When an author is looking to be published for the first time, he she or they will send off a pitch or a manuscripts to agents and publishing houses. The author will wait. The author will get rejection letters, or no replies at all. The author will try again, and again.
For Wetaskiwin-area author and farmer Kristin Graves, her deal with Massachusetts-based Storey Publishing came at the result of her very garlicky Instagram account.
Graves comes from a family of farmers, who have raised cattle and grown grain. But she’s the first to grow garlic. She makes garlic products, sells directly to many Edmonton-area restaurants and also appears at local markets.
She posted a photo of herself in a gold sparkle dress on Instagram, standing in front of a 20-foot high, 100-foot long wall of garlic.
“I wanted to show that a woman could be a farmer and keep her femininity,” she says. “I wanted to promote women in agriculture.”
It attracted the attention of the publisher, and a book deal was made. Fast forward in time, and The Garlic Companion is now on shelves. It features wonderful photography, a history of how garlic has spread through the globe, the different varieties of hardbulb and softbulb garlic, and, of course, garlic recipes.
She writes about how garlic was used as currency by the ancient Egyptians, or how the Greeks used to hang garlic in birthing rooms as an offering to the Gods.
But the act of growing garlic in Alberta is groundbreaking. It’s been long thought we don’t have the climate for it.
“When I tell people I’m a garlic farmer, there are a lot of raised eyebrows.”
And, yes, many softer varieties could never survive here. Graves says she’s grown as many as nine varieties in one growing season, but that it’s “pretty chaotic.” She says the two best varieties for her farm are both hardbulbs, Red Russian and Music. The Music garlic has five large cloves per bulb, rather than a bunch of smaller ones, which makes it easier to peel. It’s great for roasting.
“Once you get into it, you find that there is some garlic that is pretty hardy,” she says.
Her favourite recipe? The black garlic cheesecake. She made it for friends, without telling them it was a garlic cheesecake. They sensed the caramel and nutty notes, but when the reveal came…
“I love the shock-and-awe moment that comes when people think that it can’t be garlic,” she says. “Black garlic is sweet.”
