Steve Long of Slong Farm, left and his son-in-law Jason work on getting the garlic harvest in this year.
Bulbs of garlic at Slong Farm in Warsaw, Ill. sit on drying racks getting ready to be processed or sold.
Steve Long, left, works with family members at his garlic farm in Warsaw, Ill.
Steve Long of Slong Farm, left and his son-in-law Jason work on getting the garlic harvest in this year.
Bulbs of garlic at Slong Farm in Warsaw, Ill. sit on drying racks getting ready to be processed or sold.
Steve Long, left, works with family members at his garlic farm in Warsaw, Ill.
An exciting thing is taking place in Warsaw, and it’s right under our noses. For years now, quietly nestled into the bluff on College Hill, is Slong Farm – a garlic farm – and what a tasty and unique find this is. For many, the discovery of Slong Garlic Farm may have already started unawares – having tried many menu items at local restaurants which source Slong garlic as an ingredient in many of their dishes. There was something to be said about finally having the opportunity to interview garlic farmer Steve Long of Warsaw, and his family, tour along with them through their 2022 harvest and know that – Slong Garlic Farm – exceptional – is what is Warsaw Hometown Pride.
Long, who says he is certified “naturally grown” said that the quality of his product is “in his seed” that he has carefully cultivated since 2015. And while the inherent goodness of his product does rest in his seed, a lot goes into the planting and tending, and ultimately, into the harvesting of and then curing of the six varieties of Hardneck garlic Slong Garlic Farm produces. The six Hardneck varieties Long grows are German White, Music, Chesnok Red, Pehoski Purple, Spanish Roja, and Bogatyr. Planted in October and then harvested in July, it was just a couple of weeks ago, Long’s daughter, Shannon, and husband, Jason, and their children made an annual visit to Warsaw from Wisconsin to assist Long with his week-long harvest of which Long said has become “a family tradition” at harvest time. Long said he was also “blessed to have special help this year from Bev Coney of Falls Church, Virginia and my cousin Jan Winkler and wife, Kelly, from Keokuk, Iowa” helping with the harvest.
The day of the interview, the temperature was edging 95 degrees and the sun was glaring. I looked around the 10-acre farm standing on Long’s driveway once our introductions had been made and not really knowing what was going to come next, or what I should even ask Long next, having never been to a garlic farm, when I was suddenly transfixed by the most aromatic scent of garlic that was being carried on the gentle, warm, summer breeze. Taking it in then, I was amazed at the quality of the aroma itself, and I knew then, I was in store for a treat. The aroma drew my eye then (and my nose) about a fourth of a mile up to where Long has his one-acre field. Also, up by Long’s field is an outbuilding where he dries and cures the harvest. We made our way then across the 10-acre farm to Long’s field, taking in the intense heat of the July sun and a gentle breeze that gave way to some light white caps on a small pond on Long’s farm. We passed a colorful and very large sculpture of a rooster that overlooks the Slong Garlic Farm Pond and walking a slight hill then just passed the pond we got to where Long’s field is. Adjacent to Long’s field is erected a building in where Long has the curing and drying of the garlic going on.
Once atop by the field then, I took a 360 view of Slong Garlic Farm and saw what was before me – a nearly fully harvested field of carefully planted rows of the six varieties of Hardneck garlic bulbs, with a mouthwatering scent of each then filling the warm summer air around me, and with each radiant stalk of garlic still in the field yet to be harvested revealing its precious soul as the sun did it’s best to part the weeds from each of their upright stems – the green on the stem which I learned in my interview with Long is known as a “scape” was like an emerald lit jewel. Truly incredible and one of a kind, each planting, spoke volumes about the care that is taken by Long and his family in their prized garlic product.
Standing between the outbuilding and the field then, Long and his family showed me some of the inventions he has added to improve his operations and his yields; some of which Long, also an engineer and machinist who has patents on inventions he has created for his farm and other uses, had designed himself to accommodate his specific farming process and operations currently that he is doing.
Long’s son-in-law, Jason, then enthusiastically demonstrated the Crop Care machine that Long uses to tend his crop. The Crop Care, much like a fun solar-powered adult amusement park ride, appears to serve an invaluable function of which Jason said had “revolutionized” the tending of Long’s field and garlic crop. Prior to obtaining the Crop Care machine, Jason said that they and Long had been doing the tending of the field painstakingly in the rows on their knees and by hand. The Crop Care, which is solar powered, allows Long to push through the rows to be able to hand-pull the weeds on wheels which hold a “flat bed,” of sorts, navigating the machine with one’s foot and then being able to pull the weeds with one’s hands to put them in bucket trays that are attached as it moves along the row, all the while with the operator positioned elevated on the flat bed stretched outright with face down on one’s stomach. Asked if the use of solar power, which was also a recent addition to Long’s farming operation had been a good investment – Long stated that “it was – especially when the sun’s out.”
Another machine which Long adapted and that he says he relies on for more efficiency and yield was one that he was able to modify himself to suit his specific process for planting his garlic cloves. Known as a “plastic mulch layer,” Long made an attachment specific to his planting needs that allows him to lay down a plastic sheath with the right-sized holes for each of the plantings of his garlic cloves. But, Long said, while the machine itself “is not exactly ideal” due to weeds that can grow through the holes at times, the purpose of the plastic sheath is also one that “controls the growth of the weeds and also allows me to lay the sheath down and then have more control with the plantings of the garlic cloves.” Long said having the plastic sheath to control weeds, and then the specific holes in the sheath and the machine to lay the sheath with the holes down along the fields’ rows was what Long said “had optimized the planting process” for him.
“The plastic mulch layer was important to my operation because it allowed me not only weed control, but the holes for where the plantings of the garlic cloves are to be placed in the ground and that is important because” Long said, “the placement of the Hardneck variety garlic bulbs is of critical importance – with the Hardneck varieties of garlic the bulb must be planted so the shoot of the neck of the garlic bulb grows upright – which is why it is called a Hardneck garlic.” This, in itself – ensuring that the planting of the garlic bulb is done so it will grow upright – Long said, was “integral to the way the Hardneck garlic is able to naturally grow and must grow. Hardneck varieties of garlic” Long said, “must be planted so they grow upright, whereas soft garlic growers can just plant their garlic bulbs without this consideration.”
Long then demonstrated with a bulb how that was to be done and why that was important, holding up a harvested bulb of garlic with its stem and scape still attached saying the “Hardneck varieties must be placed individually in the soil in their specific holes, so the Hardneck stem grows upright” which is why it has the name “Hardneck” because of the stem and scape that is specific to it. “It won’t grow if it is not planted to grow upright, and you will not get any seed then from it.” Jason then added that, “any weeds that may also sprout up through the holes in the plastic sheath – the Crop Care is able to assist in getting those out with more efficiency. Long said last year he had yielded 900 pounds of garlic and this year he was to yield 1,200 pounds of garlic from his one-acre fields.
The tour and our interview continued as I looked at the rows of garlic that had been carefully placed in the drying and curing racks in the adjacent outbuilding. The drying racks house hundreds, if not thousands, of garlic bulbs, carefully placed in rows on chicken wire attached to racks to properly dry and cure for 4 to 6 weeks. Each has been stripped of its leaves and root leaving just the garlic bulbs and a bit of the stem. Innovation must be a natural trait of Long and his family, as Long’s daughter Shannon then excitedly told of how she came up with a solution for their drying and curing process which was simple with the use of some chicken-wire, but profound to the entire curing and drying process. Long explained that the time to know when to pick the garlic is found in the what the scapes of the plant do and when three to four bottom leave turn brown. Long explained that consumers do buy the scapes, and that there is a big demand for the scapes – the market he said being indicated “in more northern regions,” and that scapes are used in making butters and pesto sauces as but two examples of its use. Long clearly has a focus on the garlic bulbs themselves and his seeds and what he is doing to bring this to market.
While Long does sell his harvested scapes, he says his consumers are mainly garlic growers and consumers who buy his garlic bulbs, signature garlic powder, and brand merchandise; including his patented inventions and industry innovations. For this, Long has invented yet another innovation to his operation, one which he says he has also sold to others, called a “Sizer.” This instrument allows Long to determine what of his yield will go to consumers for eating, and cooking, what will go to fellow growers as far as seed is concerned, and what will be made into his signature garlic powder as the Sizer helps with product sorting and quality control following the curing and drying process. Long said his sales of the Sizer “have been good.”
The Hardneck garlic, once harvested, and cured, is then packaged, and sold by Slong Garlic Farm to consumers and area restaurants. But not before it is processed through another invention which Long must do prior to placing it on the drying and curing racks. For this part of Long’s operation, Long invented what he calls a “garlic separator” on which he has a patent. This contraption allows him to separate the cloves of the garlic bulb at a higher rate of speed for use in preserving the cloves for future plantings or for use in the kitchen. This invention has drawn interest from the restaurant industry and has many applications yet to be realized in institutions with large kitchen operations happening. Alongside the garlic separator is also another machine which Long did not invent, but which he was able to purchase he said on Ebay, and assemble himself, for use in the trimming and cutting of the leaves and the roots from the garlic bulbs which are then placed in the drying racks for curing.
The tour and interview concluded with many smiles, as Long offered me a bounty of his prized Hardneck garlic, which he had just prepared and demonstrated using his garlic separator and the curing slicing prep machines. As Long offered me his prized garlic gift, and I eagerly accepted, the aroma of the prized garlic captured again all my senses evoking an array of possibilities in my mind that lit up with the many uses I would have of these gems in my own kitchen.
Warsaw’s Hometown Pride — check out Slong Garlic Farm on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/slonggarlic. You can also get in touch with Steve Long of Slong Garlic Farm by calling (309) 221-5689. You will want to place your order for this exceptional product early as Long said his yields each year “sell quickly.”
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