Garlic In The Field

Maryland

SHANE LABRAKE

Shane LaBrake is a 44-year-old garlic grower residing in Accokeek, MD (just 10 miles south of Washington, DC, along the Potomac River). Along with his partner, Kirsten Watts, they share their home with two dogs - Shilo and Cooder - and Phoenix the cat. They also keep three laying hens in a portable pen in their large yard, and maintain a highly productive "mini-market garden" (60' x 120'). In addition to growing practically all of their year-round vegetables, they sell to five local families in a modified CSA, and also to appreciative neighbors when there are surplus quantities. While Shane does most of the outside "growing" work, Kirsten keeps busy inside as a Certified Massage Therapist, and she is an avid cook/canner/freezer/preserver.

Shane has been involved with local foods and food production his entire life. As a youngster, Shane and his younger brother Steve operated a market garden and roadside vegetable stand for six years in Oswego County, NY, and he worked on neighboring farms throughout his high school years.

After attending Syracuse University, Shane worked for 10 years retailing natural foods, mostly at the Syracuse Real Food Coop, where he was manager for six years. He was hired to create and operate the Community Farm Program for the Food Bank of Central New York in 1994, and then operated the Ecosystem Farm of the Accokeek Foundation from March 1995 - December 2004. Both farms were organically managed CSA operations, and the Ecosystem Farm is certified organic. Shane now works in a part-time role for the Accokeek Foundation as its Senior Agriculture Consultant.

Shane has been active throughout his farming career as a local food systems advocate. He has served on many boards and committees, and he is a member of many farming organizations. He has presented at many Northeast Region meetings and conferences - primarily on topics related to CSAs and new-farmer training, and is currently working on curricula for apprentices and entry-level farmers.

Shane has been an avid garlic grower for 12 years, and has won the Blue Ribbon for his crop each time he has entered it in the Maryland State Fair. While garlic was seldom used in his parent's home - and then only in the form of garlic salt - his passion for the stinking rose is due to over-exposure to it when he lived as an exchange student in Venezuela (where it finds its way liberally into almost every dish). Together, he and Kirsten happily consume vast amounts of garlic per annum. Shane plans to someday own a farm in a rural region of the Northeast and produce high quality seed garlic.

Recipe: Garlic Sandwiches