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SEATTLE, WA by Barbara Adams, www.BarbaraBerstAdams.com
Spokane, Washington lies sandwiched between the Cascade and Rocky Mountains, where open fields rise to stunning peaks, and old-growth forests and deserts can be found in between. Here, one can find reminders of a strong long-ago farming history before corporate agriculture settled in. This land of ponderosa pine is caressed with four distinct seasons, and thanks to Charley and Ginny Hein, it has its own nearby organic gourmet garlic farm, with an interesting sideline cottage industry. Charley's Farm is a certified organic farm producing rare heirloom garlic varieties not found in grocery stories. Their garlic types are far too fragile for commercial growing, and are hand harvested and cleaned.

Starting with just four varieties in 1997, they've slowly increased their offerings over the years, making sure new crops produce well before marketing them.

Currently, 21 of their varieties are available to customers. "We grow 30 but only have 21 offered for sale," Ginny said. "This is because some years, certain varieties don't do as well as expected, or the gophers will get to some areas. Also, we have to make sure we have enough seed each year and we are building up our stock further in some areas before we sell."

Customers have a tantalizing list of unusual garlic to choose from. These farmers' current favorite is Georgian Crystal. "It has a large bulb with a small number of cloves, so the cloves are very large," Ginny said. "It is also easy to peel and of course the taste is great. It also seems the easiest for us to grow in this climate. Customers also have commented at the beauty of the bulb, size and taste."

Their second favorite is Persian Star. "If you like a hot raw garlic this is the one to get," Ginny said. "It is also unusual looking due to its purple outer skins. The shelf life is a little longer than the porcelains."

Ginny described their third favorite as Silver White because, as a softneck, it has a longer shelf life than any of the hardnecks. Ginny explained further, "The flavor is milder, so it makes a good one to use raw in salads. We also eat this raw for medicinal reasons. People in southern states have an easier time growing the soft necks and this is one of their favorites. My sister likes this one better to roast since she has a hard time cutting the top off of a hardneck."

Other varieties include enticing names such as Killarney Red, Rosewood Chesnok Red, and Carpathian Romanian Red.

Charley and Ginny started their farm eight years ago, although for Charley, it wasn't his first attempt at organic agriculture. Charley previously had an organic farm for five years near the tiny town of Republic in northern Washington about 18 years ago. "This is a new adventure for me," said Ginny. "I do the computer backup stuff. Charley has also had jobs on farms during high school and college. He majored in agricultural education and was an Ag teacher in a high school. He also works now as a gardener for the state of Washington. He was one of the first in the state to use organic methods at his site."

Charley's Farm has also begun producing birdhouses for bluebirds, swallows, wrens, finches and chickadees as a sideline product which was inspired by their desire to find organic pest control. "We have mostly bluebird and swallow houses on our property and they do a fantastic job," Ginny said. "We don't have a mosquito problem at all most of the time though we live close to wetlands. We credit this to the birds." The Heins then began noticing other pleasures of having birdhouses around their property, such as watching them raise their young. "Since Charley has downtime in the winter," Ginny said, "he wanted something that he could do then. He also was disappointed that the birdhouses found in many stores are not the correct size or have had paint or stain applied which is not good for the birds." So the thought of building birdhouses for others emerged. "We have 15 birdhouses on our 20 acres," Ginny said. "He was making those anyway so why not make some more. Birds are the cheapest method of organic pest control." The Hein's birdhouses allow people to watch the young birds grow up. A front panel door slides down easily for viewing, and another piece of wood attached at the opening makes the hole deeper and creates better protection against larger predator birds that are trying to enter the hole. The houses are made of untreated western red cedar, with vent and drain holes, and galvanized nails and screws.

Charley's Farm allows customers to purchase any variety they choose by the pound, and they also sell samplers, where each variety is labeled. Customers may also choose from larger sizes to lesser quality and size for a reduced cost. They sell both to those who want to plant and grow their garlic, and those seeking it just for culinary purposes.

Last year, their crop again sold out a month after harvest. Their marketing strategy includes their attractive web site. Here, their friendly and easy-to-navigate site lists their bulb varieties, prices, ordering instructions, their other products, and offers useful information on how to grow garlic. Other marketing strategies are also in play, as Ginny explained. "We market our birdhouses mostly by word of mouth," she said. "We do not pay to advertise these on the Internet since it really is a sideline." However, garlic appears to be something that's worth paid advertising for the Heins. "We advertise our garlic on Google since that is a pay-for-click type of advertising and we can limit the search words to people who are growing garlic and that reduces our overall advertising costs." For those interested in the pay-for-click option, Ginny gave some advice. "Pay-for-click type advertising has been our best source of advertising for the garlic. But (target) search words as much as possible to reduce costs, like (using) "growing garlic" instead of just "garlic," since with garlic we got a lot of clicks but few buyers."
Although the Heins don't set up a stand anywhere nor sell wholesale (they prefer the higher prices of direct sales), they sell out their garlic crop each year this way.

At this point in time, they describe their birdhouse sideline as in the beginning stages, still more a labor of love. The birdhouses, though, can sometimes draw customers from search engines without the pay-for-click option, although this doesn't seem to be the main source of sales for their houses. "We do have the birdhouses listed in our keywords for the website so it is listed on search engines (for which there is no charge), but there are so many places that have birdhouses listed that we are very low on the list so most people don't look that far down." So far, word of mouth has worked best for their birdhouses.

Link exchanges have also been somewhat helpful. "We have also exchanged links with Organic Gardening Magazine," Ginny said, "and a few other sites which does bring us some business. Such exchanges are usually free when certain conditions are met. For Organic Gardening Magazine, Ginny explained, "They post our link if our site agrees with their organic standards and if we also post a link to their site. We get a small number of customers from this."

Charley's Farm, being certified organic, utilizes strict organic growing techniques. "We buy blood meal, fish meal, rock phosphates and as a cover crop we till in buckwheat," Ginny said. They used to buy composted steer manure and peat moss but these have fallen out of favor in the organic arena.

As time goes on, the Heins are actually using less soil amendments than they did before. "The other nice thing about garlic is that it does not deplete the soil like some crops, so we no longer need to add as much as when we were first starting out," Ginny said. "Tilling in the buckwheat seems to help the most. We use a three-year crop rotation. So for two out of the three years, the bed grows buckwheat. Charley tills it in the minute it starts to flower. We often can do three buckwheat crops a year like this."

Their area of Washington State is similar to many American climates: summers are hot and winters are cold. The Heins plant their garlic in October, putting grass hay mulch over their planted areas. Garlic leaves begin to emerge in March, and harvest usually begins in July. Two or three weeks before harvest, they discontinue watering.

The garlic and birds nurtured by Charley and Ginny in Spokane, Washington, add one more brick to the foundation of a new American dream of a sustainable country. Near their farm, those remnants of past agriculture can be vividly seen in a building known by locals as "The Red Shed." It houses a non-profit museum of the area's agricultural history from 1850 - 1950, displaying artifacts and machinery in its 5000 square foot hands-on educational center. As Charley's Farm expands and diversifies, gently and carefully, they are carving their way into a new future history of Spokane, and America's local food and organic farming revival, similar to a past of abundance, but with new discoveries and shared wisdom from around the world.
Charley's Farm Web Site: www.charleysfarm.com