Garlicloves
In 2012 Marchand and Corin planted their first dozen bulbs of Ontario grown garlic at their small farm in Bexley. They were impressed with the size and vigor of the garlic plant, and even more impressed by the superior flavour, pungency, and shelf life of locally grown garlic. Corin and Marchand spent the next three years collecting and planting several unique varieties of garlic. They maintained meticulous sets of data for each variety, and in a very short time, their half acre lot was entirely planted with garlic! Marchand and Corin secured an extra patch of land for the next few years, and continued to work hard to expand their inventory to sell at market.
By the fall of 2017, Marchand and Corin had twenty-four unique varieties, and almost ten thousand cloves to plant! At the last minute, the land they had planned to expand to was no longer available for their use, and they were suddenly prepared to lose most of their inventory with no where to plant. By some miracle, there was a local posting looking to share land and labour to grow an acre field of garlic. Corin and Marchand came alongside the Spearings family, who were able to share valuable insights and education on growing on a larger scale, while providing Garlicloves with labour, equipment, storage, water, food, and friendship.
As of 2021, Garlicloves has relocated from their original location in Bexley to a new location in Minden. Marchand and Corin are excited to continue growing garlic in the Kawartha Lakes region with the Spearings, and are looking forward to continuing to plant in Minden in the upcoming years!
