About Earthwise Garlic

How It Started

We live on a small piece of property outside Coburg, Oregon. It's too big to keep manicured but too small for the kind of row crops most people think of when they think farming. For a while it just sat there, a patch of land that needed a purpose.

The answer turned out to be garlic.

Kathlene was a single mom at the time and looking for something that could bring in a little extra income without requiring industrial equipment or acres of flat ground. Garlic fit the bill. High value per square foot, no heavy machinery, and a product serious home gardeners actually want. So she started growing. The farm was originally called The Garlic Grove, and it worked out well.

How It Became Earthwise Garlic

Over the years, Kathlene's daughter picked up the growing and eventually set the business up under a new name: Earthwise Garlic. She built it into something real, with six heirloom varieties, a proper online store, and customers all across the country.

But life filled up. Between her massage therapy practice, playing saxophone in local bands, and a love of travel, keeping the garlic operation going became more than she could manage. Last season, with planting time approaching and the business at risk of going quiet, Kathlene and her husband Scott stepped in and planted the crop themselves. They couldn't just watch it slip away.

Not long after, they bought the business from her.

Who We Are Now

Earthwise Garlic is now run by Kathlene and Scott, a husband and wife team in Coburg, Oregon. Both of us grew up in small farm communities. This kind of work feels natural to us. We know what it means to tend land carefully, to pay attention to the seasons, and to take pride in what comes out of the ground.

We grow six heirloom seed garlic varieties, four hardneck and two softneck, on our small farm in the Willamette Valley. No synthetic pesticides, no synthetic fertilizers. Every bulb is hand planted, hand weeded, and hand harvested. Our farm is an ODA inspected and licensed nursery, inspected annually during the spring growth season.

We ship seed garlic nationwide every September, timed for fall planting. We keep quantities limited to what we can grow well and stand behind.

Why Heirloom Varieties

Most garlic in grocery stores comes from a handful of commercial varieties grown at industrial scale, often overseas. The flavor range is narrow and the growing history is hard to trace.

The varieties we grow, Music, Ukrainian Red, Georgian Fire, Donostia Red, Inchelium Red, and Lorz Italian, each have a distinct character and a real history. Some trace their roots to Italy, Spain, Eastern Europe, and the Pacific Northwest. Growing and shipping them keeps that diversity alive, one home garden at a time.

If you have questions about varieties, shipping, or whether garlic will work in your climate, we are genuinely happy to help. Reach out anytime.