Earth Day 2011

Greenfield Farmer's Market

On this Earth Day I don’t want to lecture about what we all should be doing to protect the environment. I want to celebrate some of the actions I know about in my community that are being done right now, many of which will grow.

I am thrilled with the school gardens that are being planted, tended and harvested. They not only supply food, but many lessons that connect with work in the classroom.  Heath school has had its garden for several years, but other schools also have gardens. I just learned that Mohawk Trail District Nutrition Director Elizabeth Buxton’s dream is for every school in the District to have its own garden. Buckland Shelburne Elementary will set up its garden on April 30.

I rejoice in the number of small farms that have started up in the last few years, making their produce available through their own farmstands, the farmer’s markets and local supermarkets.  Monday evening I am going to be at the Greenfield Community College Down Town campus at 6:30 to hear three Farm-hers, Deb Habib of Seeds of Solidarity in Orange, Sorrel Hatch of Upinngil Farm in Gill, and and Caroline Pam of the Kitchen Garden in Sunderland talk about their life and farms.

I give thanks that CISA (Community Involved in Sustainable Agriculture) is helping farmers and helping us find more and more local food all year round.

I applaud every time I see solar panels, or windmills as I drive along my country roads.

Of course I have my own part to play. We’ve tightened the house, got a new heating system, use FCLs, carry canvas shopping bags with us, bundle our errands to save gas, grow some of our own food and we are about to plant a windbreak that will help save on our  heating bills.

What do you celebrate in your area?  Do you have an energy saving project coming up?

Leave a comment on my Give Away post and maybe you will win Starter Vegetable Gardens. Deadline is midnight tonight.

The Grange – Then and Now

Sawyer Hall - Heath

Sawyer Hall is our Heath Post Office, Police Office, and Town Library with Town Offices for  the Selectbord, Administrator, Tax Collector, Assessors, etc. upstairs, but  for for many years a good portion of Sawyer Hall was used by the Grange for suppers, and even for dramatic productions.  I remember when we moved here in 1979 the Library was closed because the building was being renovated.  Someone gave me a tour of the large open upstairs where a small raised platform acted as a stage was set in  the ‘bay windows,’  and a Glenbrook wood burning parlor stove was placed on another wall.

I could picture Grange suppers serving all kinds of wonderful home grown and home cooked meals, but I couldn’t imagine what kind of plays were were put on UNTIL one of Heath’s Great Ladies gave me a box of plays and books of recitations.  The plays were mimeographed  and  given a green paper cover. One marked Very Good is Holloway’s Hired Hand – a play in one act by Earlene Day Benson of Groton, NY. It won First Prize in the New York State Plays Project in 1952 and was distributed for .35 a copy through the American Agriculturist Magazine.

As a community event the Friends of Library once put on a reading of this play which got a lot of laughs.  Harry Holloway is a farmer whose hired hand has just quit, Laura is his wife, Jim is the ex-hired hand and Jerry is the new hired hand. Lovesickness is the cause of the hired hand’s leaving, but before the  curtain falls the new hand Jerry, is revealed to be none other than a ‘college girl’ and the object of Jim’s affections who wanted experience on a farm. It all ends happily, of course, because the point of these plays was to encourage farmers.

The Grange was disbanded in Heath as in so many rural towns because the number of farms dwindled so. But out in Corvallis, Oregon, as perhaps in other places, the Grange is enjoying a resurgence as new young farmers meet over delicious Grange dinners for advice,  information and encouragement from the old timers.  How do I know this? I read all about it in the New York Times yesterday,  New Food Culture A Young Generation of Farmers Emerges.  A new generation of enthusiastic foodies can take credit for helping revive The Grange.

Winterfare and Ice

4th Annual Greenfield Winterfare

Saturday dawn cold with another storm promised. I dashed right out to the Greenfield Winterfare to stock up, and I wasn’t the only one. Every booth was busy. These young women from Wheatberry Farm and Bakery were selling the wheatberries AND delicious muffins. Ben and Adrie Lester, the founders of Wheatberry are also founders of The Pioneer Valley Heritage Grain CSA.

Simple Gifts Farm

At the Simple Gifts booth I bought lots of roots – and make a shredded vegetable slaw when I got home. Perfect accompaniment to casserole roasted pork. Brooke Werley and Emily Adams say they do everything!  at the farm. They have a brand new tractor at Simple Gifts and they are very excited.

Sunrise Farm

I not only found the Grade A Medium Amber Maple Syrup I had been looking for I found out that the sugar house I pass when I drive from Heath to Colrain is called Sunrise Farm and is operated by a branch of the locally famous Lively family. It is wonderful to have so much Lively-ness in our area. Rocky’s family has been on this farm for over 100 years.

Most of these farms are already signing people up for CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) shares. For a full list of CSA farms visit CISA, Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture.

One thing I have noticed is that there are more farms selling meat locally. I am buying lamb from a neighbor, and I found out that the new Pen and Plow Farm in Hawley is selling beef – and it doesn’t have to be a whole quarter of an animal.  Hmmmm. Oxtail soup and osso bucco may be in my husband’s future.

I stopped at the library on my way home from Winterfare, but a ‘wintry mix’ was already falling out of the sky.  By suppertime everything was encased in ice. This is the view when we woke on Sunday morning. Beautiful but dangerous.

No lounging in the Cottage Ornee today.

Maybe I’ll be able to finish up my seed orders.

Winterfares Coming Up

Winterfare Northampton 2010

Have you been longing for fresh greens and the chance to meet the farmers in our area?  Long no more. It is time for Winterfares!  This Saturday the winter farmer’s market will be held at the Smith Vocational School in Northampton on January 15 from 10 am to 2 pm.  Fresh greens, apples, honey, yogurt, root veggies, local grain, bread, the Soup Cafe (bring your own cup) and workshops.  This is a delicious and healthy event – pure delight.  Don’t forget to bring your own shopping bags.

Also, mark your calendars for the 4th Annual Winterfare at Greenfield High School on Saturday, February 5, again from 10 am – 2pm.  More fresh food, more workshops, more fun.

Cindy’s Mosaics

Shelburne Mosaic

Saturday was a big day in Shelburne Falls, home of the Bridge of Flowers. There had been events at the Buckland Shelburne Community Hall for Cider Day but there was also a dedication of the 12 vitreous glass mosaics created by Cynthia Fisher of Big Bang Mosaics in cooperation with students from the elementary and high schools, as well as members of the community. Ten of the 3 x 3 foot mosaics depict iconographic aspects of the ten towns in our area. Two slightly larger mosaics honor the Native Americans who lived here, and the Deerfield River which tumbles over Salmon Falls in the middle of the town.

Cindy and Jayden of BSE school

Three towns supplied the full amount of requested funding and so as the students worked on the main mosaic they  also made a smaller one that will remain in the school. The Buckland Shelburne School was presented with their mosaic at the dedication. The sturdy frames that hold the mosaics were designed and fabricated by the students at Franklin Technical High School.

Ideas for each mosaic were generated by the third graders in each town. With students’ help Cindy drew the template and then older students during art classses cut (nipped) the glass tiles and glued them in place.  Heath is famous for its lowbush blueberries, the acres of sunflowers being grown for fuel to run farm machinery, historic farms, and, of course, the Heath Fair. We have a drawerful of Heath Fair t-shirts, a different design each year.

You can see all the mosaics, and learn more about the project by clicking here.

That’s my Three for Thursday.  Check out Cindy MCOK at My Corner of Katy and see what other trios abound.

Local Queens – Bees, that is

Dan L. Perlman/Ecolibrary.org photo

The honeybee hive is an amazing community. Most of the population, about 99%, are worker bees who are all female. They have many jobs to do from cleaning the hive, building honeycomb, feeding the larvae and foraging for nectar and pollen. Some will live only a few weeks, others will live several months to carry the hive through the winter until spring allows bees to forage once again.

There are a few drones, male bees, whose sole purpose is to mate with the queen bee on her single flight outside the hive.

And, of course, there is the queen bee. All bees get a ration of the amazing bee food, royal jelly, made by the nurse worker bees, but a queen bee is created by being fed only royal jelly during her entire larval life stage. The worker bees can sense when a queen’s vitality may be waning. After laying as many as 3,000 eggsa day for five years or so, the queen can understandably be getting tired. Knowing they need a vital queen, the workers will start feeding several larval cells with royal jelly. The first queen to emerge will then kill the other queen larva in their cells, and go on to reign.  Or, it may actually come to a battle between new queens.

I knew these basic facts about bees because many years ago we attended workshops given by the Franklin County Beekeeper’s Association before we set up our first bee hives. However, I never gave much thought to the breeding of bees, or to the necessity of queen bee production for new bee keepers.

Dan Conlon

When I met with Dan Conlon of Warm Colors Apiary in Deerfield recently, I was amazed to find that an important part of his business is the production of queen bees. And not only queen bees, but Russian queens.

Russian queens sound very exotic, but Conlon explained that the practical interest in, and need for Russian queens is in the  kind of bees they will create. About 16 years ago the first USDA researcher started negotiating with Russia to acquire some of their disease resistant bees from the far eastern regions.

When my husband and I started with bees we were given all kinds of information about medicating our bees to protect them from varroa mites which can dangerously weaken a hive. Russian bees do have mites, but somehow those bees have learned to groom each other to remove the mites, and so do not need medication, which can bring its own problems.

Dan Conlon attended a bee convention about ten years ago and heard one California bee scientist, Tom Glenn, tell how he had stopped using  chemicals and found it did not negatively affect his hives.  “We already knew the chemicals weren’t working, and we weren’t making any gains. So we (Warm Colors Apiary) went cold turkey. We used no treatments – and lost fewer bees than we did while using medication. Tom told us we could, and it was true. This experiment required no expense, and we didn’t have to worry about the quality of our honey,” Conlon said.

Conlon now raises Russian queens that he sells to beekeepers who want to go back to older, organic ways of working with bees. His own breeding practices involve watching for the most docile queens to breed the gentlest next generation of queens. He explained that the many many Texas bee producers have gone out of business because their bees have become Africanized, and are too aggressive. Russian queens are gentle, and disease resistant. The bees he raises are also acclimatized to our weather, giving beekeepers greater probability of success.

Conlon said one of his goals is to educate people about bees. Many school groups from Williston, Smith College and Umass, come to visit. “Second grade teachers seem to be doing a really good job of teaching about bees,” Conlon said. “The more removed we are from bees, and other insects critical to our survival, the more important it is to learn about them in school.”

More than $14 billion worth of seeds and crops depend on pollination by honey bees. And that is just in the United States.  If it were not for bees we humans would find it very difficult to find enough to eat.

Dan Conlon and his wife Bonita, will hold their annual Honeybee Festival today, Saturday, June 11, from10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the apiary on South Mill Road in Deerfield. . There will be bee talks and demonstrations all day, a great time to get your questions about bees answered while you enjoy honey ice cream, mead, and honey snacks.  Warm Colors Apiary will be selling be products from honey to beeswax candles. There is no charge for this event which will intrigue every member of the family. Conlon says the bees are always well behaved.

Russian Queen Bee Yard at Warm Colors Apiary

Conlon also gives workshops for those who are considering keeping bees. He said there are more and more teams signing up for these classes, fathers and sons, and mothers and daughters. Classes begin in late winter and continue through the honey season. Logon to www.warmcolorsapiary.com for more information about classes and other bee resources.

Beetween the Rows  September 11, 2010

The Sweetness of Honey

Warm Colors Apiary, Deerfield

Dan Conlon, co-owner with his wife Bonita of Warm Colors Apiary, President of both the Massachusetts Beekeepers Association and the Franklin County Beekeepers Association, began keeping bees when he was 14 years old. He lived at the edge of a Dayton, Ohio suburb, close enough to farmlands that he got a summer job helping a farmer with haying and whatever needed to be done.

“The farmer kept a few beehives, because many farmers did at that time, knowing how important good pollination was to the success of their crops. When he saw that I liked working with the bees I took on those chores, too.  I set up two hives of my own at home and I have hardly been without bees since then, sometimes just a couple of hives, sometimes 100,” Conlon said.

Conlon told me that his mother said beekeeping is the only thing he ever stuck with. He’s done many things in his life including playing in a band named Warm Colors and teaching at Mt. Hermon, but these days he tends between 500 to 900 hives throughout Massachusetts and even a few in New York State.

Dan Conlon

“Looking back, I think that farmer was an excellent beekeeper. No one used chemicals then and the things he taught me hold up today.  All the farmers that I knew are gone, but they molded my ideas about land preservation. That was the best farmland in the world, and now it’s all covered,” he said.

The day I visited the sun was hot and I could see Conlon’s bees flying around, probably foraging in the field of goldenrod beyond the bee yard. Conlon said this year was a better year for the bees than last year when it was so cold and wet. “That whole year was about keeping the bees from starving. I literally used a ton of organic sugar to keep my hives fed.”

Many of Conlon’s hives are spread throughout the Connecticut River Valley for the season, beginning with apple pollination time in the spring. “This year there was a good honey run in May and June, but then it got dry. The goldenrod began blooming but there was no nectar until the rains the last week in August got it jump started.”

With all the talk about starving bees I asked Conlon about Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) that had gotten so much press a year or two ago. He said, “CCD is not an issue so much in our area, partly because western Mass lives in some isolation as far as the bees are concerned. My bee hives don’t travel much more than 30 or 40 miles twice a season for pollinating. That reduces the stress on the hives.

“Beekeepers in the west have the most trouble because they use migratory beekeepers who bring hundreds of hives to fields around the country for pollination. The bees mix with bees from other places that might have diseases.” Conlon explained there isn’t enough business for those migratory operations to come to our area.

In addition to the stress the migratory bees suffer, and the easy spreading of disease, those bees can also starve to death because their winter or spring feedings use corn syrup.

It turns out that corn syrup is just as bad for bees as it is for humans. Beekeepers routinely feed sugar syrup to bees during the winter and very early spring if they see that honey supplies in the hive are low.  Cane sugar is pure sucrose, and the nectar that honeybees gather is principally sucrose so bees process it just as they do nectar.

Corn syrup, as we all know, is cheaper than sugar which is why it is used in so many of our processed foods and soft drinks. High fructose corn syrup is also cheap for those large bee companies to use, but the bees do not find it as delicious as sucrose. Aside from their taste preferences, corn syrup is a problem for bees because it crystallizes in the hive and becomes so hard that the bees cannot eat it.

Conlon thinks these are some of the  reasons for CCD that do not apply to our part of the world.  He says the good thing about CCD and all the publicity it generated is that it prompted the USDA to increase research funding that had been dropping off.

Next week I’ll talk about Conlon’s Russian queen bee breeding, and new approaches to bee management in our area.

Those interested in learning about bees will enjoy the Annual Honeybee Festival from 10 am to 4pm on Saturday, September 11 at Warm Colors Apiary on South Mill Road in Deerfield.  Conlon says the bees always behave very well. There will be something for everyone including bee talks and demonstrations throughout the day, honey ice cream, samples of mead (a honey wine) provided by Green River Ambrosia, cooking demonstrations by Brandy Parker of Heirloom Catering and more. Of course, honey and honey products like bee pollen and beautiful beeswax candles will be on sale. This is a great family event. You can stop in for an hour or stay all day. There is no charge.

Between the Rows   September 4, 2010

Massachusetts Farmers Market Week

Greenfield Farmers Market

I’m so happy to participate in the Loving Local Farmers Market Blogathon hosted by In Our Grandmother’s Kitchens for several reasons. First, Farmers Markets are beautiful and celebratory places to be. Everywhere are gorgous healthy fruits and vegetables, fragrant herbs and brilliant flowers. Everyone is cheerful when they are surrounded by this beautiful bounty. Who wouldn’t like to spend an hour at the Farmers Market?

Second, is the energy savings of locally grown produce. I know all about the current re-calculating of energy costs of California produce versus more local produce that required heated greenhouses but the farmers I know are using solar greenhouses and limited or no other energy for heating.

Tom Clark of Clarkdale Fruit Farm

Third, is the crisp freshness of the produce. It has been picked  ripe and at its peak. That’s for me! And the nutritional value hasn’t had time to evaporate away.

Fourth, is the variety of veggies, fruits, herbs and unique varieties that promise great flavor and texture. I am a gardener and I grow a lot of my own veggies and herbs, but for a family of two I can’t grow all the variety that I hunger for.

Fifth is my concern for my own food supply. I firmly believe that less centralized, more diversified food sources are safer from violent weather and insect damage or blights and disease. This means the food system for the whole nation is more secure.

Sixth, I think smaller food producers are less likely to spread diseases like salmonella.  It seems that all the  outbreaks of infected foods that have necessitated recalls are from large farms, feedlots and processing plants.

Seventh is my desire to support the farmers who will grow this safe, healthy and delicious food. I love farmers! Some of them are cute and are willing to flirt at the farmers market. I wonder if I can count flirting as another reason for supporting farmers and farmers markets.  What do you think?

Eighth is my concern for the local economy. Buying food, or anything locally, will keep my dollars circulating in my community, so shopping at the farmers market is supporting the whole local economy.

Nine. I can meet various friends and acquaintances at the Farmers Market. I always allow time to stop and gossip.  Here I am blogging and Facebooking, but really, there is  nothing like a face to face confab with people you enjoy, maybe while eating a juicy peach or apple, or a fruit turnover. Have you noticed how many farmers are good cooks?

Ten. Even if you are not a passionate cook farmers markets are a good place to shop because you don’t really need to do anything to make fresh veggies taste wonderful. The flavor is already there. Who needs to do anything fancy to corn on the cob? Or a passel of peas? Or beets?  Steaming, roasting – or just plain raw.

I just came up with a new slogan – Eat Local – Eat Well.   It works for me.

January Winterfare in Northampton

Check out the Mass Farmers Market Association, a non-profit organization and donate to help support farmers markets throughout the Commonwealth.

Robert Dane Loves the Blues

Robert Dane's Blueberry Bud Vases

Bob Dane loves the blueberries Heath is famous for. He also loves the blueberry fields where they are grown which is why he has donated these sweet blueberry bud vases to the Franklin Land Trust to use as a gift for all those who donate $250 or more to the FLT and ear mark that gift “The Benson Place” to support the Agricultural Preservation Restriction (APR)  and trail easement that has been awarded to the Benson Place Blueberry Farm in Heath. These covenants will ensure farming and passive recreation on that land for years to come.

Robert Dane's Tutti Frutti Goblets

Heath is famous for blueberries, and Bob is famous for his blown glass. His tutti frutti goblets, beautiful and whimsical, are one of his trademarks.  He sells his work, and that of the country’s most noted glass artists at the Dane Gallery on Nantucket. Hillary Clinton has shopped at the Gallery when visiting Nantucket!  His wife Jayne, is co-owner and Director of the Gallery.

But Bob is not  only an amazing  and skilled artist, and supporter of land preservation (he is on the Board of the FLT) he is a gardener! His tiny vegetable garden is right outside the back door adjacent to the stone terrace.  He needs to keep it small because of his work schedule.  It contains winter squash, kale and beets that he doesn’t have to worry about until late in the season.  On the other hand, his second planting of arugula is coming along nicely and he continues to enjoy stuffed zucchini blossoms – as well as the zucchini squash. Bob is a great cook, too.

Tiny thyme

All of us in Heath have a good time in the summer, but we can feel we are on a tight schedule. Time is always an issue.  However, Bob says he has “‘lots of thyme.” Between the stone pavers on the terrace he has wooly thyme, creeping thyme, tiny thyme and regular common thyme. I’ve been feeling the need for more time, but Bob has shown me how to have more thyme.  Thanks, Bob.

Hurry to Hawley

Field of greens at Pen and Plow Farm

Who would not like to live on Pudding Hollow Road? It is clearly a road steeped in the history of Hawley, a town settled in 1760, and a unique pudding contest which took place in the late 1770s.  Farms and food have always been important parts of Hawley’s history and culture so I could not resist the opportunity to visit the newest farm and an old established garden, both on Pudding Hollow Road, and both a part of Hawley’s annual Artisan’s and Garden Tour which will be held on Saturday, July 10 from 10 am until 4 pm.

When you turn off Route 8A and cross over the new bridge you are on Pudding Hollow Road, Right across from the tiny town hall is the two year old Pen and Plow Farm, so called because the Velazquez family, Sheila, her son Jason and his wife have all been in the publishing/editorial business , but since early last spring have been turning their creative energies to sustainable farming.

Merlot lettuce at Pen and Plow farm

Sheila, who said she had farmed many years ago and has had varied careers since then, was delighted that her son gave her the nudge (push?) to go back into farming. The family found 21 acres, wooded and clear, with a year round stream. They have planted a large market garden, currently boasting ‘greens’ including reds like Merlot, Red Fire and Red Sails lettuces. These can be purchased among other places, at the new Charlemont Farmer’s Market held on Saturdays at the Hawlemont School.

In addition to the mangelwurzel (for animal feed) corn, squash, and other vegetable fields, they have two Scottish Highland Cows. “They are a good breed for the country,” Sheila said. “ They are hardy and eat brush, poison ivy and wild raspberries.”  I can see that would save on feed bills. They also have chickens and recently added a Jersey milk cow to their holdings.

Jason Velazquez

Jason took time out from his chores to show me how to sharpen and use a scythe, and to talk about his pleasure in being able to return to farming. “Values you learn in a rural childhood are applicable to many walks of life,” and this is one of the reasons he wanted to leave Boston and bring his wife and children to Hawley and to make a farm.

As he showed me all the projects, he explained that they want to learn to do more with less. “Everything we do is rooted in sustainability – what the land can sustain, and the amount of labor we can sustain as a family. We wan to provide our own food, but we plan to farm to a living. We have a commitment to being part of a community that sustains itself.”

As they move towards making a living on the farm they are paying attention to the vegetables that customers prefer. They also sell fresh eggs that have the brilliant yellow yolks that are typical of free range chickens.

Paul Cooper

Paul Cooper, retired neurosurgeon and serious cook, and his wife Leslie have been summering in Hawley since 1981, enjoying the magnificent views of the hills, and tending their gardens.

Cooper toured me around his hillside, showing me new fruit trees, apples, pears, a greengage plum, peaches, and quince. Several years ago they planted two copper beech trees which are still young, but already show signs that they will grow into majestic old trees. There is a special thanks due to people like the Coopers who plant trees that will not come into their noble maturity until they themselves are no longer walking the earth.

There are colorful flower gardens that Leslie tends, daylily borders, and pink honeysuckle vines, not an invasive variety. But Cooper’s favorite garden is the fenced vegetable garden which hints at his passion for cooking.  He grows several kinds of tomatoes, Big Boy, Sun Gold, Early Girl, Celebrity and Donna. Yukon Gold, Corolla and Kennebec potatoes, Fava beans, shallots, leeks, garlic, asparagus and eggplant, “but no peppers, because I hate them,” he said.

Mint is grown in its own circular garden where the lawn mower can keep it under control.  A small herb garden supplies much of the common herbs Cooper needs.

The lettuce was lush and Cooper sighed when he said, “It’s been a lettuce summer,” which is to say cool and damp.

Paul Cooper's lambs

Cooper hasn’t forgotten the main course, He also raises lambs – and he has a large collection of lamb recipes.

The blueberry, raspberry and red currant patches suggest that diners at his table do not leave until there has been a luscious dessert.  Maybe he will find one in The Pudding Hollow Cookbook, written by Tinky Weisblat, another Hawley resident.

Akebia covered pergola at the Cooper's

The Hawley tour includes visits to other farms, gardens and a lunch at one of Hawley’s Great Houses, also on Pudding Hollow Road.

This tour, A Collage of Arts and Gardens Throughout the Town of Hawley is sponsored by the Sons and Daughters of Hawley. Proceeds will help fund restoration of East Hawley Meeting House and the Grove Building. It is hoped that the new bathrooms in the Grove Building will be completed by tour day. For more information about tickets for the  tour call Cyndie Stetson 413- 339-4231.

Betweenthe Rows  June 26, 2010