Hardneck Garlic News

We are Partnering in an Exciting Project with the U of MN

Posted on September 2, 2017 by Les Olson

Big Stone Garlic is excited to be part of a Backhauling pilot project with the University of Minnesota Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems group. The projecy leverages our existing network of rural grocery stores and wholesale suppliers to back-haul locally grown produce on emptied wholesale trucks for redistribution through wholesale markets. This project gives Big Stone Garilc greater access to…

Welcome to Big Stone Garlic’s 2017 Season!

Posted on August 15, 2017 by Les Olson

Welcome to Big Stone Garlic’s 2017 Season! Thank you to all of you who stopped in to see us at the 2017 MN Garlic Festival. It was great to see so many familiar faces and make new acquaintances. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Minnesota’s Garlic Festival, it is a festival created by the Central Minnesota Sustainable Farming…

The 2016 Harvest is Complete and the Store is Open!

Posted on September 13, 2016 by Les Olson

This season we are proud to offer two more varieties-Belarus and Inchelium. Belarus is a Purple Stripe hardneck, and Inchelium is our first foray into the world of softneck garlic. After experimenting with the new varieties, we found that both the Belarus and the Inchelium are delicious when used fresh-sliced on toast, grated on a salad, in salsa, salad dressing…

Our 2015 Award Winning Hardneck Seed Garlic is Still Available

Posted on October 2, 2015 by Les Olson

We were pleased to see that we made the local paper for Big Stone Garlic’s award at the Minnesota Garlic Festival this year. Our German Red Hard Neck Garlic weighed in at 4.66 ounces and was the largest garlic head in the Rocambole category. The Minnesota Garlic Festival is the premier event for lovers of garlic, great local foods and…

We had a Great Time at the Minnesota Garlic Festival!

Posted on August 31, 2015 by Les Olson

We are having an exciting season at Big Stone Garlic! Our harvest in July brought some of our most beautiful garlic, yet. In August we were vendors at the 10th Annual Minnesota Garlic Festival in Hutchinson, MN. And, our German Red won First Prize in the garlic growing contest for “Biggest Rocambole”! This year we are also selling garlic locally on twincitieslocalfood.com. Twin Cities Local Food is a great online farmers market for people in the Twin Cities.

Summer is Here and so are the Garlic Scapes!

Posted on July 29, 2015 by Les Olson

The field is full of the beautiful pigtail curlicues. So, our kitchen is full of the smell of garlic scapes-roasted, sautéed, in pesto and soup. Lots have been chopped and used like green onions, adding a mild garlic treat to mashed potatoes, casseroles and salads. Here are some recipes to get you started using your garlic scapes: Garlic Scape Pesto…

Pics from Garlic Harvest 2015

Posted on July 27, 2015 by Les Olson

Sustainable Farming!

Posted on January 25, 2015 by Les Olson

Last week we attended a Sustainable Farming Meeting in Milan (not the one in Italy) We got signed up to be a part of Sustainable Farming! There were a few drawings for prizes, and I got to help with the drawing. My cousin even won a head massaging thing. January 25, 2015

Breaking Ground

Posted on January 24, 2015 by Les Olson

This year we are growing a new variety called Inchelium Red. It is the mildest variety that we are currently growing. I ate some raw during planting. It was good! This year we are planting our garlic in a newly and slowly reclaimed yard right behind our garlic shed (with trees 20 feet tall and weeds 6 feet high!), Right…

Fun Times Selling Garlic at the Maple Grove Farmers Market

Posted on January 20, 2015 by Les Olson

We had a fun run at the Maple Grove Indoor Farmers Market. The indoor market runs from November through March. Big Stone Garlic is sold out for the season, but there are still vendors with fresh produce and bakery items and lots of other goodies available. There is always live music, too! If you are in the Minneapolis area, check…

Our First Garlic Booth Ever

Posted on October 5, 2014 by Les Olson

We took part in the Big Stone County Harvest Festival and had our first-ever booth at Big Stone Apple Ranch. It was so much fun talking garlic with visitors and other vendors.

Beautiful Big Stone County

Posted on October 4, 2014 by Les Olson

Aunt Sheila enjoyed the Big Stone Harvest Fest with us. She took some time to photograph the beautiful fall landscape. She was so absorbed in the scenery that it took her two hours to travel the 12 miles between our farm and Ortonville. Here are a few of her shots. Click for larger image