From the Cultivating Our Communities Stories series BY KAY SHIPMAN FarmWeek
Tony and Sharon Pferschy, owners of Garlic Breath Farm, find customers appreciate their fragrant, flavorful crop. In fact, customers appreciated this year’s crop so much, the Kane County farmers are sold out, except for garlic hot sauces. In a couple of weeks, the Pferschys will start their 2021 farming season by planting 30,000 to 35,000 organic garlic bulbs. Tony farms full time. Sharon farms and works with the Federal Aviation Administration as a program manager. Visit the Garlic Breath Farm website and follow them on Facebook.
Garlic Breath Farm, near Elburn, grows three varieties of certified organic hard neck garlic: porcelain music, Georgian fire, and Romanian red, known for high levels of allicin. Allicin is an antibacterial, antimicrobial, and anticancer component in garlic.
The growers start harvesting and selling garlic scapes, the flowering part, in June and fresh garlic in July. This year, Garlic Breath Farm sold its products online and at the Batavia Farmer's Market and the Oswego Country Market.
When the pandemic hit and markets were canceled at the start of the Pferschys’ busy season, the couple pivoted their attention to online sales, which “picked up the slack,” Sharon said. Then, the farmer’s markets reopened, and Garlic Breath Farm’s sales took off “like gangbuster,” Sharon continued. “Everyone went back to the basics. ... Meet your farmer if you can.”
To follow market guidelines, Sharon handled the money, while Tony sold the products. “When someone wants an education (about garlic), they talk to Tony,” she noted. But sampling, a main marketing tool that had doubled sales, was eliminated due to COVID restrictions. “We thought, ‘We’re toast. How will we help people understand?’” Sharon remembered. “In general, they (customers) didn’t care. They tried it, and they came back.”
A few years ago, the farmer’s market led to Garlic Breath Farm’s collaboration with Gindo’s Hot Sauce of Batavia, a farmer’s market “neighbor.” The two entrepreneurs developed a line of hot sauces made with garlic.
This year, Garlic Breath Farm successfully launched two new products: a Garlic Breath Cancer Care Kit, a subscription-based service, and a Garlic Breath Cold Care Kit. Both products sold out. However, the opening of an on-farm store will have to wait until next year.
Although the pandemic has been a dark time, “I’ve seen a lot of good,” Sharon said. She mentioned families spending time together and people cooking meals at home. The Pferschys’ sales were so strong; they’ve had to turn away regular customers used to buying their garlic in October. Both growers remain confident that consumers’ interest in local food will continue into the future. “This really planted seeds that will grow not just until the pandemic passes,” Sharon said. “People are more in touch,” Tony said, adding they had just spoken with medical professionals who didn’t know garlic grew in the ground but thought it grew on a bush. “People are turning to farmer’s markets and looking at the people who pull the crop from the ground.”
