New Goals For the New Year

“What news? What news?” was often the cry when E. F. Benson’s delightfully pretentious Lucia met her neighbor Georgie coming across the Riseholm village green in “Queen Lucia,” the first of several books about the life in an English village before WWII.

When I return from Saturday morning rounds in my own rural village my husband always wants to know what news I bring home.

“What’s new?” is our inevitable query of neighbors at local gatherings.

The desire to be in the know, aware of the latest news and rumors, trends and fashions seems to be built into our genes. Right now, as we stand at the cusp of a new year, we gardeners are already being bombarded with catalogs promising the newest horticultural offerings, latest achievements in hybridizing and the dandiest new gadgets.

I’ve been doing a tiny survey to find out if any of the people I know make new year’s resolutions anymore. No one I asked admitted to doing such a thing, but several said they set themselves goals for the year, for their business, in their domestic life, and their social life. Some said they liked getting close to a goal – and then setting a new stretch goal. I think many gardeners will greet the new year with one or two new goals, and maybe even stretch a little further.

When I opened my Johnny’s catalog I was instantly launched into a suggested goal, “Create a season-long planting program (to) ensure a continuous supply, make efficient use of space and effectively schedule planting times.” That is a noble goal and one I set myself every year, but rarely manage to carry out to any great degree. This is a new year, however, and it is a goal I can commit to. Once again.

With all the talk about the eating local trend, and growing your own vegetables, even if you don’t own a piece of land, those with a deck might set a goal of learning to grow vegetables in containers. Cherry tomatoes are easy to grow in containers, and many lettuces can be harvested in the baby stage after only about 30 days. Renee’s Garden offers a new variety of zucchini that is suitable for container growing. Growing herbs in containers will save cooks a lot of money over the summer and fall. How much do you spend on parsley alone every season?

Every catalog will tout their new varieties. Johnny’s has a whole new vegetable for farmers that they are calling “Flower Sprouts,”  a cross between Brussels sprouts and kale. The mildly flavored rosette-like sprouts the color of Red Russian kale grow on stalks like Brussels sprouts. I hope some of the local farms grow will grow this.

Some catalogs like the Seed Savers Exchange (SSE) are offering newly available old varieties. Many hybrids are suitable for the home gardener because they have been bred for disease resistance, but many are also bred to ripen all at once and be less fragile, both qualities that are important for commercial growers whose crops have to be up to the rigors of long distance transportation, but not are not as concerned with flavor.

Mantilia from SSE is a new old butterhead that has won taste testing competitions and is “mild, tender and sweet.”  I love butterhead lettuces.

Heirloom seeds also help keep the gene pool robust and abundantly diverse. We never know what stresses or changing conditions will arise, affecting plant growth and thus our food supply. Scientists cannot make useful hybrids if they don’t have a large healthy gene pool at their disposal.

Bluestone Perennials touts their new use of biodegradable pots on their catalog cover, along with 120 new items. Their new pots are made of coir, coconut husk fibers. These fibrous pots allow for better air exchange which fosters good root growth. Since these pots go directly into the soil, there is no transplant shock. Actually, these coir pots appeared last year and I can attest to the benefits.

Bluestone has many familiar and unusual flowers on offer. I remember when Echinacea, coneflower, came in a dusky pink or white, but now there are pinks, gold orange and green; some, like ‘Milkshake,’ have large shaggy centers and recurved petals.

Then there are always new projects. Sometimes that is a planting project like a blueberry patch. Sometimes it is a new structure from a trellis to hold cukes or melons, and sometimes a garden shed. My garden shed has changed my life. Now my tools and supplies are organized and accessible.

We are planning a new fence around the vegetable garden which includes a small raspberry and black raspberry patch. This past year I had as much trouble from rabbits as from deer, but we hope a new fence around the whole area will solve the problem. I am even hoping for a nice gate.

As the year turns, and you turn to your garden catalogs, what new things do you hope for in 2012?  New plants? A new planting bed – ornamental or vegetal? Do you need a new tool – or a new tool sharpener? What new project are you considering?

Whatever new directions you take in your garden this year I wish you every success, and every pleasure. ###

Between the Rows  December 31, 2011

Look At My Loot

Seven Years Gold Compost

As Christmas drew near a  friend asked if I his Christmas gift had been delivered. I said no deliveries and then waited every day for my treat to arrive. I did get a Package Too Big notice from the Post Office and picked up this bag of compost that had a mailing label right on the bag. I assumed it was some sort of sample from the Seven Years Gold company, although it did seem an odd time of year to be sending compost samples to Massachusetts.  But when my friend arrived for dinner after Christmas he said he couldn’t wait any longer to tell me what was on its way to me – horse manure!  Seven Years Gold wasn’t a sample it was my friend who paid attention when I said one of the best gifts I had gotten for my first vegetable garden 40 years ago was a load of rotted horse manure. Friends like this are not easy to come by.

Christmas Books

Of course all my friends and family know I love books – and that high cooking and baking season lasts all winter. The stove helps keep the house warm. I was familiar with Nigel Slater (British) from his many inspiring and useful cookbooks, but Yotam Ottolenghi was new to me. Nigel Slater was prompted to write Tender: A Cook and His Vegetable Patch this latest book by his new(ish) passion for gardening. Yotam Ottolenghi’s book, Plenty: Vibrant Vegetable Recipes from London’s Ottolenghi, takes a vegetarian approach. I have already made his flavorful Mushroom and herb polenta. Delicious and easy.  Although I had never heard of Ginette Mathiot or her cookbooks that are considered  the Joy of Cooking of France, I am ready to delve into The Art of French Baking (The definitive guide to home baking by Frances favorite cook book author). I must say the recipes look very easy. We shall see.

Finally, there is a book for bedtime reading. Writing the Garden: A Literary Conversation Across Two Centuries by Elizabeth Barlow Rogers is not the anthology of selections I first thought. There are snippets from each of the authors mentioned from Thomas Jefferson and Gertrude Jekyll to humorists like Karel Capek and artists like Robert Dash, but Rogers gives us a sense of the life and personalities of each. I am savoring each section.

Now here is a question. Although not apparent from a photo, two of the cookbooks, Plenty and The Art of French Baking have padded covers. Is this a new trend? A new style in books? Does it make the books more wipe-able?  Any ideas?

Christmas Trees at Kringle Candle Company

This Christmas may be over, but all these gifts, including a candle from the Kringle Candle Company, will keep the memory alive for many years.

ADDENDUM – One way or another I have gotten comments and questions about horse manure – and I found interesting information and comparisons here.

Is Junk Food Really Cheaper?

In yesterday’s NY Times Mark Bittman asked the question, Is Junk Food Really Cheaper? Can you really feed a family for less at McDonalds than at your own table filled with home cooked food.  In spite of the protestations that a bag of chips is cheaper than a head of broccoli and other such, the answer is NO!  A meal for a family of four at McDonald’s will come to between $23 and $28.  How many groceries can you buy for that amount? Bittman lays out his plan, and his answer to all the objections about the difficulty of cooking a healthy meal at home. One important point he makes is that the alternative to a McDonald’s meal is not an organic farmer’s market meal. It is simply a trip to the supermarket. I”d like to add that supermarkets often have good sales.

I was happy to be a part of the Food Fest at the Charlemont Federated Church this summer. Various cooks chose a topic, beans, eggs, chicken, and set up a table with assorted dishes.  I chose the chicken table and talked about taking a chicken from the roasting pan, and then then through other iterations in my famous chicken salad with Moroccan spices to chicken with pasta and peanut sauce and even chicken soup.  Recipes complete with nutritional information were available, as well as conversations with excellent cooks. Although we couldn’t eat the samples on the tables (health rules) samples from the church kitchen were passed around all day.

There were cooking demonstrations. I filled in at the last minute to make corn chowder – and ruined it when the top fell off the salt shaker and over over salted the chowder. People got the idea though. Jason Velasquez of Pen and Plow Farm demonstrated making potato pancakes, a great dish in many cuisines.

His potato pancakes were perfect and delicious. We all got a taste.

The goal of the program was to remind us all that a good, economical, nutritious home cooked meal does not need to take hours and certainly doesn’t take more money that a trip to McDonald’s. We are all of a mind with Mark Bittman, and our program proved unequivocally that Junk Food is Not Really Cheaper.

Maize Maze

Paul Hicks

Paul Hicks has been farming in Charlemont just about since the day he was born 54 years ago, following in his father’s and grandfather’s steps. Now grandsons Tucker and Brody (aged four and two) are out in the barn and advising their father on how to drive the oxen. Of course, the farm has changed over the years.

Paul’s father Richard and his uncle Walter had dairy herds. My husband and I got to know them because they brought their heifers up to our fields for summer pasture. We loved watching them checking on the heifers every week or so, calling out to them to give them a bit of grain so they would remain familiar. They’d laugh as the heifers ran toward them for their treat. “Why are you so wild? Why are you so wild?” they’d ask as they rubbed their faces and slapped their flanks.

Richard is gone now and so is most of the dairy herd, but Paul still has eight milkers and he raises bull calves for four months and then sells them throughout New England to be trained as oxen. Paul has also been selling vegetables at a small farm stand right on Route 2 for the past few years, but this year there is a new reason to stop at the Hicks farm – a corn maze.

“We have a family farm and it has to support the family,” Hicks said. “We drove past a corn maze in Vermont last year and started thinking that there was nothing like that out here on Route 2 and thought it was something we might try.”

After a little research, the cornfield was planted this spring, along with an extra big field of pumpkins. The experiment had begun with a lot of help from Paul’s sons, Ryan and Gary and their wives Jess and Shannon. Sister Joanne MacLean helped with set up; she and her husband Bob, in their hats as Friends of the Charlemont Fairgrounds, will be on hand at a concession selling hamburgers, hot dogs and soda.

In spite of Irene and all the rain the cornfield has not been damaged; the maze opened on Labor Day weekend as scheduled. Traffic to the maize started slow, but they were busy on Sunday. Hicks said that people have even begun buying pumpkins.

This Friday, September 16, between 5-8 PM and Saturday between 8-11 AM entries for the Scarecrow Contest are being accepted at the maze.

Friday, September 16 is also the date of the first Flashlight Friday. “The maze is a totally different experience at night,” Hicks said. Other Flashlight Fridays are scheduled for October 7 and 21.

In addition to maneuvering through the maze and maybe buying a pumpkin, families with young children will also have a chance to visit with the chickens, the goats, a baby calf, and a miniature donkey at the petting zoo. Tucker and Brody will be selling grain for the animals. Farmers start work young!

I have become quite fascinated by the whole idea of ‘agri-tourism’ and what it can mean to small farms, and to the tourists. I like to think children in our area know that eggs come from chickens, milk comes from cows and that potatoes grow under the ground while tomatoes grow out in the sun, but on his TV series the famous chef Jamie Oliver proved that many urban and suburban children do not know these things. Agri-tourism can be as much an educational event as a recreational treat.

About three years ago two of my daughters invited us to visit a big farm in their neighborhood in the eastern part of the state. The farm offered wagon rides, pick your own apples, pick your own flowers, choose your own pumpkin, and a barn store full of farm made jams and relishes, maple syrup and even bags of kettle corn. I passed on the kettle corn but the grandchildren had a great time even though they were too old for the hay bale maze set up for the very young set. However, as I recall, all the children really enjoyed walking on top of all those circling hay bales.

Farmers need to find new ways of making their farm pay, and we all need reminders of how important good farms are to our well-being and health. Agri-tourism benefits us all.

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Scarecrow Contest Rules. Entry fee is $5 for each entry. Only one entry per person in each of the three categories: traditional, scariest and funniest. Set up for the contest will be Friday, September 16 between 5-8 PM and Saturday morning between 8-11 AM. Judging will be done during the week by popular vote. Winners will be announced Saturday, September 24, and scarecrows must be taken away on Sunday the 25^th and Monday the 26^th.  There will be cash prizes! For more information call 625-2623.

Next Saturday, September 17 is also the date of the Sunflower Contest co-sponsored by The Recorder and the Greenfield Garden Club, held at the Energy Park on Miles Street in conjunction with the John Putnam Fiddlers Reunion. How did your sunflowers grow this year? Tall? Multiflowered? Bring your entry to the Energy Park on Miles Street between noon and 2 PM. The contest is divided into two groups:  15 and younger and 16 and older. The categories are tallest, most blooms on one plant, heaviest head, largest head and best arrangement, which must contain mostly sunflowers. Additionally, judges reserve the right to create a special category should that prove necessary. Winners will be announced from The Station in the park, once the judging is complete. Contest winners get bragging rights, a nifty ribbon and a bag of local apples. Everyone who enters gets their picture in the following week’s Life & Times section. ###

Between the Rows  September 10, 2011

Real Pickles Redux

Dan Rosenberg of Real Pickles

Last Friday a group of Herb Society of American members, and I, toured the Franklin County Community Development Corporation to see how foods and libations are being prepared in their commercial kitchens and special facilities. I’ve already described our tearful demonstration of the making of horseradish sauce. We also went across the street from the CDC to visit with Real Pickles founder Dan Rosenberg. Rosenberg used the CDC facilities for several years until he was successful enough to buy his own building across the street and continue growing his business, a line of fermented pickles.

Rosenberg is devoted to supporting our local food system by buying most of his produce from farms within a 50 mile radius, and selling his products only in the Northeast. I wrote more about this inspiring and energetic young man here.

During our tour of the Real Pickles operation we  also heard about their solar power, and the clever way their refrigeration unit makes use of outdoor cold air in the winter. Rosenberg is committed to sustainability in every possible area.

Yes, You Can!

Our area is still picking itself up after Irene left her gifts of washed out roads and bridges, flooded basements and houses. We have been fortunate here at the End of the Road because we never lost power and the water that ran into our dirt floored basement, ran out politely without making a fuss. We thought our only problem was hoping the popcorn supply would last through Sunday afternoon while we read our books.

In fact we thought we had gotten through the storm with no damage at all – until a neighbor called to warn us that Rowe Road was washed out and that Henry would not be going to work on Monday. We were stranded.

We are country people and do not let the family larder get too low, because you never know what could happen. Power outages, blizzards, hurricanes. Mother Nature can throw any number of gifts at us and we know we should be prepared.

When people checked in with us, the first question was do you have enough food. Yes, we did. We have a freezer full of meat, fruit, vegetables, bread, and even butter. The pantry has soup and pasta from the store, but also homemade jars of pickles, jams and peaches, not all of which were made in my kitchen.

As more and more people are trying to produce a little more of their own food and cut down on food-miles, the issue of preserving the harvest comes up pretty quick. Even a small garden can produce too many tomatoes to eat all at once, and they will not keep long. What to do?

Daniel Gasteiger has come to the rescue with his new book, “Yes, You Can! And Freeze and Dry It, Too: The Modern Step-By-Step Guide to Preserving Food” ($19.95) published by Cool Springs Press. I have my old stand-bys on my shelf, Putting Food By and the Farm Journal Book of Freezing and Canning, but Gasteiger’s book can take an inexperienced reader step-by-photographed-step through a whole range of food preservation techniques.

Grandson Rory making pickles

This summer my 15 year old grandson used ”Yes, You Can!” to make bread and butter pickles to enter in the Heath Fair. The two of us read the recipe and looked at the pictures and discussed the process, but of course, since these were to be entered in the Fair, I could not help any more than that. Rory followed the directions, slicing, salting, soaking, draining, cooking, packing and canning. He won First Prize! And I can attest that the pickles are crisp and delicious.

Gasteiger gives general directions for canning quick pickles, low acid and high acid foods, hot water baths and pressure canning and includes a few recipes. Jams, jellies, syrups and candied fruits get their own canning chapter.

I mostly use my freezer, so the chapter on freezing was familiar material, although he and I disagree about freezer jams. He likes canned jam, and I like freezer jam, but that is just a matter of taste.

I have a neighbor who does a lot of drying and I was interested to see her electric dehydrator recently. Between the ease of using that counter top machine and Gasteiger’s directions for making Tangy Tomato Treats I am tempted to invest. Instant mashed potatoes, dried herbs, dried fruits, yummmm. Very tempting.

Gasteiger talks about cold storage, too. When we bought our house in Maine there was a fenced off root cellar area in the basement. We noticed rat traps in there as well as a couple of wooden boxes. I asked my Vermont farmer uncle what to do about rats. He said, “Reset the traps.” Gasteiger does mention that rodents are something to consider if you set up a root cellar. Then he lists the basic requirements for an effective root cellar, temperatures, humidity and what different crops require.

As he goes through each kind of food preservation from root cellars and fermentation to freezing, Gasteiger gives information about necessary equipment and basic techniques like blanching. The clear photographs of equipment, techniques, and individual processes are very useful to the novice.

I consider myself pretty experienced in the kitchen, but I admit I have never frozen fruit pies, or thought about putting together a real meal for the freezer. Gasteiger seems to have thought of everything, including the advice not to reheat frozen meals in their plastic containers because of concerns about toxic chemicals that might be released from hot plastic.

The organization of each section is logical, the photographs are useful and the text is clear and encouraging. This book is everything a gardener new to food preservation could need, and even someone more experienced will find new information and inspiration.

Don’t forget. The Sunflower Contest, co-sponsored by The Recorder and The Greenfield Garden Club will be held on Saturday, September 17 at the Energy Park on Miles Street in conjunction with the John Putnam Fiddler’s Reunion.  Entries will be accepted from noon until 2 p.m. at the Energy Park. The contest is divided into two groups:  15 and younger and 16 and older. The categories are tallest, most blooms on one plant, heaviest head, largest head and best arrangement, which must contain mostly sunflowers. Additionally, judges reserve the right to create a special category should that prove necessary. Winners will be announced from The Station in the park, once the judging is complete. Contest winners get bragging rights, a nifty ribbon and a bag of local apples. Everyone who enters gets their picture in the following week’s Life & Times section. ###

Between the Rows   September 3, 2011

Do You Feed the Deer?

50 Beautiful Deer Resistant Plants

It’s been a rough year for the vegetable garden at the End of the Road. There was lots of rain in the spring which was great for all the gardens. Then rain became scarce and if I have learned anything in my years of gardening it is that vegetable gardens need regular watering to thrive and be productive.

However, a new problem this year was bunnies! We haven’t had problems with rabbits in the past, but this year we have seen them frolicking on the lawn, running across our road, and gazing at the chickens. This would be fine if they stopped at frolicking, running, and gazing, but they love beans and broccoli. They have joined the deer who ate all the pea plants this year as well as squash and the tips of my rose bushes.

With all these problems in the vegetable garden I was surprised that there were so few depredations in the ornamental gardens. That mystery was solved when I received a copy of Ruth Rogers Clausen’s informative book “50 Beautiful Deer-Resistant Plants: The Prettiest Annuals, Perennials, Bulbs and Shrubs that Deer Don’t Eat” with stunning and useful photographs by Alan L. Detrick published by Timber Press ($19.95). A quick look through the different categories in the book showed that my gardens are full of deer resistant plants.

Deer have become a greater problem for gardeners because the deer population has increased about twenty times over in just the past decade. At the same time towns and suburbs have spread out into deer habitats. The deer have retaliated by refusing to give up their habitats without a fight. Even my brother in a New Jersey suburb battles deer. At least I can leave my land open for hunters who I have always found to be respectful and happy to enjoy my woodlands, even if they don’t bag a deer. I also wish that the hunting season were longer, especially since natural predators like coyotes seem to be in a period of decline.

Clausen has provided a generous list of deer resistant plants that can be used in a varied garden. While she says that no plant is completely deer-proof, generalizations can be made. Deer seems to find plants with fuzzy leaves such as lamb’s ears, and licorice plant unappealing. I have to admit that although my summer squash have hairy leaves this did not entirely deter the deer this year.

Deer also find some plants like euphorbias and hellebores poisonous. The castor oil plant can make a glamorous statement in the garden, in the ground or even in a pot, but the deer will keep their distance.

Highly scented plants like culinary herbs or fragrant flowers like lilac and lily of the valley confuse deer enough they don’t stop to nibble. At the same, deer apparently know  that plants with tough foliage like peonies and Siberian iris, as well as ferns and grasses will likely be indigestible.

We are fortunate that so many beautiful plants are of absolutely no interest to deer. Let me list some of the perennials I have in my garden that are deer resistant: peonies, yarrow, lady’s mantle, astilbe, cimicifuga, salvias, Siberian iris, epimedium, and I’m trying real hard to get a false indigo, Baptisia australis, going. I also have daffodils, snowdrops, ornamental onions like the Allium ‘Globemaster,’ and autumn crocus. My herb garden is deer-proof with basils, oregano, rosemary, sage and thyme.

Clausen gives information about hardiness zone for each plant as well as size, cultural information and most helpfully a deer resistance rating. “A rating of 7 indicates that deer sometimes nip off flowers but leave the foliage alone. . . 8 indicates that just one or two flowers may be nibbled or destroyed, but the plant is otherwise left alone, as with peony . . . 9 indicates that deer occasionally browse young spring foliage, but mostly ignore the plant . . . and 10 indicate that deer very seldom browse foliage or flowers and usually avoid the plant altogether” as with Japanese painted fern.

Clausen also gives Design Tips for each plant along with suggestions for plant combinations. I think this book is a real winner.

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In my calendar we have hit the middle of summer which means Fairtime. I hope I will see some of you at the Friends of the Heath Library Book Sale tent next weekend. The Heath Fair runs from Friday evening on August 19 through Sunday afternoon. You can get great food at the Fireman’s Barbecue and at the Green Building (which is currently painted red) where homemade pie a la mode is my favorite dessert. After the Fair on Sunday, August 21 you can attend the Free Harvest Supper at the Town Square in Greenfield from 4:30 – 6:30 pm for one of the best meals you will ever have. Produce is donated by area farms and volunteers turn it into scrumptious dishes. Musicians play and everyone has a great time. The meal is free, but any donations made will fund Farmer’s Market vouchers distributed through the Center for Self Reliance so hungry families can have the fresh fruit and vegetables we all need to be healthy.  ###

Between the Rows  August 13, 2011

And the Rains Came Down

The rains began Wednesday morning. Two and a half  inches by the end of the day. You all know what happens to peonies in pounding rains. They droop. Even those who are supported by wire rings.  Will they perk up before visitors come on the Franklin Land Trust Farm and Garden Tour on Saturday and Sunday? Will the roses have any petals left? Another half inch yesterday – and showers promised for today.  No matter, the landscape is beautiful. If you haven’t gotten tickets yet, they will be on sale in Heath Center on Saturday morning.

The flowers will survive and vegetables are pouring onto farmstands and Farmers Markets.   Locally Grown the farm products guide prepared by CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture) is available in print and information about the places you can buy fresh produce, and the restaurants and places that serve local food is on their website. If you are interested in supporting the work of CISA, promoting farms, providing training and support for farmers and more click here for membership information.

Stop Thief!

Over the past couple of days three of my 6 fancy chrysanthemums and some morning glory seedlings in my  little circle garden (which guards our mower from a huge boulder) have been eaten or pulled out. At first I couldn’t figure out who would pull two of the mum babies out and hide them, but we have got bunnies around this year – for the first time.

I never thought bunnies liked mums.  Or morning glories. When I saw that all the beets in my Front Garden were eaten, that was understandable, but a surprise. I didn’t think bunnies would come so near the house.  We are setting to work on traps, net fences, cayenne and Deer Off. I hope we can stop this thief from further depredations.

Monday Record June 13, 2011

Rain. Downpours. But the intrepid Garden Club of Amherst members were undaunted. I met them for a tour of the Elsa Bakalar/Scott Prior garden. In the background you can see that the old rhododendrons in back of the house near the woodland path are still blooming. The daffodils are long gone

It’s iris season in the garden right now. The Siberians don’t mind how much rain they get.

Of course, there are other bloomers right now like these pink poppies, a verbascum – and blue irises. A whole different palette will be in bloom during the Franklin Land Trust Farm and Garden Tour on June 25 and 26.  For full information click here.

The rain was sporadic in the afternoon, but I had to finish baking and dousing the Pina Colada cake for a Hawaiian themed Gourmet Club. Delish!  Downpours continued on Sunday morning which allowed me to go out and spread some rose fertilizer knowing it would be well watered in. Two inches or more of rain!  Damp and cold, but I got finished pruning out all the winterkill on the roses, and weeded the herb bed.

Blanc Double de Coubert rugosa

Every day a new rose begins to bloom. Roses love good spring rains.

All the rain is just what the gardens needed. I could see this second planting of greens and radishes grow in front of my eyes.

Fresh picked salad with supper, topped off with the last piece of my husband’s birthday cake – and local strawberries.