Local farmer is Boone’s Johnny Appleseed of garlic

By Scott Nicholson

nicholson@wataugademocrat.com

Rob Danford was a little surprised to find out he’d become a “garlic guru,” but his varieties of the pungent bulb have spread to various local farms and kitchens.

Danford, who operates a garden on Howard’s Creek Road and also runs local seed swaps in the spring and fall, took time out from digging last week to talk about his passion and the crop with which he’s become synonymous.

“I’ve been told by a couple of people that I’m the one who brought it here,” Danford said. “I feel encouraged that people want to grow it on a larger scale. It’s cool. I just fit into a niche during the time when people were trying to go from tobacco to other commercial crops.”

Danford uses permaculture techniques on his organic garden, planting flowers that draw beneficial insects to the colorful environment he’s created. He also uses composting, solar energy  and other sustainable practices, with a focus on using materials already at hand to keep his garden healthy.

He studied gardening in a Maine college, taught by a student of famed naturalist Yule Gibbons. He developed a love of garlic from his Italian mother.

Though his garden features a variety of vegetables, trees and flowers, it’s the garlic that has launched his reputation and set him up as a modern-day version of “Johnny Appleseed.”

“When I first started selling it, I would sell it to whomever I could find,” Danford said. “I sold it to restaurants and people who would call me up. I sell it by the pound, and I started doing seed swaps. Right now, I don’t even have to try to sell it.”

His main business now is in selling bulbs for seed, including large orders to national catalog-based dealers. Danford said organic garlic is difficult to find, and some of the varieties are pretty rare, since a few varieties grown in California constitute most of the grocery store offerings.

Though garlic brings some income, his primary goal is to raise enough food for his own needs each year. He started growing in the Boone area in 1995, and since then his varieties of organic garlic have been propagated by the Appalachian State University sustainable agricultural farm in Valle Crucis, Lily Patch Farm, commercial organic farmer Charles Church and Maverick Farms. Danford said several growers are now running larger-scale operations than he does, and he’s content on growing and selling seed stock.

He currently has about 20 varieties of garlic, though he said there are probably about 150 types being cultivated. He has about a dozen types of rocambole, the midsized kind that typically have between six and eight cloves per bulb. They have one layer of “paper,” or dried skin, usually making them easier to break apart and peel. Larger “artichoke” types have more cloves, and some, such as elephant garlic, are closer to the leek family and have a milder flavor.

Danford is on a mission to spread garlic varieties so they don’t get lost or die out. He attends an annual Carolina Farm Stewardship Association Conference, where he sells the garlic bulbs to growers all over the Southeast.

Danford can identify practically any type of garlic, especially if he can see it growing. Most garlic creates a flowering top that is cut off from the stalk and used as a spice. There are also “hardneck” and “softneck” types differentiated by the quality of the stalk.

Garlic is planted in the fall, and Danford covers his beds with straw to keep the ground warm in winter and prevent frost from pushing the bulbs out of the ground. He rotates his planting beds with garlic, potatoes and squash in three-year cycles so soil-borne diseases can’t establish themselves. He uses very little fertilizer, mostly a rich brand of dried chicken manure that is sprinkled over the beds.

He’s also constantly on the lookout for new techniques and crops. Right now he’s searching for more “antique” and heirloom apple trees whose fruit are disease free and have developed a natural drug resistant. He said there are probably about 1,500 apple varieties, and some may become lost if they aren’t preserved and propagated.

Danford also dabbles in red peppers, and once sold a case of peppers to a restaurant on the condition that they return all the scraps to him. “I sold the case of peppers for $35,” he said. “Then I dried the seeds and sold them for $185.”

Despite the other vegetables like kale, Brussels sprouts, broccoli and parsley he grows, garlic is his bread and butter. In fact, one of his favorite ways to eat it is to dice a clove, drench it in olive oil, and heat the mixture in a microwave for about 45 seconds. The mixture is then spread over bread.

Garlic has been hailed for his healthful qualities, including antifungal, antibacterial, and antioxidant, cancer-preventing benefits. Danford is also likely to have a safe Halloween, since garlic is one of the mythical protections against vampires. He estimates he eats garlic five or six days a week.