A GARLIC BULB MOMENT
STORY AND PHOTOS BY KRISTIN GRAVES
I am the fifth generation of my family to operate our Wetaskiwin area farm. In keeping with tradition, I have given it my own unique spin in the form of a garlic products business.
The Graves family has tried many forms of agriculture. My ancestors grew broadacre crops from nearly the beginning. To complement grain production, our family has also raised cattle, hogs, pheasants and even peacocks. My parents had a large cow-calf operation in the ’90s and are transitioning many of our wheat and canola acres to alfalfa for hay production.
I spent the first 12 years of my adult life as an X-ray technologist. After seemingly endless nights in a hospital trauma room, I suffered from unchecked PTSD and quit my job. I returned to the farm where I healed and discovered I was destined to grow food.
I care deeply about where and how my ingredients are produced. I grew up in my grandmother’s kitchen eating wholesome meals made from scratch. My mother taught me how to garden, and she preserved each year’s bounty for winter. The way I was raised has led me to believe homegrown food tastes best and this inspired me to build a business to share it.
In the spring of 2017, I launched Fifth Gen Gardens, a community supported agriculture (CSA) program on a quarter acre within the farm’s old cattle pens. CSA programs offer consumers a paid subscription for locally grown produce. This is apportioned to members weekly through the growing season. CSA members enjoy a direct connection with the farmer, who, in turn receives a guaranteed income. In its first year, my CSA provided 15 families with a variety of produce 12 weeks per year. I learned on the job how to process vegetables as well as co-ordinate logistics while learning to operate farm equipment and haul grain. It was wonderful, controlled chaos, but profits were modest. At the end of the growing season, I had to return to the hospital.
For a few years, the business grew, and eventually totalled four acres, fed 80 families per week and supplied many local restaurants. Winter X-ray shifts paid my mortgage while the CSA was more a passion project than profitable business. It proved difficult to earn a sustainable income from the garden over a growing season. This is why so many small-scale farmers hold off-farm jobs outside of the growing season.
I needed a way to create a year-round business. My dad and I tossed around ideas about what a value-added product could look like. Eventually, the idea to sell fresh garlic bulbs evolved into smoked garlic spread, a more shelf stable product. Fifth Gen Gardens now offers 25 garlic-based products. These include spreads, dip mixes and seasonings made with my own horseradish and farm-foraged ingredients such as wild mint, rose petals and spruce tips. My favourite is Ruffed Grouse Poultry Seasoning, which combines garlic scapes, the plant’s flowering stems, with robust herbs and wild highbush cranberries.
The creation of this farm-based business has not been easy. I’ve had to learn the ins and outs of product development, packaging and labelling as well as marketing and sales, both online and at farmers’ markets. It has been an adventure to make Fifth Gen a sustainably profitable endeavour that allows me to indulge my passion for agriculture.
Early on, I was told garlic wouldn’t grow well in Alberta’s tough climate. I’ve never really been one to do as I’m told, so I tried anyway, and was surprised by just how well it does grow. Hardneck garlic, especially, thrives in Alberta. I stick to Russian Red and Music varieties, which are exceptionally flavourful and vigorous. Though I’ve made mistakes along the way, the business has grown. Over seven seasons, my crop has expanded to roughly 75,000 bulbs on five acres. For efficiency, we now use specialized garlic equipment, such as a seeder, finger cultivator and harvester.
It’s a delicate and beautiful dance to co-ordinate the garlic operation with production of the farm’s other crops. When it’s time to seed wheat or canola in the spring, the garlic is already growing. I harvest the garlic scapes just before our second cut of hay in July. The bulbs are usually ready for harvest within the first two weeks of August, which allows me to seamlessly switch to swathing. We work hard through the fall, with my dad in the combine and me in the grain truck. In late October, our final job of the season is to plant the garlic. I then spend winter in the commercial kitchen my father built in our old calving barn when he farmed trout, yet another unique project. I peel, smoke, dehydrate, grind or cook the garlic and heat-age cloves to produce caramelized black garlic, which has a somewhat sweet taste. Once packaged, I sell my products online and at farmers’ markets throughout central Alberta.
People often ask me why I chose garlic. First, the flavour of locally grown bulbs can’t be beat. Also, there is no such thing as too much garlic. Though there are many garlic growers throughout the province, there is still a high demand for quality bulbs for cooking and seeding.
I have shared my journey from scrubs to coveralls on social media, doing my best to be authentic and educate followers about farm life. It has given me community and incredible opportunities. I’ve been a guest on The Trailblazher Podcast, The Rural Woman Podcast and Rural Unrecognized and collaborated with fellow food entrepreneurs to create black garlic macarons, black garlic stout beer and garlic scape hot sauce. Storey Publishing found me on Instagram, and in September 2024, released my book, The Garlic Companion: Recipes, crafts, preservation techniques, and simple instructions to grow your own.
I have become an integral part of my family’s grain and hay operation and continue to find joy in creating flavourful agri-food products of my own. I don’t know exactly what the future holds for our family farm, but I am proud to be a part of it.
To order Fifth Gen products, visit fifthgengardens.ca.
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