I've heard the saying "out of the frying pan and into the fire" many times in my life, but never really paid much attention to it. This weekend, however, I have to take it seriously.

The reason: Today was the final day of the North Prairie Farmers' Market in Minot and tomorrow Ilene and I are planting garlic.

Normally, we like to take it easy for a while after we've worked at the market. As I've mentioned before in this blog, there's brisk business in Minot and it tires us out by the end of the day.

Unfortunately, we aren't going to be able to rest on that seventh day because in October in North Dakota we have to take advantage of decent weather when we have it.

There's a chance of rain for Sunday, but the garlic has to get planted, rain or shine because I know that in two weeks our temperatures are going to be considerably colder.

And, we have a lot of garlic to plant. And this is the reason I'm willing to get up at the crack of dawn on an October Sunday morning and get out in the field to put the crop in.

The demand for organic garlic is growing so rapidly, we can't hardly keep up with it. In 2005, we harvested 60 bulbs. In 2007, we harvested 325 bulbs. In 2008, we harvested 960 and now we are going to plant at least 2,000.

It's amazing how we have seen this demand increase right before our eyes. 

Garlic is an expensive crop to manage, but it is certainly worth it to our customers. In fact, we sell our certified organic, hardneck  garlic at a premium price compared to the softneck varieties sold in the local supermarkets. 

We know this but we have to cover our cost of seed, labor and harvesting. But customers are willing to pay the premium because they tell us our garlic is far superior than what they would get in the supermarket. That makes me feel as good as the sale.

We're not really sure where this is going, but we're going to continue growing numerous varieties of the European hardnecks. We actually think that North Dakota is just beginning to realize how healthy organic garlic really is and we hope to be the supplier for many years to come. 

The bottom line is, we will have garlic for our customers at North Prairie Farmers' Market in 2009. But first, it has to be planted. I hope I can finish the task before the Rays/White Sox game is on TV. Go Tampa Bay.