Ode to a Garlic Clove
Planting garlic makes me wonder.
The heads of garlic are swollen.
The sprouts growing inside each clove push out through the tip.
The plant is coming out of dormancy.
It wants to live.
We separate the cloves and bury them in the ground.
The sugar in the clove will give it food until it is able to reach sunlight.
Photosynthesis captures the sun’s energy forming a new plant.
Sending new roots into the ground.
In the spring a flower emerges, wanting to form seeds.
We cut the flower off, but the plant survives.
It sends energy to the root, storing sugar.
The plant withers and we pull them from the ground.
The outer layers dry, but the plant is still alive, waiting to reach soil again.
We eat the sweet and spicy cloves, but not all.
The heads of garlic are swollen.
They find soil and another generation forms.
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Julie Moreno is a chef and writer, now trying to get more people to cook their own food and understand where it comes from. She lives in the middle of California, where she’s learning to landscape with fruits and vegetables. Find her on her blog Food Demystified, Twitter @juliehouse, and Facebook @fooddemystified
