Roundup: Growing garlic
Hardneck vs softneck, and where are our letters to the editors?
Now is the best time to plant garlic and Harmony Farm Supply offers a great selection of seed garlic. Harmony’s store manager, Dillon Rego, explained that seed garlic can be planted from late September through the end of October. A woman who overheard us talking told me unequivocally that the best time to plant garlic will be on the full moon, October 17.
When you buy garlic for cooking at the grocery store, there’s usually just a single variety. Harmony has at least fourteen varieties of garlic that differ in size, flavor, storage life and skin. “It’s like heirloom tomatoes,” said Rego of all the different varieties. Garlic comes in two types: hardneck and softneck. An information sheet at Harmony explains that hardneck varieties have “fewer but larger” cloves and produce a “scape”— a green shoot that forms “bulblets”; softneck varieties last longer in storage and are easy to grow; they are also better for braiding. Some varieties of garlic are easier to peel; some are best raw and others baked.
All the varieties at Harmony are certified organic and grown in Sonoma County. Harmony has 11 varieties from Bernier Farms in Alexander Valley, including Asian Tempest, a hardneck that is “Fiery Hot when eaten raw”; or Northern Italian Red, a softneck that has a “sweet / spicy balance” and which, a note says, originally came from a gift of 10 heads in 1974 that a friend brought from Northern Italy. The hardneck variety, Chesnok Red, comes from Rusty Fence Ranch in Santa Rosa; it is a purple stripe garlic that is “best for baking.”
Rego said that the individual cloves (the seeds) planted now will be ready to harvest in nine months. The four varieties (one hardneck and three softneck) I chose are already in a raised bed. Rego said that he chooses the varieties that have the largest bulbs. While he labels different rows of garlic when he plants them, the labels often disappear over nine months. Still he enjoys them even if doesn’t know what specific variety they are.
It’s time for … Letters to the Editor
One of our readers, Elizabeth, stopped Laura on the street this week to say our newspaper was missing just one thing: Letters to the Editor. She thought they’d be especially useful now that it’s election season.
We agree. So we will run Letters to the Editor for the next three weeks, until the election is over. Got a favorite LOCAL candidate? We want to hear about it. Feel strongly about a LOCAL measure; tell us.
Why don’t we run Letters to the Editor all the time? Answer: because we rarely get them. Most people share their opinions scattershot on social media these days or add their voice in our comments section. But we’d love to publish your letters sent by email to us at sebastopoltimes@gmail.com.
Valik Stammer wins Youth Talent Show
The Community Talent Showcase happened yesterday afternoon at the Sebastopol Community Cultural Center. Community Center Director Tanya Sierra sent along these photos of the winner in the youth division of the talent show. “As part of the community talent showcase, we awarded a $100 prize to one of the youth performers,” she wrote. “The winner of that prize was Valik Stammer who played two classical pieces on his violin.”
Oops! We forgot one
Starr Hergenrather, the skit director of the Cemetery Walk, noticed that we’d left out one Cemetery Walk skit from last week’s Roundup: the vignette about Bill Roventini starring Richard and Brenda Nichols. “Bill was a very influential councilman in Sebastopol, and it was a very informative, fun, good vignette on him,” Hergenrather wrote. “It was Brenda and Richard Nichols who wrote the vignette and also told his story, as they knew him personally.”
Farewells
1949-2024. Christine Pool passed away peacefully on August 10, 2024. She was 75 years old. She was born in Long Beach, California, in 1949 to Clyde and Jacqueline (Jackson) Spring. Christine lived in California and northeast Texas for the majority of her life. She spent many years managing Beauty Store & More stores in Sebastopol, Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, and Sonoma. She ultimately retired from Safeway as a manager. Her favorite place to be was Sebastopol where her two daughters attended high school. She loved shopping at the local nurseries, antique stores, shops, and bakeries. Read more.
Sebastopol Police Logs, Sept. 30 to Oct. 6
The following are crimes excerpted from Sebastopol Police Department daily crime log entries and listed at the time the alleged violation was reported.
MONDAY
4:33 p.m. Vandalism involving defacing property (felony) at North Main Street and Keating Avenue. Pending further investigation.
TUESDAY
1:49 p.m. Petty theft (misdemeanor) at Redwood Avenue and Gravenstein Highway South. Referred to District Attorney for review.
2:51 p.m. Aggravated assault with a deadly weapon (not a firearm) and battery with serious bodily injury (felonies) at North Main Street and Healdsburg Avenue. Suspect arrested.
WEDNESDAY
12:45 p.m. Second degree burglary with breaking and entering and violation of probation (felonies) at Petaluma and Abbott avenues. Referred to District Attorney for review.
12:48 p.m. Battery on a person (misdemeanor) at Analy Avenue and North Main Street. Cleared by circumstances beyond police control.
FRIDAY
7:23 p.m. Disorderly conduct involving alcohol (misdemeanor) at Gravenstein Highway North and Hurlbut Avenue. Suspect arrested.
SATURDAY
5:01 p.m. Battery on a person (misdemeanor) at Gravenstein Highway North and Hurlbut Avenue. Pending further investigation.
SUNDAY
9:29 p.m. First degree burglary with breaking and entering (felony) and possession of burglary tools (misdemeanor) at Sebastopol Avenue and Morris Street. Allegations unfounded.
11:50 p.m. Driving while under the influence of alcohol with a blood alcohol content of at least 0.08 percent (misdemeanors) at Sebastopol and Barnes avenues. Suspect arrested.
OTHER POLICE ACTION
The Sebastopol Police Department also recorded 145 other events requiring police action during the period, such as lost animals, assisting citizens, parking violations, foot patrol, traffic hazards and reckless driving.
Quoted
“(Retiring Police Chief Ron Nelson) truly is a leader that this town needed at a time that this town didn't know they needed it,”
— Police Captain Jim Hickey
