Growing garlic
Neighbors put down roots together



ALTAMONT — Hanging upside down, in the shadow of the Helderbergs, are 60,000 bulbs of garlic.

Strung up in bunches, with their roots falling down in ragged curls, the five varieties of garlic have been drying for about four weeks, and last Saturday, Gardnerville farms opened for business.

Vic Altimari and Jerry Donato, two Gardner Road neighbors, decided to go into organic farming to save a little bit of farmland and find some peace of mind, Donato said from under the rows of garlic lining the roof of a barn he built for the crop.

A former contractor who built pole barns, Donato put up the structure a few weeks ago to dry the garlic and, the enterprising pair said, several passers-by have stopped in to find out what it is.
"People ask if it’s tobacco," said Donato.

In addition to garlic, they’ve been growing hot pepper, herbs, and berries, he said. The farmstand on Gardner Road opened on Saturday, but the garlic, which sells for between $7 and $10 a pound, is also available at Gade Farm in Guilderland and Indian Ladder Farms in New Scotland.
"We try to stay local," said Donato, who grew up a quarter of a mile from Gardnerville Farm. "Mom still lives there," he said of his boyhood home. "Dad passed, cancer."

That’s why it’s important to keep the farm organic, he said; it’s healthier.
"We do just fine without chemicals," said Altimari. "So why use them""