Bridge of Flowers Plant Sale – Saturday May 18

Plants ready for the sale

One thousdand perennials are ready for the Bridge of Flowers Plant Sale on Saturday, May 18. When the starting bell rings at 9 am (no sales before that hour) the buying begins. From this photo you might be able to pick out lady’s mantle, candelabra primroses, hostas, Solomon’s seal, ferns, and bleeding hearts, pink and white. I can tell you that there are also peonies, fairy bells (new to me) campanulas, yarrow, achillea, shasta daisies, and some shrubs including  butterfly bush, rose of sharon and forsythia. All at bargain prices.

Candelabra primroses

There are other primroses, too. pink and wine colors.  Most of the plants, including these primroses come off the Bridge. There will also be vendors selling tools, notecards, books – and wooden spoons. Unusual native flowers from Hillside Nursery will also be on sale – as usual. Annuals and geraniums will  also be available. Come early!

Pots for Sale

This year we also have an array of handsome, gently used, pots. This is not the whole collection. Beautiful plants deserve a beautiful pot.

Plant Sale begins promptly at 9 am and will conclude at noon. Hope to see you there.

Winterfare – Always a Delicious Success

Winterfare veggies

Saturday more I went down to Greenfield for Winterfare – always a delcicous success. People in our area are so happy to be able to buy fresh vegetables directly from farmers, even in winter. Of course, this winter farmer’s market isn’t limited to vegetables. Real Pickles had a booth selling – Pickles! Sunrise Farm was selling maple syrup, Apex Orchards was selling apples, Warm Colors Apiary was selling honey and other bee products, Barberic Farm was selling  lamb and lamb fleeces.  El Jardin had their fabulous breads and there were many other great vendors. The soups they served at lunch were delicious.

Salad toppers from LaSalles

Winterfare always schedules a few talks. I gave mine on how to extend the growing season and I mentioned ‘micro-greens’. This was a new concept for some of my auditors, but I could send them to John LaSalle’s booth where he was selling – and I was buying – what he called salad toppers, otherwise known as micro-greens. You wouldn’t get a whole salad for the family out of his flat, but you could snip off a few leaves for a fresh topping.

Freesias from LaSalles

We do not live by bread, or veggie alone. John LaSalle also brought bundles of his famous fragrant freezias. Most of these end up in New York City florist shops. Winterfare shoppers were very happy.

I came home with a bagful of veggies and bread and a flat of  salad toppers. Winterfare is always a delicious success!

We do not live by

Full Moon Getaway at Stump Sprouts in Hawley

A Full Moon Getaway will be held at Stump Sprouts Guest Lodge and Cross Country Ski Center in Hawley to benefit the Franklin Land Trust on Sunday, January 27 from 1 pm on. Snowshoeing, skiing and hiking. Bring the kids! Soup and snacks for sale. Come for a full day, overnight or just for a Moonlight Frolic. Ski, Snowshoe, Hike and enjoy the beauty of rural western Massachusetts,  For full information about cost and events, which include a dinner click here.  Rain or Shine  Register here

Trekking over the snow under the winter moon is something no one will ever forget. Of course, froliking during the day on the beautiful Stump Spout hills is pretty terrific, too.

The Franklin Land Trust  is a 501(c)(3) devoted to the preservation of farm and forest land, and the rural character of western Massachusetts.  FLT helps farmers and other landowners protect their land from unwanted development. To date, FLT has helped to preserve over 25,000 acres of open space. The hills and valleys of the region—with their farms, sugar bush, rambling old New England roads,  and small towns steeped in history—are a unique and precious resource. Your support enables us to continue our efforts to protect this invaluable              resource. Please visit the website www.franklinlandtrust.org

Gifts of Christmas

Free Harvest Supper fudraiser for food pantry

As we race around shopping and buying Christmas gifts for the people we love, the Salvation Army bell-ringers seem an appropriate accompaniment. The Holy Family was poor, and enduring so much bad luck, that they had to find shelter in a stable for the birth of the Christ Child. It is not hard to imagine the fear that Mary must have felt as she labored to bring this baby into the world. Where were they to go from here?

And then the skies were filled with the heavenly host singing songs of joy, shepherds arrived to see what was going on, and finally three wise men arrived bearing rich gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. It is those wise men who gave birth to the idea that all who celebrate the miraculous birth, should do so with gifts. Ever since, the world of myth and story tell of the desire to give a gift, and which gifts were most valued.

There is the story of the poor girl who wanted to bring a gift to the Christ Child, but had nothing to give. She searched for wildflowers, but it was the wrong season. Her tears fell on the snow and the first Christmas roses, hellebores, bloomed to make a bouquet she could carry to the stable.

Another little girl also wept because she had no gift to bring. She gathered what dried grasses she could to make a kind of bouquet, but when she laid them by the manger they were instantly transformed into brilliant poinsettias.

One of my favorite Christmas stories is about why the bells rang on Christmas. Two poor brothers were on the way through the snowy night to bring their small gift to church, a church that had bells that did not ring on Christmas unless a great and especially valuable gift was given. The bells had not rung for many years. The two boys trudged along as fast as they could until they came across an old woman collapsed in the snow. One boy left to get help, but before he returned to his brother he slipped into the church as the great congregation was leaving, disappointed that the bells remained mute even after the king had left his jeweled crow. The boy crept unnoticed up to the altar to leave his small coin and then, suddenly, the bells began to chime, but no one knew why because the boy had already left to return to his brother and bring help to the old lady.

A more modern story by O. Henry is about the poor young couple, each of whom gave up their dearest possession to buy a Christmas gift for the other. All of these gifts were valuable, not because of their intrinsic worth, but because they were given out of love. Something to remember as we stand in front of the bright and shiny wealth of the department stores.

We might console ourselves with the thought that the three wise men did not show much wisdom in their choice of gifts, except possibly the one who brought gold to the poor family. Those who pay attention to symbols might say that we don’t really know what the wise men brought, but gold is a gift appropriate to a king, frankincense, a fragrant resin from a tree, is symbolic of a priesthood, and myrrh, another tree resin, is also used in embalming. These three items are symbolic of Christ’s life, but one cannot help wondering what Mary and Joseph thought as they opened what I imagine was a jeweled gift casket to find an embalming agent.

Still, all three gifts were intrinsically valuable, and that value was going to be very important to the Holy Family as they learned that Herod had ordered the death of all male infants.

An angel warned Joseph that he should not return home and so they fled, with that noble donkey, for Egypt. The poor family had not planned an extended time away from home and Joseph’s livelihood. Surely the gold was welcome and then I imagine the frankincense and myrrh were sold to provide them with a home in faraway Egypt.

During their flight to Egypt legends are told about the plants who gave their own gifts of service to the family. Mary had to wash the Christ Child’s clothes. Unlike other plants, the rosemary allowed her to hang them on her branches. Ever since the rosemary’s flowers are as blue as Mary’s robe. At one point, with Herod’s soldiers drawing near, the holly allowed the Holy Family to hide within its branches. It immediately grew lush and green with prickly foliage. How can you measure the value of these gifts, of help with every day tasks, or the gift of safety in danger?

Now as we hurry to complete our Christmas shopping, and grocery shopping so that we can bake special treats and a feast for gathering family and friends, we hear the Christmas bells of the Salvation Army on the street, and the bells of  our own churches. I think they are asking – what valuable gift have I forgotten? What do you hear when you hear the Christmas bells?

Between the Rows   December 22, 2012

I Made This Christmas Wreath

My Christmas Wreath

One of the pleasures of belonging to the Greenfield Garden Club is the November meeting at Chapley Gardens where we have help and materials to make our own wreath.  This year I did pretty well. At least better than I did before.

weeds and hips in winter

Mother Nature decorates like this.

For more Wordlessness this Wednesday click here.

Cookies for Moonlight Magic

Cookies for Moonlight Magic

I’m still baking for the Family Feast tomorrow, but I just finished my cookies for Moonlight Magic in Shelburne Falls on Friday, November 23. Lots of  cookies for sale at the Visitors Center and lots of magic throughout the town.

For more Wordlessness this Wednesday click here.

Cynthia Boettner and the Silvio O. Conte Fish and Wildlife Refuge

Cynthia Boettner

The first thing Cynthia Boettner had to explain to me about the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge is that the Refuge consists of  the 7.2 million acres of the Connecticut River Watershed that runs from the far reaches of New Hampshire, through Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut before it exits in Long Island Sound. That is an enormous charge and responsibility. As Boettner explained how she works to monitor, control and eradicate invasive plant species, it was clear that no one person can even coordinate such an effort and that it takes many other groups like  the Massachusetts Nature Conservancy to enable the Refuge to carry out its mission.

The Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge was established in 1997 and named in honor of Congressman Conte who felt strongly about the importance of conservation. The purpose of the Refuge is  to conserve the abundance and diversity of native plants and animals and their habitats in the Connecticut River Watershed. Boettner joined the Refuge staff 13 years ago when her group was deciding to focus on raising awareness of the importance of eradicating invasive plants

One way they are creating  awareness is through the Invasive Plant Newsbriefs that she sends out through email which include information about workshops, training sessions and conferences as well as information about invasive plant sitings and eradication efforts.

Boettner explained that the Refuge works with many other groups. One result is an Invasive Plant Atlas of New England (IPANE) that was created in cooperation with the University of Connecticut. Over 900 trained volunteers surveyed given areas and collected information about the invasive plants they found. That information is turned over to the national database called EDDMapS (early Detection and Distribution Mapping System) which now includes access through an iPhone app. Any of us with skill in identifying invasives and an iPhone can confidently add to this Atlas and know that our information will be verified.

One eradication effort that many local people are familiar with is the removal of patches of Japanese silt grass in Conway. This plant has been identified fairly recently and the hope is that with early attempts at eradication they can really prevent further spread. Boettner has a fact sheet with colored photos of the plant at various stages. She welcomes information about sightings that include clear digital photos with full location information.

Individuals can also get in touch with Ted Elliman at the New England Wildflower Society, another one of the organizations the Refuge works with.

Once you have identified the silt grass you can pull it up by hand or cut it down with a string trimmer in mid-to late August. This is before seeds have set, and late enough in the season so that it will not have time to regrow and still set seeds. You can also watch for notice of Community Workdays in August to pull up patches. Pulled plants need to be bagged and placed in the sun to rot. Boettner explained that it is vital for landowners to survey their own land and watch for infestation of invasives.

She also reminded me that “ínvasive plant removal is just one component of trying to revive a habitat to bring the balance back and improve it for wildlife. Sometimes we get so caught up in removing the invasives that we forget the bigger picture of what we are trying to achieve. That’s something that I want to be more aware of and focus on in my work. A lot is about setting priorities. For example, one of our refuge properties in Hadley, the Fort River Division, is covered with multiflora rose and Oriental bittersweet. We will be focusing our immediate attention on controlling the bittersweet because we are managing the floodplain forest for migrating birds. As Christian Marks from The Nature Conservancy points out, the bittersweet is bringing down the large canopy trees which the birds need as stopover habitat on their journey. These vines are also overpowering the young saplings that would be the forest of tomorrow. So, it’s the migrating birds we have on our minds as we prioritize work on the forest. In the fields where we want to manage for grassland birds, the multiflora rose may be more of a threat to the establishment of that habitat.”

Education is a very important part of the Refuge’s mission. I have often taken my grandchildren to the Great Falls Discovery Center in Turners Falls without totally realizing this wonderful, fascinating and informative place was connected with the Refuge. It is one of several education centers operating in the Watershed.

I was also fascinated to learn that there is a US Youth Conservation Corps that provides an opportunity for teenagers to work (for pay) as conservationists on several sites over a four to six week summer session, the closest being at Fort River in Hadley. This program is overseen by the North Woods Stewardship Center in Vermont.

Boettner has always loved the outdoors, camping as a Girl Scout and vacationing in northern Michigan as a child. Still, she said it was a Field Biology class she took and loved while studying at the University of Michigan-Dearborn that set her on the road to the work she does at the Refuge. “I love to link people up with the information they are seeking in their quest to do good things for the environment. I find that so satisfying, especially when I ultimately get to see the resulting fruits of their labor!” she said.

Between the Rows  November 10, 2012

Mary Lyon and the Annual Spelling Bee

Phil, Cameron and Pat – Prescriptive Orthographers

Mary Lyon, the founder of Mount Holyoke College, was born in Buckland in 1797. Nowadays the Mary Lyon Foundation supports local education in the hilltowns of western Massachusetts which include the town of her birth. Last night my team, the Prescriptive Orthographers sponsored by local Baker Pharmacy, was one of 25 teams who participated in our Annual Spelling Bee.

Robert Strong Woodward Wordsmiths

Every team got themselves up in more or less outrageous costumes. The Woodward Wordsmiths even brought the car that famous local artist Robert Strong Woodward used to travel around our hilltowns to find places to paint. He was quite fond of Heath and even built a little studio up on Burnt Hill at the edge of the blueberry fields. From that site now, on a clear day, you can see the towers of the University of Massachusetts in Amherst more than 50 miles away.

Spelling Bee

Since this was a team spelling bee the Spell Master pronounced the word, used it in a sentence and then pronounced it again. Then the teams had 30 seconds! to write it on their whiteboard and hold it up for the judges to review. Our team was  eliminated by the word CIRRHOSIS. We pondered – two Rs? Where are the Ss? Is there an H?  We were wrong. And out.

FRGOG COGitatiors win!

The FRGOG is the Franklin County Council of Governments that gives local towns services and expertise. Look at the great brains on  those COGitators. This, the final round, took a long time. Three of the five finalist teams were either all wrong or all right through words like lachrymal, irascible, paen, arrythimia, psephology, gallimaufry and sphingine. I will leave it to you to find definitions.  ACCOUCHEUR is the word that won them the Big Trophy. An accoucheur is one who assists at a birth, like a midwife. The COGitators also  won a  trophy for the best  costume!

Cindy Fisher and Me

When all the fierce competition, and the shouting and prize winning is over, we contestants resume our friendships. Cindy Fisher, artist and great speller,  and I compared notes. She was on The Classics team from the Buckland Library.

Now you might wonder what a Spelling Bee post is doing on a garden blog. The word COTYLEDON took out a couple of  teams during  our round. Then one or two contestants looked at me sharply because they knew I was a gardener and was familiar with cotyledons – An embryonic leaf in seed-bearing plants, one or more of which are the first leaves to appear from a germinating seed. It’s true. I do rejoice at the sight of emerging cotyledons.

The Bridge of Flowers is Closed

Bridge of Flowers

The Bridge of Flowers was prepared for closing, just before Superstorm Sandy – that did no damage this year. Unlike Irene last year.

For more Wordlessness  this Wednesday click here.

The ABCs of Heritage Apples, and Others

Apex Farm Store

A is for Apple, but if we look at heritage apples we can march right through the alphabet. Baldwin, Cox’s Orange Pippin, (Old) Delicious, Esopus Spitzenberg, Golden Russet, and on through to Northern Spy, Roxbury Russet, Stayman Winesap and Westfield Seek-No-Farther.

The Roxbury Russet and Westfield Seek-No-Farther remind us that some apples had a very local fame and audience before they spread to wider fields. In fact, Roxbury Russet was the first named apple in Massachusetts.

Even though we think of apples as a quintessential American fruit, apples originated in southeastern Asia, Kazakhstan and Turkey thousands of years ago. There are over 7000 cultivars, but you don’t usually get any sense of how many apples are grown, even now, if your only experience with apples is from the supermarket.

Fortunately we live in an area where apples thrive, and where we have a number of small orchards selling a much wider variety of apples – and cider. Last week I visited Apex in Shelburne, Barkley’s in Heath and Clarkdale in Deerfield and my husband is looking forward to apples cooked sweet and savory as well as the healthful apple a day eaten out of hand. I never get tired of apples and my father said no meal was complete without his apple for dessert.

Fuji apples

Tom Clark of Clarkdale Fruit Farm said there are still Baldwin and Northern Spy trees on his farm that his grandfather planted. He said that Baldwins were an important New England apple. At the turn of the 20^th century Colrain had more Baldwin apple trees than any other town in the state. The apples came out of Colrain on the trolley, then to the train in Shelburne Falls, and then to Boston where they were shipped to England. It was the Baldwin’s keeping qualities that made this possible. “Of course, this might just be a local legend,” Clark said. But it does seem possible.

In the 1930s there were winters so severe that most of the Baldwin trees were killed. It was the new Macintosh apple that took its place. This apple has a tender skin and doesn’t keep as well, but refrigerated transportation was becoming available so keeping quality wasn’t as important.

Clark grows a range of heritage apples along with the newer varieties like Honey Crisp, but he said that he liked Baldwins, and that a “ripe russet is nice.” He did say that Americans in general liked pretty red apples but that the Jonagold apple, a cross between the Jonathan and Golden Delicious is the most planted apple in Germany and France. He has heard “that Americans buy with their eyes, and Europeans buy with their mouths.”

There is a new interest among foodies for cider, soft and hard, but Clarkdale Fruit Farm has been making cider for 50 years. Many of these old apple varieties make especially good cider. My friend Alan Nichols planted a cider orchard quite a number of years ago and those apples are in demand again as the new owner of the orchard is making his own cider,

Alan Nichols’ brother Lew wrote a book, Cider: Making, Using and Enjoying Sweet and Hard Cider, with Annie Proulx back in 1980 which is still available. Nichols and Proulx suggest a long list of cider apples for New England that includes Baldwin, Cortland, Esopus Spitzenberg (Thomas Jefferson’s favorite apple), Gravenstein, Jonathan, Fameuse, Roxbury Russet and Stayman Winesap among others.

Cider is such a fashionable drink right now that we celebrate locally with Cider Days, scheduled this year for November 3 and 4. This event will take place at a number of locations in Greenfield, Deerfield, and Shelburne. You can find a full schedule of tastings, apple butter making, a locavore harvest supper and more on the website www.ciderday.org.

Apex Orchard in Shelburne also grows a wide range from Baldwins, Spitzenbergs, Macouns and Fuji as well as Reine de Pomme and Ashmead Kernel that they grow for West County Cider.

I cannot say I was surprised to see that West County Cider’s Redfield was a featured recommendation in the November issue of Martha Stewart’s Living. West County Cider makes several varietal hard ciders, which only use a single apple variety, like Redfield as well as a Heritage Blend Cider. Many chefs are now thinking about pairing a cider with a particular dish, the way wines have been paired in the past.

Apex Orchard cooler

I was talking to Sarah Davenport at Apex Orchard and she said she liked Macoun and Fuji apples, but it was hard to choose a favorite.

Tim Smith of Apex refused to limit himself to one favorite apple. He said he liked them all, but he said his grandfather, Lyndon Peck had a favorite – the large Pound Sweet. “He had a baked Pound Sweet with his breakfast every morning from late September until March,” Smith said.

I am so happy to have all these apply choices. Sue Chadwick, who had a huge collection of heritage apples in Buckland when I was librarian there, told me the secret to her famous apple pies was using several apple varieties. I start with Northern Spy because there is an old saying “For the best pie, use Northern Spy.” Other good pie apples are Roxbury Russet, Baldwin, Granny Smith, Jonagold, Golden Delicious and the new Honeycrisp.

I also just learned that Cornell University sells apples from their experimental orchards in vending machines on campus. Those smart university people appreciate the importance of an apple a day!

Between the Rows   October 20, 2012