Have you ever thought about trying to grow something in a garden? Garlic would be fairly easy to start with.
Why garlic?
- Here in the Northeast garlic is planted in the fall after Columbus Day. This means that you are not waiting for a wet spring to end or for snow to melt before you can plant it.
- Garlic doesn’t take a lot of space. Several cloves planted 6 inches apart will give you several heads of garlic.
- It does not need an extensive amount of care. If you give it two or three good weedings, it should do fine. Some water during an extended dry spell is also helpful.
- If you plant a hard-neck variety, you get two harvests: first the scapes in June, then the bulbs in July.
- The garlic bulbs will all tend to mature at the same time so you have a short harvest window.
- If you save your best bulbs, you can use them for seed that fall.
- Eating garlic provides health benefits.
And here is one last fun “fact” about garlic. We like to eat high doses of garlic around full moons*. Why? Lots of websites state that garlic can help kill internal parasites. But we found one medical professional** who believes it is important to treat parasites according to the moon’s phase, based on the fact the parasites will absorb more (of whatever) during that time.
Regardless of whether we are weakening or killing our parasites, it is fun to have a high-garlic-consumption night. So call up a full moon calendar, get some good garlic, and plan your next garlic pizza/bread/whatever meal.
*Two or three times a year; not every full moon!
**Heard first in a podcast (jump to the 50 minute mark), and then going to his website, seeing a whole parasite protocol built around the moon’s schedule. .(TL:DR[Too Long:Did not Read]: “Parasites are progressively more active as the moon goes from half full to full and then for a time as the moon wanes.” page 38.) This is given as information. Please consult your own health professional about using garlic to treat or not treat parasites.