Jerry Vyskala's acreage on Highway BB is ablaze and cheerful, accurate as a pin, with whitewashed barrio and a brilliant aspect. Like abounding landowners in this breadth of the country, Vyskala and his ancestors accept formed adamantine for what they have, and like a assertive cardinal of settlers here, they came from about else.
In the Vyskalas' case, that about abroad was the Czech Republic, and they are actuality because they adulation it here.
"I saw this abode and I thought, I aloof accept to alive in this town," Vyskala said.
The family's clearing adventure is inspiring, but Vyskala is added absorbed in talking about his garlic.
"I abstruse about garlic aback I got married," he said. I went to my wife's baby boondocks to see her family, and they were all growing garlic. Czech garlic is amid the best in the world, absolutely organic, artlessly grown. So we helped them and I started acquirements then."
The garlic there, he explained, is buried in the vineyards, amid the vines. With no pesticides, aloof the appropriate altitude and absolutely a lot of caring know-how, Czech garlic grows to be able-bodied and tasty.
"I came actuality and saw the garlic in the supermarket, and it's aloof not the same," Vyskala said.
"I asked the ancestors aback in the old country to accelerate us garlic, and we started burying it aback we were active in St. Louis," he said. "I connected acquirements about garlic on the Internet, saw the names absorbed to the garlic in the farmer's market, and started affairs altered kinds."
Vyskala has angry his backyard St. Louis garden into a able Licking acreage crop. Behind his abode and barn, he grows six to eight strains of Czech garlic, to which he has added addition 20 or so varieties not accessible in stores.
Vyskala is agog about the abounding bloom allowances of garlic and encourages bodies to abound their own. The garlic he grows for auction and advertises on his website is primarily berry garlic. These cloves are abundant bigger than those of table garlic, which aback buried will aftermath alone baby cloves. Starting with bigger berry cloves will aftereffect in bigger cloves all around.
A quick attending at the acceptable things garlic has to action shows that we could all accumulation from bistro some every day.
A affiliate of the onion family, garlic contains the admixture allicin, which gives it its able aroma. Once in the body, allicin converts into sulfenic acid, which Natural News calls "the fastest-acting chargeless abolitionist eliminator, bar none."
Garlic is abounding with vitamins and minerals, such as magnesium, selenium, B6 and C. It will action the accepted algid as able-bodied as the bubonic affliction and advice lower claret pressure. It improves cholesterol levels and lowers the accident of affection disease.
Its able antioxidants may advice anticipate Alzheimer's and dementia and detoxify abundant metals in the body. Garlic is additionally actuality advised in affiliation to abbreviation the accident of several types of cancer.
If this weren't enough, garlic is able in preventing aliment contagion and has been approved to abbreviate diabetes issues.
It appears that a little garlic every day can advance all-embracing bloom and attrition to disease.
Unfortunately, the garlic accessible in our supermarkets ability not be accouterment the optimal allicin for our needs. Vyskala begin the band-aid for his own ancestors by growing Czech garlic in their backyard in the city. Once actuality in Licking and bearing more, he absitively to acreage in earnest.
"I thought, I accept my exercise, I won't be bored, and maybe I can accomplish some money," he said.
Last year, the Vyskalas produced 3,000 bulbs of amoebic garlic. This year, he's taken to the Internet to advertise his berry garlic nationwide. His MoGarlic website offers added than 20 altered kinds, but he's absolutely afterpiece to 30.
"It's aloof me and my wife accomplishing the work," Vyskala said, "so there's a absolute on what we can do."
To apprehend their adventure of advancing to America, however, you ability catechism those limits. In 1985, the ancestors larboard the left-wing Czech Republic and collection to Yugoslavia, which lay amid them and the non-socialist nation of Austria. At the Yugoslav-Austrian border, the ancestors sat in their car, two adults and two children, one in a band of cars acquisitive to canyon through to freedom.
"We had no papers," he said, "and I was afraid the accomplished time, apprehensive what I was activity to do. Finally, the bouncer opened the aboideau for the car in advanced of us and I aloof stepped on the gas and comatose the border. Once we were in Austria, they couldn't do anything."
They acclimatized 30 afar alfresco of Vienna, begin work, activated for cover and waited for one year for their appliance to immigrate to the US to be complete. And again finally, they were sponsored by a Catholic alignment and on their way to Missouri.
"This guy met us at the airport in St. Louis with a sign, 'Vyskala,'" he said. "He was from the Philippines and didn't allege acceptable English and we didn't allege any English. He took us to an accommodation in a ghetto, with four mattresses and that was it."
Vyskala and his wife got jobs, and he eventually launched his career as a cabinetmaker in the city.
"When we started, I was earning $4.25 an hour, my wife was earning $3.30 an hour," he said.
Yet in two and a bisected years, they had abundant money to put a bottomward acquittal on a abode in St. Louis.
"We lived activity like in the old country," he said. "We becoming minimum wage, but we still had added because of how we lived."
Twenty years ago, a acquaintance arrive him to go hunting actuality in Licking. Afterwards that, he said, he came every year.
"I adulation active through the woods, this admirable town. Again we bought the property, three hundred acres, ten years ago. But we accumulate the abode in St. Louis, too. Our kids still alive in the city."
It's an American success story, a attestation to a arrangement that still works if one is accommodating to assignment with it. The Vyskalas accept back become citizens of the United States, and Jerry says he wouldn't alive anywhere else. Through it all, they accept managed to accompany some of the best of the old country with them—hard work, acceptable banking sense, account for abandon and chargeless will, and some of the best garlic the apple can grow.
MoGarlic can be begin online at www.mogralic.com, area you can apprentice about the assorted varieties of garlic and adjustment berry garlic for yourself. This year's division is aloof about over and Vyskala is off to the farmer's bazaar anon with what's larboard of his crop. If you'd like to adjustment some berry garlic, alarm him at 314-413-0426 by Friday, Oct. 3, and assets some for yourself.
