Skip to content

Garlic crop rooted in Central Alberta

At a time when most Central Alberta farmers are finishing up their harvest, 18 novice vegetable producers were putting a crop into the ground on Saturday.Garlic — the same cloves you mince and crush into recipes are the cloves you sink into the ground, making sure they go in root-side down, said Mike Kozlowski, who held an educational “garlic planting party” on private land near Fort Normandeau.
Planting Garlic 101023jer
Mike Kozlowski

At a time when most Central Alberta farmers are finishing up their harvest, 18 novice vegetable producers were putting a crop into the ground on Saturday.

Garlic — the same cloves you mince and crush into recipes are the cloves you sink into the ground, making sure they go in root-side down, said Mike Kozlowski, who held an educational “garlic planting party” on private land near Fort Normandeau.

Friends and family members came out to help the 27-year-old plant some 1,000 garlic bulbs, which like tulips, go into the soil in the fall.

In the process, the crew learned something about food production.

“It’s interesting and fun, and I like it,” said Mike’s brother Dave Kozlowski, 25, who believes this area needs more locally grown, nutritious food, like the “holistic, wholesome” vegetables Mike is planning to grow and sell next summer at Wednesday evening farmers’ markets in Red Deer.

Their friend Andy Gartner, also 25, turned up to help plant because he also believes in Mike’s effort.

Gartner has worked on organic farms across Canada and has expressed an interested in forming a work-for-vegetables partnership with Mike Kozlowski. The young Red Deer farming entrepreneur is planning to offer working or non-working shares in his vegetable operation, which will kick into higher gear with other crops that will be planted in the spring.

Shareholders such as Gartner will pay different prices for their vegetables, depending on whether they can commit to working an hour a week on his farm.

“It’s called Community Supported Agriculture,” said Kozlowski, who came to the public’s attention last April, when he set out on his “Steel Pony” bike tour of 18 Alberta sustainable farming operations.

Kozlowski visited various organic producers, including a farm that used horses instead of tractors, and a holistically managed grazing operation. He’s using the knowledge he gained to start his own operation on land donated to him in trade for some of what he grows by Bill and Aline Young.

The Youngs, whose son went to university with Mike, had no problem giving up a few acres of hay land for the experimental farming project.

“We’re interested in what he’s doing for the environment, and we might get some veggies out of it,” said Bill, a Red Deer obstetrician.

On Saturday, Kozlowski taught his helpers, including his parents — a retired school principal and a Catholic school board administrator — to sink the garlic bulbs about a finger’s length into the ground, then rake dirt and mulch over them.

He realizes he’s swimming against the tide by getting into food production. Young people — especially those without farmer parents — are not supposed to want to go into farming, a difficult business to make money at, said Kozlowski.

“The big difference is, we’re not going to be dealing with the commodity market, like selling to the Canadian Wheat Board,” said Kozlowski.

“We’ll be the price makers, instead of the price takers,” he continued, adding he believes “there’s a huge demand for healthy food.”

The young farmer, who also teaches yoga, plans to start small and build a system based on a sustainable work ethic. There are logistical reasons for this, including the fact that Kozlowski doesn’t own a car — by choice — and plans to get his vegetables to Red Deer next summer by his specially adapted bicycle.

“I’ll be travelling six kilometres with a couple hundred pounds of vegetables.”

Kozlowski’s friend Kristen Carlson, a 24-year-old Calgary organic food store worker, supports his efforts to expand awareness of the benefits of chemical-free produce in Alberta, which has fewer organic options than British Columbia and Ontario.

lmichelin@www.reddeeradvocate.com