BSG Is Now Available at Tim & Tom's Speedy Mart

Big Stone Garlic is now seasonally available in grocery stores in 5 states!

The Backhaul process is in motion, and local distribution is growing. These photos were taken at Tim and Tom’s Speedy Market in St. Paul, MN.

Week One of the Backhaul Project

Last week we shipped more garlic as part of UofM Extension's Backhaul Project than we thought we'd ever see leave our farm at one time. Here is an update one week later.

Local garlic from Big Stone Garlic traveled from the farm in Correll, MN to Bonnie's Hometown Grocery in Clinton, MN (yellow)- where it was loaded on a truck and backhauled to Mason Brothers Grocery Wholesale, and transferred to Russ Davis Produce Wholesale (orange). Grocery stores around the region ordered the garlic - here are the shelves where it can be found after week one!

We expect the store locations to multiply, and we are pleased with the initial response - the model worked and got the local garlic out to the stores through backhauling. - Ren Olive, Program Associate, Sustainable Development Partnerships | U of Minnesota Extension

Downloadable List of Retail Stores Selling BSG - Week One (pdf)

4,840 Bulbs of Garlic Are on the Truck Heading Back to the Wholesaler

It's a big week for Big Stone Garlic! After over a year of planning and preparing the first delivery for the Backhaul Project went out from Bonnie's Hometown Grocery on 9/4!!

The Backhaul Project is a collaborative effort with the University of Minnesota Extension Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships (RSDP). The pivot point of this project is a grant titled "Connecting Small and Medium-Sized Farms to Existing Wholesale Markets through Backhauling from Rural Grocery Stores". Here is how the project works: Bonnie's Hometown Market in Clinton, MN gets a delivery from her wholesaler. After the delivery is complete at Bonnie's, there is open space on the delivery truck. Big Stone Garlic drops off garlic prepared for sale to Bonnie's at the time of her wholesale delivery to get the garlic on the delivery truck back to the warehouse and then distributed to groceries in the area. Big Stone Garlic will be available this week in many grocery stores in the 5 State Area!!!

Map of Big Stone Garlic (in green) solid black line is the current distribution route, potential markets shown in purple.