‘My own private garlic party’

PRIEST RIVER — In the hill country north of the Pend Oreille River, hundreds convened on the lawn of Snow Valley Garlic Farm this past weekend for A Taste of Garlic — a celebration of things bold, bulbous, and surprisingly unique.

The site is Idaho’s largest garlic farm, and where Nina Messner grows 28 varieties of organic garlic to sell to customers across the country.

“They're all different, and that's what blows people's minds,” said Messner, who signs her emails as “Boss Garlic Hag.”

“Not all garlics bite,” she added. “Some kind of dance around your mouth. Some will be mellow and then sneak up on you … Some just go, ‘Bam! Hello, I'm garlic, and you know it.’”

According to Messner, almost all supermarket garlic is an artichoke variety of a softneck subspecies that keeps for up to 10 months in storage. Because Snow Valley harvests without the use of large-scale machinery and ships bulbs fresh, Messner’s offerings can be more diverse.

“It's very labor intensive,” Messner said of her process, which begins with planting in mid-October.

“We want it to be cold, so we put our big girl pants on and get out there,” she said.

Come April, leafy scapes emerge, and Messner and her team take a month and a half to weed the fields. The scapes are eventually cut and sold (“That diverts the energy back down to the bulb,” said Messner) and bulbs are harvested and hung up to cure for three weeks.

After the nine-month process is complete, Messner ships out her product for garlic enthusiasts to integrate into a host of unique dishes.

When asked about the best applications for garlic, Messner replied, “Anything, really.” She suggested adding the vegetable to corn on a cob, popcorn, or a baked potato.

“We put it on our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches a couple of years ago and thought that was the bomb,” she said.

The unique flavor profiles of different varieties are most pronounced when garlic is uncooked. “We eat most of ours raw because we want to have that flavor,” said Messner. “We want to have that that crunch, kind of like a water chestnut.”

In addition to cooking with the crop, some of Messner’s customers place orders intending to plant the produce and start a garden — like Messner did in 2013 when she bought a box of 15 cloves from a nearby farm.

“I didn't know anything about garlic. I just thought, ‘Oh, this will be a fun plant,’” said Messner.

After a promising result in her first year, she expanded her catalog to include more varieties; over time the harvest doubled, and doubled again, until the farm became a full-time commitment.

“I think last year we planted 50,000 (cloves),” said Messner. “It's so rewarding for me. I was a paralegal for 10 years. I was a mortgage broker for 17 years … but my one constant is that I've always been a gardener.”

“It wasn't that I picked it,” Messner said of becoming a garlic farmer. “It's just that I planted some and I literally fell in love with the plant.”

Since 2016, A Taste of Garlic has been held to educate attendees about garlic’s versatility and the difference organic farming and fresh produce makes. “I get hundreds of people that come out here and tell me, ‘You've ruined me. I can't buy store-bought garlic anymore!’” said Messner.

More than anything, though, it’s a way for Messner to share her passion for a unique and exceptional plant. “It’s my own private garlic party,” she said.

When the party is over, however, it’s back to work. For the next two weeks, Messner will work in the fields until midnight with a headlamp and a propane heater to prepare next year’s crop and meet her growing demand.

“I think the word’s out,” Messner said of Snow Valley’s popularity. “I didn’t really imagine it would be like this, but it’s been a great ride and a fun journey — I get to garlic-fy the world!”

    Customers line up in front of a shed to purchase Snow Valley's organic garlic  Saturday.