StarkFresh cooks up Garlic Fest for the second year
Tom Phillips, center, executive director of StarkFresh, does a presentation during Garlic Fest in Canton on Saturday, July 13.
StarkFresh’s second annual Garlic Fest was held at the nonprofit’s urban training farm at 613 Rowland Ave. NE near downtown Canton on Saturday, July 13. Tom Phillips, StarkFresh executive director said the idea for the garlic-themed event was born last year when the group realized they had more than 3,000 heads of garlic to harvest and no solid plan in place to make it happen.
“Last year we planted all of our garlic here at this site,” Phillips said. “We never thought about how we would harvest it.”
Using the bumper crop of garlic as a teaching opportunity allowed StarkFresh staff and volunteers to share information about planting, harvesting, preservation and cooking with visitors to the urban farm.
“Like most of our stuff, any time we have an an excuse to come to one of our farms we do that,” Phillips said.
This event, like other StarkFresh open houses give visitors insight into the mission of the advocacy group that is tackling the causes of hunger by creating realistic pathways out of poverty.
Phillips said StarkFresh strives to connect directly with members of the community. Using a listen more and talk less strategy, understanding the needs of a community allows for problem-solving that actually improves the quality of life for local families and individuals.
The 3,000 heads of garlic did eventually get harvested and while that number seems impressive, StarkFresh now sells upwards of 50,000 heads of garlic annually through farmers markets and their Mobile Grocery Market that improves access to fresh, seasonal food with 11 stops in predominantly low-income neighborhoods in Alliance, Canton and Massillon that include senior housing complexes, public housing authority properties, public services centers, permanent supportive housing as well as places that are considered food apartheids.
The Mobile Grocery Market accepts all payment types including cash, credit, debit, WIC, Senior Farmers Market Nutrition vouchers and SNAP/EBT. A $10 match is given for anyone who uses their SNAP card and spends $10, effectively doubling their money and allowing them to purchase more food.
A grower’s cooperative made up of a mix of local farmers, community members and home gardeners provides additional inventory for the Mobile Grocery Market. This allows the producers to earn extra money and keeps the money in the same community it is being spent.
During Garlic Fest, visitors could take self-guided tours or be accompanied by StarkFresh Board President Eva Houghton who highlighted the various aspects of the urban farm, which includes test plots for herbs and vegetables, bee hives and a wood-fired cob oven.
Houghton has been with StarkFresh since its inception in 2012. Between tours of the farm, she offered a variety of garlic-laden products for sale including garlic powder she makes herself with dehydrated cloves of garlic. She adds a little bit of rice flour to prevent caking. “Dehydrating garlic at home means your whole house will smell good,” Houghton said. “That is, if you like garlic.”
Garlic cupcakes, brownies and even garlic ice cream were offered for sale along with several varieties of cured garlic not found in traditional supermarkets.
Phillips took the opportunity to roast a selection of garlic varieties in the cob oven. “Roasting garlic is easy and changes the flavor profile of garlic allowing it to be used in different ways,” Phillips said. “We are offering some educational opportunities at the open house including how to best peel garlic as well as how to cook it, plant it and harvest it based on what visitors to the farm asked of us last year.”
StarkFresh is a collaborator, a facilitator, a mediator and most importantly a leader in the growing local food scene in the region. Through partnerships and persistence, they along with hundreds of community volunteers continue to innovate, educate and find ways to combat systematic poverty and provide equitable food access throughout the region.
In addition to the urban farm on Rowland Avenue, StarkFresh also has garden sites at Edible Park Oasis, the Urban Teaching Farm and Herbruck Park. Learn more at www.starkfresh.org.