Showing posts with label organic. Show all posts

Sunday, October 11, 2015

Root Bottom Farm LOVES garlic

Our new license plate arrived.

We love garlic at Root Bottom Farm. Garlic Fest in Asheville was a huge success and a lot of fun.

At Garlic Fest we sold garlic, garlic samplers, our homemade garlic butter, I LOVE Garlic buttons, Root Bottom Farm stickers and root crops.

Root Bottom Garlic Butter. Our organic garlic, our herbs. Great on EVERYTHING

The Spring and Summer gardens have been pulled out, tilled and composted in preparation for our big 2015 garlic planting this week (Projecting about 8,000 bulbs)

This weekend we cracked all 80 lbs into individual pieces to be planted.

We currently grow 13 varieties for garlic. Above: (top L to R) Elephant, Red Russian, Music & Creole Red. We sell our garlic at local farmers markets, Asheville restaurants and online.

Below is a great article from Earth Flavors about Root Bottom Farm and all things garlic. https://mountainx.com/food/hardnecks-and-softnecks-talking-garlic-with-root-bottom-farm/

Hardnecks and softnecks: Talking garlic with Root Bottom Farm

Posted on October 3, 2015 by Carla Seidl

THE SPICE OF LIFE: The two basic categories of garlic are hardneck and softneck, and there are numerous varieties running the flavor gamut from mild to spicy-hot. Photo by Carla Seidl

“Garlic can be hot or spicy,” says Sarah Decker of Root Bottom Farm in Marshall. “Or it can be hot AND spicy.” In their 12-variety garlic sampler, she and husband Morgan sell varieties with names like Thai fire, Sicilian silver and German red.
“I like the heat, and I like the robust flavor that you can get while cooking,” says Sarah. In contrast, the garlic you buy in the supermarket is milder, with a less complex flavor. As she puts it, it’s “consumer-safe.”
There are two general categories of garlic: hardneck and softneck. Hardnecks have an edible stalk, called a scape, growing through the center of the bulb. You can eat the scape raw or sautée it. “It’s almost like a bean — a garlic bean,” says Morgan.
Supermarket garlic is usually of the softneck type, which stores longer than hardneck and lacks the hardneck’s defining scape. California silverskin is the most common supermarket variety and has extra-good shelf life due to its tightly wrapped skins. Hardneck is more commonly found at farmers markets.
Garlic’s health-promoting reputation is deserved: It has anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-inflammatory properties as well as cardiovascular benefits. In addition, it’s rich in trace minerals manganese and selenium, as well as a variety of other vitamins.
In her book, Eating on the Wild Side, Jo Robinson recommends either eating garlic raw or letting it rest for 10 minutes after chopping or pressing before adding it to your cooking in order to reap maximum health benefits. While any kind of garlic is good for you, Robinson explains that hardneck garlic, being closer to wild garlic, may have retained more medicinal properties.
Before starting Root Bottom Farm four years ago, Morgan Decker farmed garlic in Vermont and Utah. Sarah was a photography professor and grew up on a small farm in Virginia, where her dad hunted and raised animals and had a small garden. “I like eating food that I know the source of,” she says.
The Deckers farm 5 1/2 acres of bottomland along a creek. Such flat land is rare in hilly Madison County. The property was formerly a tobacco farm, which the couple revitalized over a two-year period with, among other efforts, 65 trips to the landfill.
The couple farm organically, spraying nothing, and not even using a tractor. They even plant by the moon — a habit that comes from Sarah’s father and to which Morgan has agreed, though qualifying, “only if it works out.” So far, it’s always worked out.

VARIETY PACK: With their 12-variety garlic sampler packs, Root Bottom Farm owners Sarah and Morgan Decker hope to spread the word about the many types of garlic that can be grown in Western North Carolina. Photo by Carla Seidl

Still, the lack of a true cold snap in this area can be challenging for garlic, especially hardnecks, and the Deckers have found it’s best to leave some varieties to the folks in Maine and Minnesota. “This is kind of on the warmer side of the garlic-growing spectrum,” Morgan says, “so you have to choose the right varieties.”
Normally, garlic undergoes a curing process, in which the paper skins become fully formed for storage and the flavor intensifies. The Deckers cure their garlic in the rafters of the old tobacco barn, but they also start to sell garlic as soon as they dig it up (in June or July, depending on the variety). Morgan says fresh garlic is juicier. He explains that chefs, especially, like it because freshly dug garlic’s paper isn’t fully formed, so they don’t have to go to the trouble of peeling the skin off each clove.
Garlic’s ability to store means the Deckers don’t have to sell their garlic right away. Softneck garlic can be stored in a cold, dark, dry environment for six months, hardneck for three to five. With the right conditions, they can last all winter in a cellar or fridge. “We like the longevity that root crops provide,” says Sarah.
The couple specialize in root crops and grow carrots, potatoes and beets, in addition to garlic, but they also grow and sell other crops, including microgreens, berries, herbs and flowers.
“We like to use everything,” Sarah says. From leftover, small garlic bulbs not big enough to sell for seed or consumption, she started making an organic, herbed garlic butter, which is one of their main value-added products.
The Deckers want people not just to buy and eat their garlic cloves but also plant them. They sell their garlic sampler in part to spread the varieties of garlic that do well here and to keep the diversity of garlic strains alive.
Reading the descriptions on Root Bottom Farm’s garlic sampler, I’m especially intrigued by their Music variety: “An aromatic, slightly spicy, incredibly flavorful garlic. Potent heat that is balanced by the spiciness. Good in mashed potatoes.”
I will have to catch up with them again soon to try it out.
Find Root Bottom Farm at the West Asheville or Mars Hill tailgate markets, or visit rootbottomfarm.com.
This story was originally posted at Earth Flavors, a website profiling local ingredients in Asheville and Western North Carolina. Carla Seidl is the founder and producer of Earth Flavors.

Sunday, September 20, 2015

Root Bottom Farm at Asheville's Garlic Fest & Venture Local Fair

We are so excited to be a part of Asheville's inaugural Garlic Fest and Venture Local Fair. Come on down to the South Slope of Asheville Saturday 26 from 12-6pm. See you there!

Root Bottom Farm will be selling Garlic Butter, garlic, I ❤︎ GARLIC buttons & our Garlic Samplers.

Check out the Venture Local Fair site for more information: http://venturelocalfair.com/

Saturday, June 13, 2015

Only a few tickets left: Root Bottom Farm's Farm to Table Dinner Series almost sold out

Come join Root Bottom Farm for a delicious 100% local meal in beautiful Madison County, NC.

The food is harvested that day, organic and locally grown just yards from your seat.

Farmers stand produce is available for purchase.

Vegetarian & Gluten Free options available.

Tickets are $50 a plate.

Includes a farm tour and an after dinner musical performance.

100% Root Bottom Farm meal. 2014

SATURDAYS

JULY 11

AUG 8 SOLD OUT

SEPT 5

FARM TOUR 6:00pm

DINNER 7:00pm

Tickets available for purchase.
Please contact us at rootbottom@gmail.com.

We are so excited to collaborate with our talented local friends.

100% Local Madison County cuisine prepared by local chef and Blessed to Cook owner, Dava Melton https://www.facebook.com/pages/Blessed-2-Cook/518754864829979?fref=ts

Bread by Smoke Signals Baking http://smokesignalsbaking.com/

Meat & eggs from Dry Ridge Farm http://dryridgefarm.org/

After dinner musical performance by West of Roan.
Fiddles and singing, magic and marionettes. https://www.facebook.com/westofroan

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Spring Farm. April - Week 2

rootbottomfarm, farmtotable, visitasheville

It is never too early to plan that trip to Asheville this Summer and to come visit Root Bottom Farm. We would love to save a seat at the table for you. More information at www.rootbottomfarm.com

~ ~ ~

Another busy week on a springtime farm. Perennials are starting to make their appearance. We are keeping busy with weeding, reclaiming beds, seeding and planting transplants. The sun is warm and it is great to be outside in the dirt. We are grateful for this life we get to live.

The first asparagus has made an appearance. We have over 250 three year old plants in the ground. This year, we get to start cutting, eating and selling it. For 15 years!

Strawberries are weeded and looking great. Over 350 plants will produce this season.


Nature is cool. Little seedlings break through.

Hardy Kiwis can take up to 4 years to establish and fruit...AND they can last up to 50 years!! We just got these babes in the mail.

Morgan and Justin weeding the blackberries.

It is going to be a big year for berries. Any work done now helps with their growth and our harvest.

Reclaiming and planting in "Jill's garden". This year we planted wild flower seeds, gladiolas and dahlias.


When friends visit from NYC, they borrow your clothes. Come back soon, Click!

Transplanting in the new field. We planted collards, kale, broccoli & chard.

Pretty chard.

Transplants

We had another wave of dandelions in the yard, so we made another two gallons of dandelion wine.

Photo by Justin Weas

I love Spring. So much life is just below the ground.


Gourds from last year were dried over the winter and processed this spring. We are going to sell them to local artists who make bird houses and art pieces with them. Not pictured: Another three bins.