In 1989 Pat Reppert held a Garlic Dinner Party in the gardens at Shale Hill Farm & Herb Gardens to educate people about the wonderful flavors of cold-hardy garlic (Allium sativum ophioscorodon), teach them how to grow it and also to advertise the small herb shop at Shale Hill Farm.
Within three years this small Garlic Dinner Party had evolved to an event with 1600 people clamoring to buy one of only 200 available tickets. This occurred after a full page article in the New York Times touting cold-hardy garlic and the Garlic Festival at Shale Hill.
Then the following year Pat Reppert approached the Saugerties Kiwanis Club about sponsoring this event which had totally outgrown the facilities at Shale Hill Farm and the limited energies of the emerging and aging "Goddess of Garlic" (actually this title was later bestowed on Pat in 1997 by Geddy Svaikakos, editor of the Saugerties New Times). The Kiwanis Club agreed to take on the responsibility of producing this run-away event if Pat would become a member and share in the planning and promotion of what would become the now famous Hudson Valley Garlic Festival. This event now draws over 40,000 people each year to the historic and picturesque village of Saugerties, NY.
The Shop at Shale Hill Farm has been transformed into a Herb and Garlic Learning Center. Pat conducts a full schedule of cooking classes and informational lectures on the health giving aspects of garlic and many other herbs both at Shale Hill Farm and many other venues around the United States. For more information on these events or how to arrange to have the Goddess of Garlic present a lecture, workshop and/or cooking demonstration in your area, please E-mail the Goddess Now.
