11/23/06
We are staying on the Sunrise Farm – our hosts are Kathy, Bob and Darryl. They produce commercial organic garlic on the farm and we arrived right in the middle of the harvest. The garlic had already been pulled from the fields

and we set to cleaning in preparation for drying. The garlic is beautiful and large Russian Garlic (also sold as Elephant Garlic in the States)

and they process it by cutting the stalks and root and peeling the outer skin to get a beautiful white color. It is a time consuming process that is best done in a group – better for conversation and a production line approach.
Anna liked to get up early and help Darryl peel.

We worked in the shade with the entire group which made things go quite quickly.

Our conversations revealed that Darryl was a native Australian while Bob and Kathy were both born in England. Bob and Kathy both have long Steiner backgrounds – Kathy is a Waldorf teacher and Bob has a lot of experience with biodynamic farming. They work the farm collectively and share cooking duties as well. We have been helping with preparing dinner (tacos, spaghetti and lentil burgers have been our contributions so far) as well as working on the farm. We put in 4-5 hours per day and have weekends off. We will probably stay here for another week or so and then move to another farm nearby for more work.