The old-fashioned practice of "putting up" your veggies and fruits for winter months is making a comeback. Two weeks ago, a NOFA (Northeast Organic Farm Association)-sponsored canning demonstration was sold out. Although it really is too late to be putting up tomatoes or peaches or blueberries for fresh food in January, you can always put squash under your bed, like some denizens of Franklin County, and buy root veggies in bulk.
If you take none of these measures, think about these interesting options. Two people dedicated to getting you through the winter months are a garlic mogul and a weekly food delivery service. Neither offers services for free, but you should have thought of that in August, when you were mountain biking or white water rafting or hanging out at Cumby Farms instead of putting up your tomatoes and canning peaches.
Introducing the Garlic of the Month Club, owned by Mark Stein of Landmark Farm in Hatfield, and Valley Green Feast, a weekly local food delivery service that started business this summer. Owner Jessica Hardwick uses a veggie-powered cube van to get the food out.
Garlic of the Month Club
Mark Stein grew up in Brooklyn and moved to the Valley over 10 years ago. His farm is called LandMark and he grows garlic—hardnecked garlic, to be exact. A self-described contrarian, he narrowed his crops down to garlic because it is the opposite of other plants. "You plant it when farmers are getting ready for winter," he growls. Doesn't everybody know that?
Valley Locavore: What's the deal with those garlic braids? They never last or they're all rotten when you buy them.
Mark Stein: They're badly stored.
How should you store garlic?
At 50 to 60 degrees, preferably on the low end, some moisture, not too much, and air. Fungi get to garlic and air circulation is necessary.
What about a root cellar?
No.
Why not?
No air circulation and sometimes people's basements are just too moist. You know—a smelly, moldy basement. That is not good for garlic.
What's the deal with sprouted garlic? If you leave it in your fridge—
Don't ever put it in the fridge. There's not enough moisture, and it's too cold. That's probably worse—or as bad—as having garlic in an air-conditioned home.
Why do you grow garlic?
Because I eat a lot of garlic myself. I eat an obscene amount of garlic.
How much is obscene?
You know, three cloves a night with pasta.
How much to join the Garlic of the Month Club?
That's not what it's called.
What is it called?
It's really for garlic lovers. Maybe Garlic Storage Service?
How much to buy garlic for the season?
For the season it's about $8 a pound, unless you work for the Food Bank.
What happens when I run out?
That won't happen. At the beginning of the season, we sit and determine how much garlic you will consume in a week and go from there. I will tell you approximately how many cloves are in a head and how many heads are in a pound and that will determine usage. It's pretty easy.
I'll take eight pounds a month and use my Food Bank discount.
You don't work there.
Right.
Valley Green Feast
Jessica Harwood's Valley Green Feast is a modern-day version of the service provided by milkmen of yore. From behind the wheel of an old U-Haul outfitted with a freezer, Jessica races around the Valley gathering eggs, produce, fruit, cheese, lamb, beef, bread and other local delights in the wee hours. She is responding to orders from customers that have been e-mailed in during the week. Around 10 a.m., she parks near some tobacco fields in Sunderland where the fruits of everyone's labor are distributed into individual boxes for local delivery. By 3 p.m., flats of pears are picked up from a farm to be consumed as a snack at a conference table in West Springfield. Up until several weeks ago, she stopped at Warner's Corn in Sunderland (Mike's Maze) to negotiate bulk purchase for corn, two or four to a box, that will be left on doorsteps from Amherst to Springfield. Cost is approximately $25 for a minimum order with a small delivery charge.
How does she do it? With a vegetable oil-powered truck, a grant of around $3,000 from UMass and the ardor of a true preservationist for ferreting out local food that doesn't stop at zucchini. There are goat cheese, grass-fed beef, lamb, ricotta cheese, prepared soups from the Berkshires, the famous farmed barramundi from Turner's Falls, and bread—also soap. A Cambridge native, active gleaner (picking up leftover fruit and veggies for delivery to the needy) and promoter of local food, Jessica runs a tight ship. This month's winter baskets contain food for preserving to get through the winter months. The baskets include instructions and recipes. Jessica can be reached at www.valleygreenfeast.com."
