The Meditative Gardener

The Meditative Gardener by Cheryl Wilfong

I met Cheryl Wilfong at a recent Garden Writers (GWA) meeting in Boston. The meeting was excellent with good advice about blogging and writing  given by Richard Banfield of freshtilledsoil.com.  The speaker gave me more than I ever expected, but one of the reasons I attended was to meet other writers, some of whom I already knew through their blogs.

Cheryl brought her book, which I bought, and information about her website, meditativegardener.com.  In spite of a weekend Vipassna session years ago, I do not claim to be a meditator, but I don’t think you need to claim this title to recognize many of the feelings, thoughts and reactions that Cheryl describes.  The book describes many Buddhist and meditative practices which appeal to me, in and out of the garden. Not to mention the gorgeous photographs.

I was particularly taken with the Flower in Your Heart Meditation.  I grow flowers, and yet rarely bring them into the house because the cats always knock the vases over, and I even more rarely give bouquets away, for no reason except affection.  I will be more mindful of this opportunity.

Every day our gardens teach us, about the ways of nature, about the ways to be  generous, and about the ways of the spirit.  So does this book.

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.

Phil Korman and CISA

Philip Korman of CISA

CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture) is familiar to many of us because of the bright yellow Local Hero signs at farmstands, farmer’s markets,  supermarkets and car bumpers. We have recognized the benefits of buying food from our local farmers: keeping our money in the local economy; preserving local farms that produce the rural atmosphere we all treasure as well as a variety of crops; and cutting down on oil-dependent food transportation.

As consumers we see some of the work done by CISA, but much of its work, and workers, are visible only to the over 200 local farmers who are CISA members.

Philip Korman joined CISA in 2008 as its Executive Director. A graduate of Cornell University he has spent his professional life working for the community and common good through organizations like the National Priorities Project in Northampton and the Franklin County Council of Governments.

Once, as a young man, he spent a couple of summer months on a farm in Norway, just three hours south of the artic circle. “They raised dairy cows, and pigs, but no vegetables. All produce was imported. A lot of rhubarb soup,” Korman said.

Nowadays he contents himself with a home garden and enjoys living in a rural area, where there are lots of vegetables and fruits, and  working for CISA, a community organization that has a wide reach, from farmers to consumers, to other organizations and businesses who have an interest in food. And that is almost all of us, when you think about it.

“We are here to help the bottom line of farmers,” Korman said. They do this through a variety of workshops in business, finance and marketing. “Farmers already know what they are doing in the fields, but we can help them with those other aspects of farming. We also have a new Women in Agriculture initiative, in acknowledgment of the growing number of women who are farming.”

As any person starting a business knows, there is more to success than making a product. For farmers this means they also need an agricultural infrastructure to allow farmers to process their crops, and gain that value for themselves.

There was great controversy recently about a slaughterhouse in the area, and it is clear that such an operation will need to be sited carefully. However, meat farmers would benefit immensely from having a local slaughterhouse, and even those of us who like, or would like to raise backyard chickens, or pigs, would benefit. I believe that a well planned and managed small local slaughterhouse would avoid all the environmental problems that we associate with industrial sized slaughterhouses where there is cruelty and dangerous waste.

Korman said there is interest in building a local dairy processing operations. Gary Schaefer of Bart’s Ice Cream already uses local blueberries and peaches in their ice cream and are interested in using local milk as well.

In addition, CISA is investigating the possibility of establishing a flash freezing operation, that could either be brought to farms, or where farmers could bring their produce for freezing. This would be another was to increase farm income, and add jobs.

Those who attended the Northampton Winterfare farmers market scooped up all the fresh greens that Red Fire Farm had, showing that there is a market for fresh vegetables early and late in the season. Currently there is the possibility of funding to help farmers build hoop houses, to make this market available to more farmers.

During my talk with Korman I realized that how many people and organizations are generating ideas, and then working in concrete ways to make it more and more possible for us all to eat more healthfully and locally, and for more small farms to be more successful. This is a very exciting time for farmers in our area when there is organizational support and resources, as well as the desire from consumers to buy their products.

Since our local farms are small, we don’t realize what an economic impact they have on the area. Yet, local farms had more than $9 million dollars in sales last year; 35 Local Hero restaurants spent more than $1 million on local produce; and schools, and hospitals are buying more local produce. Of all the produce used at  UMass dining halls and cafes, more than 20% now comes  from local farms.

According to the 2008 CISA Annual Report “. . .we want more local foods and agricultural good available, more of the time, to more of the people.” When that report came out, a state funded Senior Farm Share program provided 350 low income seniors with 10-12 weeks of fresh produce from their local CSA.   The state cut half the funding for the current fiscal year, and for the upcoming fiscal year there is no state funding at all.

Because of their commitment to providing healthy fresh food to low income seniors CISA has been fundraising, hoping to raise $25,000 to keep this program alive until the economy and our state recover from this serious downturn. There is still time for people to make a donation to that program. Call Pamela Barnes at (413) 665-7100., or logon to www.buylocalfood.org for full information.

Nowadays you don’t have to be a farmer to be a supportive CISA member. Community memberships are available at a variety of levels. I’ve joined. Will you?

Don’t forget Greenfield’s Winterfare farmers market on Saturday, February 6 from 10 am to 2 pm at Greenfield High School. Beautiful produce, a Barter Fair, and workshops. I’ll be talking about that most local crop, sprouts. For full info logon to www.winterfare.org.  ###

Between the Rows July 31, 2010

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.

My Award

I’ve never gotten an award before so I was delighted to wake up to this award bestowed by Tinky of Our Grandmother’s Kitchens. Thank you Tinky! She did say there were seven things the award givers want to know about me, before I pass the award along to seven other favorite bloggers.

She also said if I was too shy I didn’t have to tell all – but I can certainly think of seven things to share. Some may have been self-evident to readers of my blog.

You all must know that I love roses and have a collection of over 60 roses. These are not fussy hybrid teas, but hardy roses that can take our Heathan winters and winds. Many are fragrant as well as beautiful. And the last Sunday in June we always have our version of Garden Open Today at The Annual Rose Viewing.  Lemonade and Cookies.

I’m a reader. I like many kinds of books, mysteries, novels, poetry, ‘lit-ra-chuh’, cookbooks and, of course, garden books. When I was a librarian I loved being a ‘reader’s advisor’ helping my patrons find a book to delight and inform. So I will pass on a couple of suggestions. I love the Mary Russell mystery novels by Laurie R. King beginning with The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, and Penelope Lively whose latest is Family Album. I’ve also just finished Letters from Yellowstone by Diane Smith. A national park in 1898, botany, a feminist, a raven and much much more. I highly recommed it.

I’m a cook, and I love baking. I baked this apple tart for a ‘meeting’ of the Heath Gourmet Club. We have been meeting and eating once a month since September 1981. That’s 28 years of serving ourselves. I’m famous for choosing France as a theme, but we’ve had picnics, winter brunches, English tea parties, Russian Easters, Indian curries, and dim sum. Our President’s Meal is coming up in February. I haven’t chosen my dish yet.

I’m a Granny and we love having grandchildren visit. They pick berries in the raspberry patch, in the blueberry fields across town, feed the worms, catch newts in the Frog Pond, hike in the woods, play cards in the Cottage Ornee, visit Mass MoCA to see weird and wonderful art exhibits, and Read Aloud. I’m a great granny, now too. Isabella and Lola live in Florida. We are looking forward to Lola’s first visit.

I have a lot of trouble controlling paper. I might need that article, that scribbled note, that address on a napkin.  I’m not a collector, except books and plants, but paper is something else. However, this year, we are Reviewing and Renewing. there is a chance I will at least cut down in a radical way.

That’s five things about me.  I can also tell you I love Netflix. We live 25 miles from the nearest movie theater, and its the ride home that is always the killer. I’d rather watch on our new digital TV. We watch all kinds of movies, but we love old classic comedies. And musicals. Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Gene Kelly! Last night we downloaded Greenfingers. Prisons plus gardens equal redemption!

Tinky mentioned her crushes. Have I ever had a crush on a movie star? I suppose so, but so long ago. Still, there is Tommy Tune. So tall. A drawl. And those dancing feet. Sigh!

Now I’d like to pass along this award to 7 other of my favorite bloggers:

Sue at A Corner Garden

Rose at Prairie Rose’s Garden

Rose at Ramble on Rose

Dr. Mom at Back Quarter Acre

Daphne at Daphne’s Dandelions

JP at Artful Greens

Nan at Letters from a Hill Farm

Sam at Red Worms – a fairly new blog

Sue is excited about her kitchen these days, and Nan is always excited about books, and Sam has a new blog about vermiculture which I am very excited about, but everyone else is busy thinking about their gardens while they wait for spring. It comes earlier to some than others. I hope you’ll stop by and visit and meet some interesting people with interesting projects and thoughts.

Wonderful Winterfares

Northampton Winterfare

In the February/March issue of Organic Gardening magazine, Gordon Hayward who gardens in Vermont, talks about our ‘food shed.’ I know about watersheds, that protect the quality of our water, and was amused when I heard people talk about their ‘view sheds’ the landscape view they enjoyed from their house, but I had never heard the term ‘food shed.”

However, aware as I am of the 100 mile diet, I should have realized the term put me on familiar ground. Hayward quotes Cornell University’s definition of food shed as “a geographic area that supplies a population with food.”

With all the recent talk about national security, especially airport security, there is not so much talk about ‘food security.’ Fortunately, because of our food shed, we in this region are enjoying substantial food security; we could feed ourselves very well indeed, even if there were some catastrophic event that kept the refrigerator trucks from California making it all the way to western Massachusetts.

This blessing of this security was brought home to me last year when I attended the Second Annual Winterfare  Farmer’s Market at Greenfield High School. It is one thing to have a garden and even know that the farmstands are full of wonderful fresh produce in the summer and fall, but I was amazed at how much fresh produce is available locally during deep mid-winter. Granted, many of the farmers were selling frozen meat, potatoes, squash and all manner or root crops like beets and carrots which can be harvested in fall and stored properly for use during the winter, but some farmers had beautiful lettuces and other greens that are such a luxury during the winter.

I could hardly carry away my share of the bounty which included not only vegetables like tender greens from Red Fire Farm, but Clarkdale apples and cider, Hillman Farm cheese, El Jardin bread,  Warm Colors Apiary raspberry honey, and Real Pickles. Our food shed is varied and delicious.

Seeing so many people giving of their time and energy to put on this terrific event made me determined to do my share this year. Whether you attend the Northampton Winterfare today from 10 AM to 2 PM at Smith Vocational School or the Greenfield Winterfare on Saturday, February 6 at Greenfield High School I will be on hand to demonstrate the growing of sprouts.

Sprouts are the most local of food crops. Mine grow on the counter next to the kitchen sink.  To increase my experience with sprouting  I sprouted wheat for the first time. When I visited Cliff Hatch, and his daughter Sorrel, at Upinngil during the summer I bought a couple of bags of wheat berries. They have been waiting patiently for me to learn to make wheatberry salad, and this workshop prompted me to try sprouting them. I even bought  a hemp and flax Sproutbag at Green Fields Market to expand my horizons further.

The information sheet that came with the Sproutbag said that it was better than a Mason jar for sprouting wheat and other grains as well as beans. And here I thought I was just doing my best for the consumer economy.

I will bring my sprouted wheat bread to Winterfare, along with salad sprouts in Mason jars in two different stages for those who may not be familiar with the process and not realize how easy it is.

The magical thing about sprouts is that in the process of sprouting the nutritional value of the seed shoots up, increasing the amount and number of vitamins A, B complex, C and E. The amount of protein and fiber also increase. What is not mysterious is that none of this nutritional value is lost because it develops on the kitchen counter and is eaten in that same kitchen. There is no nutritional loss as when vegetables are shipped from far away, and of course, no gas or oil are used for transportation.

My presentation is only one of several presentations being offered today. There will be information about canning, how to store root and other crops for winter use, how to make your own nut milk and how to make cheese.

Those who have a surfeit of jam or any kind of good produce can bring them along to the barter session.

CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture) is a sponsor of Winterfare. Logon to their website, www.buylocalfood.org or www.winterfare.org  for full details. I hope to see you there – or in Greenfield.

*************************

I heard from Daniel Botkin after my article about Laughing Dog Farm last week. I said that his goat bedding and manure could be used fresh on the garden and didn’t need to be composted like my chicken manure. Goat manure is not hot like chicken manure but he wanted to make this clarification:: “The goat manure, although it is more readily usable for organic gardening (because 1.) it is pelletized 2) it is pre-mixed with hay and 3) it breaks down much faster than most, more dense, anaerobic “slop” manures), it is still not safe around ripening food crops and never goes near any edible or soon to be edible plant parts when fresh. I do apply it fresh around trees, shrubs and as sheet mulch on fallow, non-edible landscapes.”

Thank you, Daniel.

Between the Rows   January9, 2009

Garden Bloggers Convene

Garden Bloggers from all over this great USA, from California to Massachusetts, and from Michigan to Texas and Louisiana AND Canada, are all meeting up in Buffalo, home of the famed Buffalo Garden Walk for the Third Annual Garden Bloggers meet-up from July 8-11.

I will be here to compare notes with Kathy Purdy about cold climates, with Carol about dreaming in the garden, with Frances about faire gardens, and with Susan Harris about how sustainably our gardens grow.  Actually I’ll be comparing notes with dozens of bloggers, sharing  information, funny stories, and getting to visit lots of gardens in and around Buffalo. I’ll be bringing back photos and ideas to share with all of you.  I can’t wait.

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.

A Color Challenge

While spending a little time checking my favorite blogs, I saw that Mr. McGregor’s Daughter was having fun with David Perry’s color challenge.  MMD took Red, Green and Blue photos, but I stuck with red. I’m a sucker for red – all shades.

It was fun to look around the house and see what I could use. I took this photo through the bottom of  a beautiful red handblown glass bowl held up against today’s brilliant sunlight.

Another Celebratory Giveaway

Right Rose Right Place

Because it is my second Blogoversary, both Storey Publishing and CowPots are making it possible to have two Give Aways.  Right Rose, Right Place: 359 Perfect Choices by rose lover and expert Peter Schneider will be a lovely and useful holiday treat for any rose gardener, or would-be rose gardener. There is advice here for the experienced gardener as well as for the novice.  I have already added a number of roses I never knew about to my must-have list. They are all marked reliable because I still don’t trust my warming climate. Schneider talks about every kind of rose, old roses, modern roses, climbing roses, tree roses, and roses for containers.  Just leave a comment and I’ll enter your name in a drawing that will be held in the morning on Saturday, December 12.

CowPots

But the CowPots people also wanted to help me celebrate twice. I have another two dozen Cowpots to send along with Right Rose Right Place.  Peat pots for seed starting help to deplete peat bogs, but cow manure is definitley a renewable resources.  CowPots are made of composted manure that will add fertilizer to your garden when they are planted, and will get your seeds off to a really good start. They are made by the Liquid Fence people who also make a line of products like Deer and Rabbit Repellent. I’ll be using this as the winter progresses to keep hungry deer away from my rhododendrons.

For those of you who have begun your holiday shopping, I have a local resource – Artspace on Mill Street is holding its annual Holiday Shop with gifts made by local artists and artisans. You will not be surpised to know that I could not resist notecards featuring a porcupine.

I’d rather have porcupines on cardstock rather than in my compost bin and keep them as a lovely country memory.  There are lots of other beautiful cards for sale, as well as art prints, blown glass ornaments, beautiful candles, jewelry, honey, CDs by local musicians and much much more. Gifts are priced under $50 with many under $25.  Shopping at Artspace supports arts education and artists – and the local economy. The Holiday Shop will continue through December 13, every day, 10 am to 6 pm except Sunday 1-6 pm.