Lynden B. Miller

The annual Smith College Bulb Show at the Lyman Conservatory will begin with a free lecture by Lynden B. Miller (Smith ‘60) in the Carroll Room at the Campus Center at 7:30 pm on Friday, March 5.  Miller is a noted public garden designer and will be talking about her new book Parks, Plants and People: Beautifying the Urban Landscape.  She feels that “beautiful parks and gardens are essential urban oases with economic benefits and the power to transform the way people behave and feel about their cities.” After the lecture attendees can tour the Bulb Show.

Miller is currently director of the Conservatory Garden in Central Park which she rescued and restored, but “her work includes gardens for The Central Park Zoo, Bryant Park, The New York Botanical Garden, Madison Square Park and Wagner Park in Battery Park City as well as many smaller projects in all five boroughs and beyond.”  It is heartening to know that as we talk about ‘nature deficit’ in children, we are also coming to acknowledge that people of every age benefit from the beauty and calm of a garden, of natural green space.

In her book, and her work Miller shows us the importance of public gardens, and with luck, will give us new eyes to look at the public spaces in our own communities.

The Smith College Bulb Show runs from March 6 through Sunday, March 21 from 10 am to 4 pm every day. A $2 donation is suggested. In addition to the spectacular bloom there will be an exhibition, The Inner Beauty of Flowers, radiograph and Xray photographs of flowers, and an audio installation of music composed by Susan Hiller (‘61) titled What Every Gardener Knows playing in the Lyman Conservatory Palm House.

Crop Mobs

The New York Times Magazine had a story on Sunday about Crop Mobs down in North Carolina.  The idea is that volunteer ‘pop up farmers’ can show up at a farm to slave away for a day or afternoon, doing all that labor intensive work that small farms have so much of.

I know the Greenfield Garden Club has Weed Mobs before their annual garden tour, but I wonder if any local farms need a Crop Mob?  I’ll bet there are farmer wannabees around. An afternoon of Crop Mobbing might be just the education they need.  Farming aside, “Anywhere there is dirt, community will grow.”

The Art Garden

The Art Garden in Shelburne Falls

There are all kinds of gardens, perennial gardens, cutting gardens, and vegetable gardens, but right now the only garden that is giving me special pleasure is Jane Wegscheider’s Art Garden in Shelburne Falls.

The Art Garden is a welcoming and well stocked studio space that is available to the public, including children, to express and develop their creativity. And we don’t have to do it alone. Jane is on  hand to teach and demonstrate and inspire – as she has been doing in local schools for years. Now she is sharing her skill and her passion with the whole community.

Jane Wegscheider

Last week I attended Jane’s workshop on book making. I am not ready to make books like this leather bound treasure, but I came away with a simple book, an accordion book and materials for a Japanese stab binding book. I can tell you I will never look at National Geographic photographs in the same way ever again. Jane is always using recycled and repurposed materials in her art; that’s another lesson to find beauty and utility in ‘trash’.

Jane had lots of samples to show us some of  the possibilities. Some were made with children, so it wasn’t intimidating to people like me who aren’t good with measuring or straight lines.

I returned last night to make a Valentine.  Three hours later and I’m not quite finished. Simplicity doesn’t seem to be my forte. I couldn’t show it to you yet, anyway.

Check out The Art Garden’s Open Studio hours and workshop schedule.

Elsa Bakalar, Gardener and Friend

Elsa at her 91st birthday with Marie

Last October I joined with friends, and family including Jake and Susan Bakalar, Elsa’s nephew and his wife, and ‘honorary daughter’ Marie Hershkowitz who had been a student of Elsa’s, to celebrate Elsa’s 91st birthday. It was a jolly affair with a buffet brought by Jake and Susan, cards, stories,  and tributes. And laughter. And champagne.

Two weeks ago my husband and I visited Elsa at the nursing home and again had a jolly time. The menu was more limited, but one of the two other guests who had shown up had brought chocolate cake.  More laughter. Who needs champagne?

For the past two days I have been conferring with Susan and Marie, and that other important ‘honorary daughter, Nicole Gordon, to prepare an obituary, because Elsa was failing. This morning I got the call I had been expecting, but dreading.  It was time to to send out the obituary.

Elsa  (Holtom) Bakalar,  of Ashfield and Heath, passed away peacefully at the age of 91 at Overlook Northampton in Leeds, Massachustts on  January 29, 2010.

Elsa was born in London in 1918 to Ernest Alfred Holtom and Rosalie Gilder Holtom. She attended Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Girls and Bishop Otter College, now part of the University of Chichester.

After graduation she began her teaching career at a school that was bombed, killing many students, while Elsa was out of the building.  She was lucky! She went on to teach at Penshurst Village School, often teaching 65 young children in a class. She married a German refugee artist, Erwin Wending.  After the war she came to the United States, working for British Information Services (BIS) in New York City lecturing and writing pamphlets, and several articles that appeared in Gourmet Magazine, introducing Americans to English traditions and recipes. There she and Wending divorced.  It was in New York that she met Michael Bakalar; it was love at first sight and they married in 1954.

After leaving BIS in the 1950’s, she worked for many years as a teacher in New York City at the Ethical Culture and Fieldston schools, now known as the Ethical Culture Fieldston School, first as a grade school teacher at Midtown (in Manhattan), then at the high school in Riverdale. As a much-loved teacher, she is remembered by her students for a demanding but highly engaging and inspiring teaching style and for her annual uniquely dramatic reading of the whole of  Dickens’ Great Expectations to her 6th grade class.

In 1958 she and Mike bought a small house in Heath where Elsa began making the garden that she would write and lecture about for many years. For several years she also ran a summer camp for girls, most of whom were her students at Ethical Culture and Fieldston.

In 1978 Elsa and Mike moved to West County full time. Mike founded the Shelburne Falls and West County News, and Elsa became Director of Community Services at Greenfield Community College. While there she instituted a series of Study and Travel Courses, leading groups through England and its great gardens. She also taught garden workshops in Heath and became well-known for her garden talks to local groups, encouraging new gardeners, and expanding the horizons of experienced gardeners. She was as well known for her charm, wit and turn of phrase as for her gardening expertise

When she retired from GCC she began a career of lecturing to garden groups all across the  United States and offered workshops under the auspices of Harvard University’s Arnold  Arboretum, the New England Wildflower Society, the New York Botanical Garden and many  professional organizations. In 1994 she published her book, A Garden of One’s Own: Making  and Keeping Your Flower Garden, made a garden video, and was interviewed on national TV.  In every endeavor her husband Mike was at her side, a perennial support: photographer,  mover of stones in the garden and slide projector operator on the lecture road until his death in 2000.

She is survived by her  cousin, with whom she was raised as a sister, Peter Kerry and his wife Iris of Almeria, Spain; stepson G. Michael Bakalar  and his wife Erika of Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, granddaughters Dawn Byrd,  Amanda Eiras, Leigh Anne Jennings; and four great grandchildren as well as nephews, nieces, cousins and her beloved “honorary daughters” Marie Hershkowitz of Northampton and Nicole Gordon of New York City.

Interment is private. A memorial gathering is being planned for the spring. Memorial gifts can be sent to the Friends of the Heath Library, c/o Jane Deleeuw, Long Hill Rd, Heath, MA 01346, or the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, 900 Washington Ave, Wellesley, MA 02482.

Fish and Flowers

Barton Cove Ice Fishing

The sky was blue and the ice was thick. I did not see any fish being harvested, but the fisher folk looked pretty happy and relaxed.  I peeked at them on my way to the Greenfield Garden Club Annual Meeting, this year at the French King Restaurant.

There was a good crowd. The room buzzed with the happy chatter of frustrated gardeners. The food was good and the conversation even better. The Greenfield Garden Club is a terrific organization of gardeners who put their enthusiasm for plants at the service of the community. Their fundraising events like the Plant Sale Extravaganza in May and the Garden Tour in July fund grants for area schools including a pizza garden at Frontier Regional, school gardens at Holy Trinity, Whately,  Greenfield Center School, and Erving Elementary, and a mushroom garden at Buckland Shelburne Elementary. That’s just for starters. The sponsor the Barrel Contest to encourage the beautification of the town, maintain the Trap Plain garden at the corner of Silver and Federal Streets, and prepare a beautiful exhibit for the Franklin County Fair.

Marie Stella of Kirin Farm Enterprises

Marie Stella, a landscape historian and designer, was our featured speaker. Her topic was Responsible Gardening for the 21st Century: The Sustainable Landscape. It was clear to me that as much as I already do along these lines, there is always room for improvement. It is easy to manage one’s one property responsibly, but it takes a little extra gumption to tell a nursery that if he doesn’t stop selling burning bush, or any other invasive plant you see on his plant list, you will not shop there – and you’ll tell all your friends not to shop there either. Still, it is something we can and should do. Businesses are more likely to respond to economic incentives than altruism.

For more information about the Greenfield Garden Club click here. You could have fun like this too. And maybe you’d win a flower arrangement like this at the next Annual Meeting.  That John LaSalle!  He is a Master of Flowers – and he supports the Garden Club – and other plant loving organizations.

Know Your Farmers

It was 10 degrees, but sunny, when I left Heath for the Valley yesterday, joining the crowds who attended Northampton’s First Annual Winterfare Farmer’s Market to get to know their farmers. CISA was one of the sponsors.

Tom Clark of Clarkdale Fruit Farm

Clarkdale in Deerfield had a table right near the entrance, so Winterfarers were greeted by the smiling faces of Tom, and his son Ben.  I think Ben makes the fifth generation of growing premium fruit on their magnificent farm. I always buy a bag of the Clarkdale apple pie mix. My friend and expert pie baker says the secret of a really good apple pie is a mixture of apples, and Clarkdale has put it all together for me.

Apex Orchards was on the other side of the room where the sun dazzled shoppers. I bought a bag of Thomas Jefferson’s favorite Spitzenberg apple. Apex also sells apple cider vinegar from their own apples, and honey from their own hives.

Warm Colors Apiary of Deerfield was offering test testing of the different flavors. I chose a darker fuller bodied wildflower honey. I’m going to be talking to Don Conlon in a few weeks to find out the latest challenges for bee keepers and how that will affect all of us honey lovers.

Paul and Amy of Sidehill Farm

Paul and Amy of Sidehill Farm brought lots of yogurt in various flavors for all of us yogurt lovers, and fortunately they had a little left by the time I made it to their table.  In season, they also sell gorgeous vegetables.

At the Barberic Farm booth you could buy frozen lamb, fleece, yarn, pickles – and book Eric Goodchild for a bagpiping gig. I settled for pickles this time.

Red Fire Farm greens

There was a long line at the Red Fire Farm operation. People were eager for the opportunity to buy fresh local greens (of many types) in January!

Ryan Voiland, the genius behind Red Fire Farm, was busy, along with staff members, keeping the bins stocked and the customers happy.  Ryan is in the process of moving the farm from Granby to Montague where he grew up. Closer to us!

Root Cellaring workshop

In addition to buying opportunities, there were learning opportunities with a range of workshops like this one about how to store garden crops through the winter – with demonstrations of what can go wrong.

Corn grinder

Some Winterfarers found more active learning opportunities like this boy who spent some time grinding corn into cornmeal.

Northampton’s First Winterfare was fun, delicious and a great success – a success that will be repeated at the Third Annual Winterfare in Greenfield on Saturday, Feb. 6 from 10 -2 pm at Greenfield High School. Hope to see you there.

Bloom Day – Everywhere

The Christmas cactus is blooming right on time! However, there isn’t much else in flower right now. The Thanksgiving cactus bloom has gone by and the abutilon has a couple of puny blossoms, but not photo worthy because there are so many different kinds of blooms to show this Bloom Day.

We visited daughter Betsy and her family this weekend. Her orchids are blooming. She says she regularly gets them to rebloom. She is not known for having a green thumb, but she and the orchids get along fine.

After admiring the orchid it was time to decorate the Christmas tree. This is a walk down memory lane because Betsy and the boys have stories to tell about all the ornaments they have made over the years. It is a joy to see the family blooming with health and happiness.

The weekend was full of celebrations. A surprise birthday party for Suzy (in red) on Saturday night. Fortunately someone had made sure that the martinis and olives were on hand. The evening bloomed with friendship and joy.

And in this season we celebrate the birth of Christ. The Charlemont Federated Church put on a Living Nativity. The Holy Family looks pretty happy. They must have made it to Egypt already.

But the Flight to Egypt was not easy. It began in a stable.  It might not have been quite so cold in Bethlehem as in a Charlemont snowfall, but we are reminded that in these modern days there are still many families struggling, and many children who are cold and hungry.

Happily, we could all celebrate the birth of the Christ Child, and our community with hot drinks and snacks in the warm church. Our community blooms with fellowship.

Can you believe we attended another surprise birthday party? Val (in gold), at 80, continues to serve the town as asssessor and in many other volunteer capacities. Camraderie was blooming at the Community Hall – just as planned.

We also celebrated the new snowfall by trudging out to our snowbreak to cut down a balsam for our Christmas tree. It will be blooming with ornaments. Very soon.

To enjoy more blooms across the county join our host, Carol at May Dreams Gardens.

Christmastime is Wreathtime

The Greenfield Garden Club held its wreath-making workshop last evening at Chapley’s Garden in Deerfield. Linda Tyler knew what she was doing and helped all the rest of us who didn’t.

Chapleys provided all manner of greenery from blue spruce to euonymus, rose hips, pine cones and I don’t know what all – except that a lot of different and unique wreaths were being created all around me.

Karen Helbig and I were working side by side. She was a novice, like me, but somehow her result was more impressive than mine.

Karen was a good sport and took this photo of me, trying not to laugh or look too embarrassed.

I did get some good tips for improving my second wreath which I will form on a wire coathanger.

* Make a generous ‘hand’ of greenery, the handfuls of green branches that will be wired tightly, hand by hand around the wire form – or coathanger.  The ‘hands’ don’t have to be long, but they should include several small branches.

* Different types of greenery can be used in a single ‘hand’. The differing textures can make the wreath more interesting and attractive.

* You can use the greenery right side up, or occasionally turn a branch over for a contrast in color.

* Pine cones can have a wire twisted around the base of the cone, as low as possible, and these can be wired onto the wreath for decoration.

* Essential note: make sure you tie a colored string or ribbon around your finishing loop, or you will never find it again!

I’m so happy to be a member of the Greeenfield Garden Club, where I find friendship and information, and a way to provide service to the community. For more information about the club logon on to the website which includes beautiful photos from last year’s garden tour.

Truffle?!

Ted Watt has worked with the children of the Heath Elementary School for years, teaching them about the land and the world they live in. One of the blessings of the school landscape is a woodland where the childrren have studied the seasons and phases of life of many woodland creatures and plants.

On their most recent exploration of the woods they  found – drumroll please – a truffle. I know nothing about truffles, except that they are a kind of underground fungi, but I usually think of them being found by truffle digging pigs in the Perigord region of France.

Heath is no Perigord, and Ted is no pig, but somehow, he found a truffle, ‘the diamond of the kitchen’, so prized for haute cuisine.  I haven’t talked to him, but I wonder who takes possession of this rare culinary delight. Ted? The school cafeteria? Will the kids soon be lunching on risotto with leeks, shiitake mushrooms and truffles?

The Flower of American Womanhood

On Veteran’s Day the Shelburne Falls Area Women’s Club, and the greater community, celebrated some of the women who have served in the Armed Forces. The women on the panel above, left to right, are Georgette Devine (Marines 1944-46), Trice Heyer (Army nurse 1967-72), Sandra Lucentini (Air Force 1988-92), and Sandra Magill who is still serving as a Reservist after 27 years in the Navy.

It was luck that we got to hear stories from four of the Services and hear how things have changed for women over the decades. Georgette was a mechanic, but a girdle was part of the uniform during WWII. Trice served as a nurse in Saigon and she reminded us that you don’t have to be on the battlefield to be deeply affected by war and feel the effects for years. Sandra Lucentini was sent to language school for a year, then recieved additional training in Russian and cryptography before being sent to Berlin right after the Wall came down. She was able to see the radical changes in Germany unfold. These women were all young when they enlisted, and though patriotic, they were looking for adventure as well.  Sandra Magill was a local high school teacher but it didn’t take much of a push to get her to enlist in the Navy. She was sworn in two days before her 35th birthday. Three days later and she would have been too old!

All three women served at historic moments, and they had stories to tell.  I was honored to be there for a wonderful evening.

On this Blooming Friday I celebrate these women who continue to bloom and make a difference in our community.

This potted annual verbena is the sole flower I have blooming outside on this Blooming Friday, but if you visit Katarina at Roses and Stuff you’ll find gardeners who may have a milder climate or more skill than I do.