The 4th annual and only garlic festival in Metro Vancouver and was held this past Sunday at the Sharing Farm. This was the first time I've heard of this festival and being the garlic lover I am, I knew I had to check it out! There was a lot to see, do and eat from garlic ice cream, live music, workshops, artisan garlic products for sale, and cooking demos.


The first thing we saw was a crowd of people around this guy who was talking about how to grow grow and harvest garlic. These paintings depicting the steps are very pretty!



W accompanied me on this adventure and our goal was to try the garlic ice cream!  When we saw the surprisingly humongous line, we quickly got in line. One cone or cup of ice cream was $3.  


 The ice cream was from La Casa Gelato and the cones were from DQ I think.

There was a strong wiff of garlic the first lick but after that it seemed like plain old vanilla to me with tiny bits of garlic in it. To be honest, I had expected it to be more garlicky!


While we were in line for the ice cream, there was a cooking demo going on in the big red barn. Chef Colleen McClean was making some kind of Thai salad or so I was told. The Chefs' Table Society was also selling cookbooks, Vancouver Cooks 2, on a table to the side. It had recipes from chef from well known Vancouver restaurants and the paperback copy was only $10. We both came back later to buy a copy. Dinner party time?


With ice cream in hand, we decided to find some more food to eat so we headed toward the Sharing Farm Healing Garden.


It wasn't hard with all the signs to find what we were looking for.


We got out of one line to be in another line!


Cooking in the Cob Oven was Garlic & Arugula Pesto Focaccia bread.



We got there just in time too! It was we got one of the last few tickets before they sold out! They told us that they've sold more than 300 and it was only about 1pm!

Mmm. It was so delicious! So warm and soft in the inside and nice garlicky taste. Needs more though. More garlic! There can never be too much garlic.



 In the healing circle, kids were making music with makeshift drums.

On the other side of the healing circle were three food trucks: Rin Food Baht, Japadog and Juice Caboose.

 And out in the field, informative workshops were being held.

Chickens! I love visiting farms!

This fluffy chicken was very interesting to watch. It looked like it was dressed in Russian winter wear with hat and fluffy boots. lol

The Sharing Farm was also celebrating in memory of Mary Gazatas, the founder of the Sharing Farm, who passed away recently.

There was also an artist there painting this beautiful picture of the farm and garlic.

Exiting the Healing Garden, we took a detour to the Kids' Zone before heading back to the main festival area.


 Kids were making garlic crowns,


making art,




and rolling around in an ol fashioned hay pile! (We decided to act like adults and refrained from joining in. lol)

Back in the main area, there was big sales tent where garlic and artisan garlic products were being sold.

 This lady was braiding garlic to sell.

 They are really pretty!

 Each of these are worth $30-40.



 Herbs,
 All sorts of garlic,

And winter hardy plants! I bought a Kale plant to try out this winter. I forgot to note down what type of kale it was...boo. There were four types I remember seeing.


 Some other booths in the field.




Live music to enjoy.


This was also the first time I've been to the Sharing Farm, where volunteers grow food for the Food Bank and community meals. We were about to leave when a tour of the farm started so we decided to join in. 


 There were some cute signs posted around to remind people of not to take the harvest for themselves.



 These are artichokes! Aren't they pretty?






The garlic fields are kind of bare...because they were just harvested for this festival!


Pretty cut flowers are also grown at the Sharing Farm.


Our guide showed us some Tomatillos growing in one of the green houses. These are used to make green salsa! Mmm!

The tour took us back in the Healing Garden where they grow all sort of things that have medicinal properties. A lot of them are also really pretty.

Echinacea or more commonly known as Purple Coneflower

 Finally it was time to leave and walking through Terra Nova Park, we saw these cool benches.


I had an amazing time at the Garlic Festival and can't wait for next year! Next week there is actually a Raptor Festival being held at Terra Nova Rural Park from 11am to 4pm. How exciting!