When I first started farming I wanted to grow elephant garlic. Not sure where the inspiration came from, but I saw an ad in the Alabama Farmer's Bulletin for some seed garlic grown by an Alabama farmer. When I contacted him he said he had been growing it for years and saving cloves each time to grow more. I think it may have even been in his family for a while. I was excited to get an 'Alabama' garlic and ordered 10 or 20 lbs. That was 2009 or 2010 and it has been a tradition every spring since. Each year we plant the large cloves in the fall, October or November. They grow some during the winter, but take off once spring arrives. The first harvest comes in the form of the tender garlic 'scapes', the unopened blooms. After the buds are taken off the bulbs expand and the leaves eventually start to yellow. We then harvest and dry them to enjoy all year. The biggest and best cloves we save to plant the following fall! God's cycle of life is so amazing and humbling to participate in.
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Elephant Garlic Coming Soon!
About the farm
Rora Valley Farms is located in beautiful rural Coosa County, Alabama and is owned and operated by the Sanders Family and was established in 2009. Currently my wife Dorothy and I (Noah) oversee the vegetable and bakery operations while my cousin Luke Sanders and his wife Kristin oversee the meat and egg production. Our kids help out as well! Here at Rora Valley Farms we strive to produce real food. Many industrial foods today put on a good show, but fail to provide our bodies with the nutrients we need to function properly. When God designed our bodies, He also designed amazing foods to fuel them. But most industrial foods have strayed from that original design, and we have reaped the consequences. Through building healthy, living soil and utilizing natural systems of production and management we strive to harvest food that feeds our bodies, as well as our taste buds.
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