Garlic is Life by Chester Aaron. 3.5 stars.
Maybe I'm a bit chintzy with the star rating as I found this a very good book, a quick, delightful read. But I would have liked a bit more depth, more personal stuff, though I suppose private happenings of his life were not his intention with this little book, so I am not being fair.
The author is a retired writer/professor living and farming in the Sonoma, CA area. Growing garlic is happenstance as he is renting a place owned by Gilroy Garlic growers of the famed Gilroy Garlic Festival. Not satisfied with merely the California White grown and distributed all over the country, he experiments with some heirloom varieties from other countries that are gifted to him, ending up with 32 varieties. Lots of memories of growing up with Russian/Polish garlic loving parents are shared, and a bunch of recipes, some of which I can't wait to try.
As garlic growers ourselves (we've grown a bunch of the varieties mentioned in the book), both my husband and I really enjoyed reading about his method of growing the bulbs, his efforts to thwart the garlic-loving gophers that are rampant in the area. Very much recommended, along with getting yourself to a local garlic festival to sample some of the wonderful heirloom varieties. If you are a garlic lover, of course.
By the way, he started this new career at the age of 69!
Maybe I'm a bit chintzy with the star rating as I found this a very good book, a quick, delightful read. But I would have liked a bit more depth, more personal stuff, though I suppose private happenings of his life were not his intention with this little book, so I am not being fair.
The author is a retired writer/professor living and farming in the Sonoma, CA area. Growing garlic is happenstance as he is renting a place owned by Gilroy Garlic growers of the famed Gilroy Garlic Festival. Not satisfied with merely the California White grown and distributed all over the country, he experiments with some heirloom varieties from other countries that are gifted to him, ending up with 32 varieties. Lots of memories of growing up with Russian/Polish garlic loving parents are shared, and a bunch of recipes, some of which I can't wait to try.
As garlic growers ourselves (we've grown a bunch of the varieties mentioned in the book), both my husband and I really enjoyed reading about his method of growing the bulbs, his efforts to thwart the garlic-loving gophers that are rampant in the area. Very much recommended, along with getting yourself to a local garlic festival to sample some of the wonderful heirloom varieties. If you are a garlic lover, of course.
By the way, he started this new career at the age of 69!
