if what they say is true.

Now it does say in mice type that these claims have not been evaluated by the FDA. When I know more about this I'll update this blog.

-bloo

It's darn cold out now, I got all the cloves in the ground three weeks ago so now it's wait til March to see anything exciting. This gives me some time to cruise around online and look at other garlic sites...see what's new and interesting.

One thing I noticed is the higher cost of "organic" seed bulbs. This really cracks me up to think that somebody would pay $16.95 lb for an organically grown garlic bulbs compared to the exact same thing for $2.00 less.These two bulbs were from the same company and on the same page...side by side. Let me say this, IT IS THE EXACT SAME GARLIC BULB. I know about the organic movement...yeah yeah yeah...I've been reading about it and practicing it for years now.

I can see being concerned with pesticides being sprayed on your tomatoes but the fertilizer being used to grow your seed bulbs really shouldn't be real high on your worry list. I have also been reading about studies being done on various fruits and the nutritional values. One was on apples, one was picked from an organic tree and one was picked from a non organically grown tree...guess what they found...it's the same apple.

Being a grower for a few years now, I have pondered selling some of what I grow to the big box garlic outlets, I just about did this year until I saw they raised their price up to $18.00 lb.  I have seen how these places say they have certified organic bulbs, If I sold some of mine to one of these places and they sold them along with whatever else they grew or bought from somebody else.. I'm not certified organic...see where I'm headed here. 

Do you think the shipping guy over at www.bigboxgarlic.com is going to separate them ?

I'm certainly not saying you must buy your garlic from me or anybody else just be aware of what's really happening and don't get suckered.

-bloo 

yep, I'm almost done with the part I hate doing the most. Ask any of the bigger garlic guys what they think of planting...it's sucks. after the first 2,000 or so it becomes work and way less enjoyable.

I made some changes to my opening statement on the front page of my site recently, I did this because I have been reading some other sites and they all say the same thing...something like "we grow only the finest garlic" bla bla bla. Everybody can't have the finest garlic out there so I'm going to say that may garlic is good, maybe not the best or finest but I think it's pretty good. 

I'm tired of foo foo bullshit on garlic sites, If you have seen a few of them then you'll know what I mean by that. so from now on If anybody can find foo foo stuff on my site please tell me about so I can make a change. 

Thanks for reading this rant..

-bloo

Well, I must say I hate the selection of fonts this new blog page offers. anyway, I'll quite bitching...I have started planting Romanian..I have 1,350 in the ground now. I was going to cut way back on the numbers but I really like the romans so I'll grow a few more.  I ate a clove last night, I was sure surprised at the mildness of it over what I experienced 2 years ago when I first bought them.  Next to get broken up is the Estonian I got from Karen. These bulbs are monsters, I should have enough of the Estonian to go around next year. don't know yet how many there will be. I count them after they're planted. I have like 10 new varieties this year. I forgot what they are but I'll write about them when I'm planting. 

Oh, one more thing...I tried the Bavarian Purple...holy shit that stuff is sooo hot. It burned my freakin stomach after I swallowed it. No wonder I was a little sore that night.

I was thinking today while I was out driving around...I had a guy buy some German White from me for $4.00 lb. I wanted what he had so I made the deal.  He is going to sell them at the farmers market next week. I thought to myself, This man thinks of my garlic as just another commodity.  I'm a little hurt by this to be honest with ya'll.

I put each clove in the ground with my fingers, I do everything to make sure this garlic is perfect. Selling such fine stuff to be eaten instead of planted just doesn't seem right to me.

-bloo 

Thank you to everybody that has ordered and already received the garlic. Ebay has been pretty good so far directing people to this site. I think of it as cheap advertising.  There is still a lot of of most everything except for the German White...that's popular this year I guess.

I'm just sitting back waiting for the bulbs to fill out, This is the time of year I dislike the most....everything is happening underground so there is nothing to see.  

I was out walking the rows and found the Metechi is starting to grow some scapes....YAYYY.  I most carefully pulled a few out and ate them fresh from the plant. fresh scapes are awesome. 

I believe this is going to be my best year yet, here at home the plants are huge..huge plants grow big bulbs....I'm excited.

The German White, Music, Klaver, Geo, Russian and Romanian all look great. Sorry, no Russian or Romanian for sale this year. I want to build these up so I can offer several thousand in 2011. I'll probably sell a few in 2010.

Despite all the rain the plants are getting big, next week is supposed to be nicer so I'm expecting more awesome growth. Last month I found about 500 Chesnok plants had been chewed on by something over the winter so that's a real bummer...those were the ones I was going to keep for seed...no, I'm kidding. I have no idea which bulbs I'll be keeping until they're out of the ground and cured.

The Estonian is by far the biggest of everything...I should get pictures of this huh...hold on,  I'll go take some... 

I guess you really can't see very much there other than a bunch of green leaves. Here is another one of the whole home field.

The kidwell plants started out a little on the puny side but are now doing great.

I guess that's it for now. much weeding to be done.