When Michelle Obama, along with 23 Washington, D.C., elementary students dug that first shovel of soil on the White House grounds in late March, it was one small divot in the South Lawn and one giant scoop for the health and well-being of everyone in the country who likes to eat well and play in the dirt.
The White House Kitchen Garden, a 1,100-square-foot plot for organic fruits and vegetables, is the first garden at the president's official home since Eleanor Roosevelt's Victory Garden. And while that first lady's World War II garden was created to reduce the pressure on the public food supply brought on by the war effort, as well as helping to boost morale across the country, Michelle Obama's garden will go beyond horticulture.
The garden will not only renew the public's interest in homegrown produce but will stand as a symbol that growing more food locally and organically can lead to decreasing reliance on industrial farms (and all the harmful elements that accompany it such as fertilizer and fuel), as well as help guide us to more healthful eating.
The decision to eat healthier and cut grocery costs is something all of us are interested in. Don't believe me? Just pay a visit to your favorite garden center or farmers market, and you'll find plenty of first-time gardeners perusing the herbs and vegetables, and asking the experts questions.
The White House garden is home to 55 varieties of organic fruits and vegetables, including everything from arugula to zucchini with some unusual herbs (Thai basil and anise hyssop), as well as black kale, tomatillos and a wide variety of lettuces and berries. And already, some of the vegetables have moved from earth to fork, thanks to the warmer climate zone and earlier planting date. Oakleaf lettuce, red romaine, speckled lettuce and fennel and were billed on a White House menu in late April, and fresh thyme has been served as a garnish for fish.
But you don't have to be that ambitious to have a successful plot designed to feed you and your family, and fortunately our nippy nights and breezy days are over, and with the frost date now safely past in Michigan, it's time to get started.
If you haven't got your garden plot ready, get busy now and following the White House's lead, use organic compost and insect repellents.
We've provided the plot layout and the vegetable suggestions, so for a small investment in seedlings and a tool or two, you'll soon be digging your way to good health and a fatter wallet.
In the coming weeks, we'll be offering you gardening tips from Homestyle columnist Nancy Szerlag, and I will be providing recipes so you can make delicious use of what you've grown.
This week, I'm featuring an arugula, spinach and strawberry salad (Page 14H), which, if you were ahead of the game and sprinkled the seeds last month, you should be enjoying now. If not, visit a local market that supports Michigan produce.
And if you don't have a backyard or a suitable plot of land, there are still ways to help yourself and help the environment. Don't let the fact that you're a novice stop you, either; the first lady admits this is her first venture in gardening.
Just about any vegetable can be grown in a container -- from herbs to tomatoes and peppers. You can combine vegetable plants with flowers in your front yard, use containers on your patio or deck, or visit a community garden and sign up. Soon, you'll find that weeding and hoeing is a great way to de-stress, and that reaping what you sow tastes pretty delicious.
Failing all that, what about that windowsill. Doesn't it look a bit bare with nothing on it? You have no excuse for not picking up that shovel. This is the time for us all to get involved. We will all be better for it.
2009年5月22日星期五
Memorial Day means gardening kickoff
After the cookouts die down and the parades run their course, the Memorial Day weekend becomes fertile ground for gardeners’ annual summer planting.
The holiday that signifies the start of the beach season also means the start of the gardening season, when eager green thumbs get their hands in the dirt.
“It’s kind of a kickoff for summer planting,” said Ron Simons, owner of R&C Garden Center in Scituate, Mass. “You’ve got a lot of people going to graves, planting all their annuals and starting vegetable gardens.”
In addition to the typical rush of growers looking for geraniums and begonias, nursery owners this year have noticed a spike in people who are using the holiday weekend to start a vegetable garden.
Vegetable seeds and flats are this year’s hot sale, nursery owners said.
“We’re selling a ton of tomato plants, but also things like cucumbers, summer squash, zucchini, beans, corn,” Simon said.
First-time vegetable gardeners should do their research and ask lots of questions, nursery owners said.
Shopping alongside the vegetable gardeners are people looking for the right plant to grace a loved one’s grave, an age-old tradition that usually takes place on Memorial Day.
Dave Baxter, manager of Rockland Garden Center, said shopping for Memorial Day flowers can be emotional for many people.
“We get a lot of elderly people that have to get to the grave on Monday,” Baxter said. “It’s a nice tradition. What will happen when that generation is gone?”
PLANTER'S GUIDE
Best choice for graveside planting: Low maintenance begonia or osteospermums.
Best way to start vegetable seeds: Start them indoors in pots or raised beds. Transplant them outside later.
Key to a great garden: Fertilized soil will give you healthy flowers and vegetables. Try pellets that release nutrients every time you water.
Best time to plant: Late afternoon, when the sun is not so hot and the wind has calmed down. This also gives the new plants overnight to acclimate.
Top sellers: Geraniums, begonia, tomato plants
Prices to expect: $1.50 to $3 for a flat of six plants flat of basic annuals, such as marigolds, petunias or snap dragons. $4 to $13 for a pot of geraniums, the most popular Memorial Day plant.
BUYING TIPS
- Look for vegetable or flower plants with healthy green leaves.
- Choose flats or pots with room for strong root growth
- Don’t judge a plant by the blossoms. Some flower later.
- Don’t hesitate to ask someone on the floor about plant varieties or techniques.
Veg in garden of Eden
May I offer a few fashion tips for the trendy gardener having wandered round Chelsea Flower Show on Monday.
Flowers were in and monochrome green gardens were out this year should you care in the least.
Blousy paeonies and stately angelica were everywhere and the horrible bronze Acer palmatum ‘Garnet’ was also making a dreary showing all over the place.
This year there seemed to be more seasonal flowers than ever before – which could reflect the credit crunch.
Designers were using flowers naturally in bloom now – irises, aquilegia and rhododendrons to be seen all over the place – suggesting a degree of penny-pinching in the normally lavish and absurdly expensive gardens. Iris sibirica – a great favourite of mine – featured in more gardens than I could count with its graceful stems and pretty butterfly-like blooms.
At least one of the big show gardens – the Eden Project Garden called the Key – had next to no landscaping, relying on plants including vegetables to create its effect. It was definitely one that anyone could recreate on any scale at home.
Leeds City Council’s garden also had limited landscaping and a flood alleviation theme.
The Daily Telegraph garden designed by Ulf Nordfjell – which has won the Best Show Garden award at Chelsea – used large rectangular blocks of rock to create interest in planting schemes.
It struck me that as well as looking smart, they could also be used in long wide borders as islands to weed, dead-head and tidy from instead of having to balance on one foot in the undergrowth to prevent plant damage.
Chelsea vegetable gardens are always a glamorous treat but this year many more of the show gardens included veg in the design incorporating slate blue cabbages, ruby chard and trailing melons.
Gardeners with tiny gardens could take away many tips to allow the inclusion of food growing into a small garden and still retain an attractive outlook.
The Gateshead Council display concentrated on food production with an attractive airy trellis of plum cordons acting as a partial screen – both pretty and productive.
My happiest moment came when the kindly folk at the Thompson & Morgan stand gave me a free packet of seed. It was a beautiful foxglove called ‘Pam’s Split’, which has white flowers with a deeply red speckled throat. I saw it in a number of displays and have high hopes of seeing it bloom next year in my garden if I plant it quickly now.
My final two Chelsea favourites were two paths – one of moss which sparkled with tiny lights in the Hillier stand and another made from 12-inch square terracotta paving slabs and gravel which anyone could recreate with minimal DIY skills.
Chelsea can never be gardening on a budget, but this year’s show seemed a little more common or garden than usual.
2009年5月21日星期四
As local as you want it: An afternoon at the Kennett Square Farmers' Market
The barbecued chicken you can smell on the State Street sidewalks every Friday afternoon these days isn't the only thing at the Kennett Square Farmers' Market that's hot.
The market, which opened for the season on Friday, May 15, provides plenty of something even hotter: top-quality local food. A visit there will give you a quick introduction to some two dozen of the Chester County area's top producers of local vegetables, other foods, and a variety of handcrafted artisanal products.
Plenty of shoppers showed up for opening day, because local food is a talked-about topic lately, and what people are saying is that it makes more sense for the planet and your palate to get local food in its prime than it does to get an underripe tomato from a thousand miles away.
"Buy Fresh, Buy Local" is the mantra, and it's been catching on in the 10 years since Claire Murray of Inverbrook Farm and Doug Harris of The Paper Market started the market. Today it happens every Friday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. from May 15 through October, in the Genesis walkway off State Street, just east of Union Street, and along the State Street sidewalk.
In its first year, about five vendors took part. Today, it's about 25, with two of the originals, Inverbrook Farm and Big Sky Bread Co. still involved.
The Big Sky breads were a hot item, and so was the ready-to-eat barbecued chicken. Early season vegetables such as lettuce and rhubarb were available, and if you wanted ideas for preparing them you could see cooking demonstrations by Denise Sheehan and Yvonne Post of Cooking for Real taste the results. Other booths sold handcrafted or artisanally produced jellies and jams, chocolates, dog treats, soap, and a variety of other goods.
The theme for year 10 is "Decade of Delicious," says Abigail Morgan, one of the market's coordinators, along with Hailey Cohn and Sarah Reese. The market is run under the auspices of Historic Kennett Square (HKS), and according to Morgan HKS Executive Director Mary Hutchins has helped the borough and market to interact, with Hutchins securing grant money and making sure ample parking is available.
It's a win-win situation, Morgan says: Local farmers have an outlet, and the borough gets a weekly event where people can mingle and shop, which helps make the town a destination. Local merchants benefit from the increased foot traffic, and organizations that produce and promote local food and sustainable agriculture can distribute literature to people with an interest in the subject.
The market's popularity has benefited from increased interest in locally produced food generated by word of mouth and national media, including the Obamas' organic White House garden. "That's a huge part of it, definitely," Morgan says.
A couple of tips to know: The market has certain vendors who only come out for First Friday, when many of Kennett's shops and galleries stay open late. And there are special events coming up, according to Morgan, including a "Buy Fresh, Buy Local" festival on July 17, with live music and cooking demonstrations (Philadelphia singer-songwriter Chris Kasper supplied the music on May 15).
Several of the vendors on the market debut May 15 offered seedlings (also known as plant starts) for tomatoes and other vegetables. One such vendor is Happy Cat Organics, which specializes in heirloom plant varieties, and in helping people grow them. Selling plants makes good sense for a market that specializes in local foods, as one visitor said, because food grown at home is the most local food you can get. But if you don't have time, space, or the inclination for a garden of your own, or you want artisanal bread, hot chicken, and lots of other locally produced foods and other stuff, the Kennett Square Farmers Market is well worth checking out.
The Cuban model
In light of the current global economic shift, it is valuable to study other countries and cultures that have reconfigured their food production systems, energy resources, communities and economies in innovative and organized ways. Cuba provides an interesting example of this reconfiguration because of the ease required to replicate their systems in cities around the world. The country was forced to significantly change out of necessity. Yet those changes led to Cuba’s recent recognition as the only country approaching sustainable development by the World Wildlife Fund. This assessment was reached from a combination of the Human Development Index (measured by literacy, education, life expectancy and GDP) and the country’s light ecological footprint.
Sustainable Food Systems
Cubans went through what they term a “special period” when support from the collapsed Soviet Union ended and they were cut off from trade with the US. They found themselves without food or fuel. People began to reclaim unused urban lands and converted them into organic gardens called organiponicos. The Cubans used raised beds and natural pest control to grow organic fruits, vegetables and herbs in the former wastelands. Now cooperative farms make compost, utilize native insects for natural pest control, and teach and employ locals in organic growing methods.
With short travel distances and clean growing methods, Cubans now eat fresh, local food produced in their own communities. This system has provided a renewed sense of connectedness for the people. Havana is home to many organiponicos — urban gardens flourishing in alleyways, rooftops, vacant lots — anywhere there is space to grow food. It is estimated that these farms supply over 90% of Havana’s fresh fruit and vegetables, and now even provide some of the milk and meat. Fruits and vegetables grown include mangos, guava, figs, coffee, bananas, grapes, avocados, spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, cassava, beets, etc. A variety of herbs are also grown, like ginger, oregano, rosemary, sage, basil, peppermint and other medicinal plants.
They also raise small animals including ducks, chickens, rabbits and guinea pigs.
This system not only feeds the people, but also reduces green house gas emissions from food transport, while saving Cuba money in transportation costs and environmentally through reduced emissions.
Energy
Cuba has also improved the conservation and renewable energy infrastructure over the past few decades. In 2006, they embarked on a “Revolucion Energetica”, reducing kerosene usage by 34%, liquefied natural gas by 37% and gasoline consumption by 80%.
In order to effectively change the energy behaviors of the society, the Cuban government recognized the necessity of engaging the young people in their efforts. Young people are now employed as energy social workers, going into communities to teach people how to use new energy efficient appliances and how to conserve energy. They hold energy festivals where students sing songs and write poetry about energy conservation. Children receive awards and go on to compete nationally based on energy conservation projects. In the early 90s, Cuba invested in solar systems for its rural schools, health and social centers that now provide energy for lighting and give students access to computers and educational programs.
Cuba switched over to energy efficient appliances and light bulbs with compact fluorescents, creating financial incentives for lowered energy use. People who consume less than 100 KWH per month pay less than one cent per KW/H. For every increase of 50 KW/H, the rate rises steeply, discouraging excess energy usage.
Cuba is currently involved in projects to implement wind farms and is creating the country’s first grid tied solar electric 100 KW plant.
It is impressive that the small island country was able to make such drastic changes in its behavior and food and energy systems in less than 20 years. What made their efforts so effective was their level of organization and unification. They did this together, against the odds, in order to survive. Regardless of our societal beliefs pitting socialism versus capitalism, Cubans were able to find the resourcefulness, ingenuity, and togetherness that made this transition successful. It helps too that in the years leading up to the “special period” they were already studying organic agriculture and energy conservation methods, laying a solid foundation for when crisis hit.
What can Americans learn from Cubans? In order for the U.S. to make similar positive changes, we need to encourage communities to work together cooperatively, to get organized in order to affect big changes in the way we eat and live. While the people of Cuba may be financially “poorer” than our average citizen, they have something that is invaluable; an energy infrastructure that continually evolves, a local farming system where everyone has access to healthy food, and a health care system that takes care of all the people.
Annual TomatoFare plant giveaway
TomatoFare2009 in Soap Lake is having a plant giveaway May 17 to 31 for TomatoFare Associate growers and others who would like to grow heirloom tomatoes and participate as a grower at this year’s event.
Free plants will be given away to current TomatoFare Associates, others who would like to become a TomatoFare 2009 grower and others interested in growing heirloom tomatoes, if extra plants remain available.
Growers get free plants, keep all they grow except one week’s worth the week prior to TomatoFare2009 and will provide a week’s crop for the event. Growers get free admission in exchange for tomatoes and help at the event.
In past years, plants were given away on a set Sunday in Soap Lake. This year, people are asked to write and contact the above TomatoFare Associate growers to make arrangements to pick up their plants by appointment.
TomatoFare’s goal is to select the seed of “at risk” tomato varieties that are, above all else, tasty and to provide growers, farmers, chefs, contributing businesses and the public an event that supports and celebrates the process.
From source to table, artisan farmers will present over 100 varieties of heirloom, organic tomatoes for TomatoFare 2009 attendees to taste. Some of the region’s most influential chefs will present luscious dishes for guests to sample.
Growers of organic heirloom tomatoes will present tastings. They will also supply the chefs with tomatoes to prepare.
General admission tickets are $20 in advance; $25 on the day of the event. Admission is limited to 300 guests.
Early ticket purchase is suggested since the event is expected to sell out.
Free plants will be given away to current TomatoFare Associates, others who would like to become a TomatoFare 2009 grower and others interested in growing heirloom tomatoes, if extra plants remain available.
Growers get free plants, keep all they grow except one week’s worth the week prior to TomatoFare2009 and will provide a week’s crop for the event. Growers get free admission in exchange for tomatoes and help at the event.
In past years, plants were given away on a set Sunday in Soap Lake. This year, people are asked to write and contact the above TomatoFare Associate growers to make arrangements to pick up their plants by appointment.
TomatoFare’s goal is to select the seed of “at risk” tomato varieties that are, above all else, tasty and to provide growers, farmers, chefs, contributing businesses and the public an event that supports and celebrates the process.
From source to table, artisan farmers will present over 100 varieties of heirloom, organic tomatoes for TomatoFare 2009 attendees to taste. Some of the region’s most influential chefs will present luscious dishes for guests to sample.
Growers of organic heirloom tomatoes will present tastings. They will also supply the chefs with tomatoes to prepare.
General admission tickets are $20 in advance; $25 on the day of the event. Admission is limited to 300 guests.
Early ticket purchase is suggested since the event is expected to sell out.
Capitol edible garden arrives with star power
The first edible garden at a state capitol went into the ground in Sacramento today, with First Lady Maria Shriver and garden guru-chef Alice Waters on hand to shovel some dirt.The 800-square-foot garden, which replaced a flower bed in Capitol Park on the east side of the Capitol building, includes chives, thyme and basil along with beets, radishes, peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini and garbanzo beans. Shriver planted some parsley.
"This is something you can do at home, at school and at every state capitol," said Shriver, who admitted she does not have a green thumb. She praised the community-building benefits of working in a garden and said, "Everything you need to learn in life you can learn on the playground and in a garden."
Shriver said she wants people to learn about California agriculture through the garden and is posting on her Web site -- www.firstlady.ca.gov -- lesson plans for teachers based on gardening. She has long been an advocate for edible gardens, chairing the California School Garden Network that has doubled the number of gardens in state schools from 3,000 to 6,000 since 2004.Shriver said she got hooked on the idea after visiting the Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley. That garden, an acre of land at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, was the brainchild of Waters.
"I'm trying to bring kids into a new relationship with food through taste and pleasure," Waters told a crowd that included a large number of children at Capitol Park. The Food Network's Guy Fieri also participated.
The garden did not cost the cash-strapped state any more money. The plants and irrigation system were donated and the Department of General Services will maintain the garden as it had the flower bed before it. The food will be donated to the Sacramento Food Bank.
The Food Network's Guy Fieri talks with a student from Skycrest Elementary School, center, and Galt High School, right, at the garden.
Preschoolers Get Hands-On Lesson in Gardening
Preschoolers, parents and teachers joined community members last Friday in opening the James Ax Organic Home Food Forest garden at Aleph Bet Preschool.
The 1,600-square-foot garden will give students a hands-on experience of growing food and flowers, while allowing students and families to take home the vegetables, herbs and flowers the children grow.
The garden was designed and constructed by Daniel Wilson, owner of Home Food Forest, with the hope that it will encourage organic growing methods and increase awareness of natural and healthy growing practices in the community.
“Our preschool runs on solar power, recycles and now has an organic garden,” said Rabbi Zalmy Kudan, director of the preschool. “We feel this is part of the important foundation our school gives its students.”
The garden curriculum will encourage learning teamwork, responsibility and the methods of planting, caring and harvesting vegetables.
Full of beans for summer
May and June are among the most rewarding months for vegetable growers. Seeds we planted only a few weeks ago are now thriving seedlings, and it won’t be long before our first home-grown potatoes and broad beans are ready to eat.
It’s easy to get carried away and do too much, though, which is why you have to stretch your body before you even pick up a seed packet – and take plenty of rest breaks. Caring for your back is important because if it hurts to bend you won’t be able to plant or weed – the two most important tasks right now. Kneel to plant seeds, rather than bending, and consider getting a gardening kneeler – one that doubles as a seat is ideal as you can use it to push yourself up.
Many of the seedlings you have raised indoors or in cold frames can now be planted out. Start with French beans and runner beans, erecting a framework for them to grow up. Choose a sheltered spot to avoid wind damage and aid pollination. Bamboo cane wigwams are easiest: place up to six 8ft (2.4m) canes in a circle at least2ft (60cm) wide, then tie the tops of the canes together. Beans are hungry plants, so water them well and put a mulch of garden compost around their roots to feed them and keep the soil moist.
You can also plant out the courgettes and pumpkins, plus summer squash, cucumbers and marrows. They need to be hardened off – left outside during the day – for a week, then water the seedlings in their pots, dig compost into the planting hole and, once the seedlings are in the soil, keep them well watered.
Courgettes take up about 2ft (60cm) of space once fully grown; pumpkins may need up to 3ft (1m) and squashes usually grow thick vines along the ground so need extra room.
Soak any leek seedlings that have reached the thickness of a pencil. Make holes 6in (15cm) deep and 4in (10cm) apart, placing a seedling in each then filling it with water to allow the soil to settle around the roots. Plant out tomato seedlings once they are 6-9in (15-23cm) and have their first flower buds. Harden them off first, then plant them about 18in (45cm) apart, and water well.
Keep sowing, too: sprouts, autumn cabbage, cucumbers and parsnips in May; and carrots, lettuce, turnips, swede and kale until late July.
Suttons Seeds has a Grow Your Own campaign on its website with tips for novices, plus a Vegetable Grower Starter Pack including patio pouches and discount vouchers.
Gardening is a great activity for everyone – especially for people in their fifties who want to improve their health without resorting to a punishing exercise regime. Just a few hours a week spent gardening, combined with eating cholesterol-controlling Benecol products, such as spreads and yogurts, and you could find that life really does begin at 50 after all! There are many more informative articles and tips in Healthy Times – the free monthly email from Benecol.
Grain farmers give cover crops a trial run
The use of cover crops in growing grain in Montana may be an idea worth pursuing in the Northwest.So says Diana Roberts, Spokane-based Washington State University Extension area agronomist.
Roberts recently published an article for Spokane County Extension about the use of cover crops on Bob Quinn's organic farm in Montana.
The cover-crops approach would be important for organic farmers, but there are possibilities in direct-seed operations as well, Roberts said.
Quinn uses cover crops to supply nitrogen and manage his weeds.
Most farmers often use a fallow year to manage weeds, Roberts said. Cover crops are typically used in organic vegetable farming but hardly ever in grain farming, she said.
Cover crops are either disked into the ground before they mature or made into a duff layer to create a mulch to prevent evaporation.
A farmer would use the cover crop to compete with weeds, but reduces his input costs by growing his own fertilizer and drawing energy from the sun and moisture to create nitrogen in the soil, Roberts said.
Quinn uses the cover crop to provide nitrogen rather than bring in chicken manure, Roberts said.
Because a cover crop is in place, Quinn is not using a typical summer fallow period with constant tillage.
"He's taken care of a lot of the weeds before he plants his main grain, his cash crops," Roberts said.
Quinn's primary cash crops are winter wheat, spring wheat, barley, Kamut brand grain (an ancient relative of durum wheat tolerated by people who are sensitive to wheat), alfalfa, safflower and sunflower.
Though Roberts said it is fascinating to see what other regions like Montana are doing, those practices cannot often be exactly replicated in the Northwest region very successfully.
Quinn's farm in Montana is in an intermediate rainfall zone similar to the Davenport, Wash., area, Roberts said, but there are big differences. East of the Rockies, more rain falls in the summer, while the Washington region gets more rain in winter and spring.
Roberts said she is excited by the fact Quinn is growing cool-season cover crops like peas and camelina, which can be grown in the Northwest.
"I think it would be worth trying," she said.
Quinn also seeds his cover crops in the spring with a companion crop, cutting the cash crop and letting the established cover crops continue to grow prior to the fallow year.
Most farmers would think about seeding their cover crop in September and taking it through to June, but that would reduce the moisture in the soil and increase the risk of not germinating the cover crop, Roberts said.
Fred Fleming, who has a direct-seed farming system in Reardan, Wash., said his tour of Quinn's farm convinced him a cover crop for soil health needed to be incorporated into his system.
He said he hopes to increase the nutritional value of his soils to increase nutrients in his hard red winter wheat or hard red spring wheat, as well as have a comparable yield.
As part of a sustainable agriculture alliance, Fleming is looking for a reasonable rate of return. Cover crop practices will increase his cost of production, he said, but if the wheat has more nutrients and the marketplace recognizes it, he can get that rate of return.
As a direct-seed farmer, Fleming will use a roller-crimper to flatten the cover crop, killing it so that it decays on the soil surface and acts as a mulch, Roberts said.
Mowing the crop runs the risk that it may take moisture out of the soil away from the cash crops, she said.
Fleming said he is experimenting with the concept.
"I guess we're in chapter one," he said. "I understand there's 10 more chapters to be written."
Berkshire Botanical's 75th anniversary steeped in tradition, innovation
In 1934, the Lenox Garden Club obtained 6 acres of land from Irene and Barnard Hoffman. Members wanted to try an experiment - the creation of gardens that would serve as an educational tool for the community.
Now, 75 years later, no part of that core mission - to inspire through demonstration gardens and to educate - of what is now called Berkshire Botanical Garden has changed. This anniversary season's theme, "Back to the Future: Rediscovering our Roots," speaks to that heartfelt desire and effort over the past 75 years to maintain continuity in the garden's purpose.
Although the arrangement for the land donation was complete in the fall of 1934, according to BBG trustee Honey Sharp, the first real harvest did not occur until 1935. Then, following the designation of the Berkshire Garden Center (the original name) as a nonprofit in 1936, the Hoffmans donated the additional 9 acres across Routes 102 and 183 where the Visitors Center is now located.
The oldest of the gardens include the herb garden, designed and "hardscaped" by Edward Belches in 1937, some lavender that Sharp said she was told still exists on the property as well as the vegetable garden and orchards.
"I think it's interesting they started out with food," Sharp said, "helping the community learn to be self-sufficient."
The gardens themselves, however, were not all that the garden had to offer.
"They had classes early on, too.
That theme of education and demonstration gardens - that's what I like so much about the history, to see that thread running through," Sharp said.
Keeping ahead
The focus on education has not changed, except perhaps to strengthen over the years. In fact, Sharp first came to the garden as a visitor 25 years ago when her daughter was a baby. She started taking classes about 10 years ago, ultimately earning a horticulture certificate. Her level of involvement deepened when she joined the board.
In addition to the mission and the existence of those early gardens, the annual Harvest Festival, first held at the end of 1935, has been maintained all these years as well. The festival, then as now, she said, was used as a fundraiser as well as a way to celebrate the end of the growing season.
What also hasn't changed, Sharp said, is the garden's commitment to responsible gardening. From the start, the emphasis was on what would be considered organic and green gardening today, although certainly not in vogue in the garden's early days. Sharp said the garden also showcased native plants, in an age when the dangerousness of non-native invasive plantings was unknown.
One of the key things about the garden that also hasn't changed is the belief that BBG should teach people that, for as much as gardens can provide continuity, they are also constantly changing and evolving by their very nature.
"We try to have all kinds of interesting plants. We keep ahead that way, with new plants and new techniques," Sharp said.
John Parker, executive director of BBG, echoed that thought. The garden has lots of plans to celebrate its 75th anniversary, he said, "by doing something special, but also to try to counter that notion that gardens are static.
"Gardens are all about change. We're making a special effort to do something new each year. We hope it inspires and educates our visitors," he said.
For example, the herb garden will be completely "revisioned and redesigned" this year, he said. The historic hardscape of the terraced planting will remain intact, but the themes of each of the sections will change. The new themes are being designed by Page Dickey, just one of three guest gardeners this year.
"One of them we're really excited about is a Hogwarts garden," Parker said, which will contain plants that have a connection to magical properties, in honor of the magic school attended by Harry Potter in J.K. Rowling's series of the same name.
Attracting the community
Another new feature this year will be "Contained Exuberance: A Fresh Look at Gardening in Pots," which opens June 6.
"The exhibit has a pretty broad appeal for folks who don't have large yards or properties. It's being put together by a couple of quite eminent gardeners," Parker said.
The gardeners in question are Margaret Roach, creator of
awaytogarden.com who also served as Martha Stewart's first garden editor, as well as Bob Hyland, co-owner of Loomis Creek Nursery.
"We wanted to do something not run of the mill, but interesting in terms of plant selection and design," Parker said, adding that these 10 container gardens would of course include annuals and perennials, but would also include "small shrubs and possibly even aquatic plants."
But that's not all that's new this year. This season will see the first of the "Cocktails in Great Gardens of the Berkshires" events. Four of these privately owned "great gardens," identified in the last summer's book "Great Gardens of the Berkshires" by Virginia Small, will host cocktails and hors d'oeuvres to benefit BBG.
But despite the growth and changes within the gardens, programming and exhibits over time, Sharp was clear that in addition to the other things that provide continuity over the past 75 years, there is one other constant.
"I've seen the garden grow and attract new visitors, as well as serve the Berkshire community," she said. "That's a great priority."
Six Urban Farms, From U.S. Coast to Coast
With spring bringing out the gardener in many of us — veteran, rookie and in between — my household has been expanding our growing. Last year, we had a couple of small vegetable plots that maybe totalled 15-20 square feet. Plus, we created a wildflower and native grass section that stretches to a slim 40 square feet.
This year, we have turned nearly half of our backyard — tiny as it is — into a vegetable garden, adding 125 square feet, or so. I built a wooden-pallet compost bin. And our front yard — yes, tiny front yard — is quickly becoming garden space, too (more flowers, native grasses and such). We’ll soon have a rain barrel. I’ve torn up a 50-foot stretch of sidewalk, and will replace it with a more drainage-friendly, more attractive solution. My wife also has started dozens of vegetable seedlings, which she is giving away for others’ gardens.
Bette Midler leads effort to turn abandoned lots into lush gardens
We all share the need for contact with nature and time spent outdoors, but in some parts of the country these things are luxuries. That's a fact that's been brought home to me over the past three years, since I began working with Bette Midler and the New York Restoration Project.
Midler founded the group in 1995 with the aim of buying abandoned lots all over New York, cleaning them up and transforming them into public spaces where people could go to reconnect with nature, enjoy the outdoors and spend time with neighbors.
Most of the lots were in forgotten neighborhoods and certainly not at the top of the city's beautification list. Midler's idea was that creating beautiful open spaces where people could gather to spend time outdoors would help restore a sense of community in these often-underserved neighborhoods. So she created a well-run organization, raised funds and enlisted corporate support to rebuild these forgotten places.
Although all the spaces I have worked on for the project are different, there is a common set of principles for creating an inviting outdoor environment, whether you're revitalizing an abandoned lot filled with trash or just doing something more interesting with your backyard.
•Start with a clean slate. The first thing to do is clean up. This holds true whether you have a large space or a small one. Get rid of anything that is taking up space but not serving a purpose.
•Designate areas of use. Think about how you want to use your space.
•Direct your views. Remember, you are trying to create an area to relax in. If possible, screen out unwanted views with plantings or fencing. If that is not possible, create focal points to focus your attention on something more pleasant.
•Retain open space. Try not to fill every inch your outdoor space. This is true for large spaces as well as small ones.
•Pay attention to light. The amount of sun (or lack thereof) will play a significant role in how your space can be used. If the space gets no sunlight at all, don't plan a vegetable garden.
Finally, always look for that unique aspect of the site to work into the overall design in an unexpected way. In a garden I designed for NYRP with my colleague Jeff Dragan, community movie nights are held using the walls of neighboring buildings as giant outdoor movie screens. With a little imagination, you can transform any run-of-the-mill outdoor space into something extraordinary.
Midler founded the group in 1995 with the aim of buying abandoned lots all over New York, cleaning them up and transforming them into public spaces where people could go to reconnect with nature, enjoy the outdoors and spend time with neighbors.
Most of the lots were in forgotten neighborhoods and certainly not at the top of the city's beautification list. Midler's idea was that creating beautiful open spaces where people could gather to spend time outdoors would help restore a sense of community in these often-underserved neighborhoods. So she created a well-run organization, raised funds and enlisted corporate support to rebuild these forgotten places.
Although all the spaces I have worked on for the project are different, there is a common set of principles for creating an inviting outdoor environment, whether you're revitalizing an abandoned lot filled with trash or just doing something more interesting with your backyard.
•Start with a clean slate. The first thing to do is clean up. This holds true whether you have a large space or a small one. Get rid of anything that is taking up space but not serving a purpose.
•Designate areas of use. Think about how you want to use your space.
•Direct your views. Remember, you are trying to create an area to relax in. If possible, screen out unwanted views with plantings or fencing. If that is not possible, create focal points to focus your attention on something more pleasant.
•Retain open space. Try not to fill every inch your outdoor space. This is true for large spaces as well as small ones.
•Pay attention to light. The amount of sun (or lack thereof) will play a significant role in how your space can be used. If the space gets no sunlight at all, don't plan a vegetable garden.
Finally, always look for that unique aspect of the site to work into the overall design in an unexpected way. In a garden I designed for NYRP with my colleague Jeff Dragan, community movie nights are held using the walls of neighboring buildings as giant outdoor movie screens. With a little imagination, you can transform any run-of-the-mill outdoor space into something extraordinary.
A-Z of the Chelsea Flower Show
A is for art
One of the key themes this year is "the garden as art", but artistic, thought-provoking design that pushes boundaries and stimulates debate has been an underlying theme of the shows from the very beginning.
B is for bankers
Predictions were rife that Lloyds would spark a mutiny amongst shareholders by continuing to sponsor the event, despite their troubled financial status. But the banker's garden, designed by Sarah Eberle, is causing more eyebrow-raising at the event itself. The garden is a cheeky sideways swipe at the big players of the financial world - it is modelled on a Monopoly game and conveniently includes a jail.
C is for credit crunch
Much has been made of the budget cuts at what is usually the world's most frivolous garden party. With the average garden costing £250,000 (and several costing considerably more), several large sponsors have pulled out, citing financial difficulties. While this year's event may be slightly less spectacular than in previous years, it hasn't had any knock-on effect on the number of visitors, with tickets for all five days sold out.
D is for designers
The stars of the show. The perfectly balanced contrast between the play-it-safes and the serial controversy-courters always ensures that Chelsea pleases the crowds while remaining at the cutting edge of garden design.
E is for eating
There's something about the combination of food and flowers - though not necessarily in the same dish - that really gets the juices flowing. Whether it's a steak sandwich, a seafood platter or a champagne breakfast, Chelsea's catering crew have got it covered.
F is for (you guessed it) flowers
From the exotic to the esoteric and the pretty to the peculiar, if the Chelsea Flower Show doesn't convince you of the truly majestic power of the flower, nothing will. Have a look at this year's hottest plants in our picture gallery.
G is for the great pavillion
The grand floral displays of the great pavillion are the beating heart of the show. A highlight this year is an edible display from Pennard Plants, which celebrates 100 years of the vegetable garden.
H is for Hillier Nurseries
Company designer Andy McIndoe has claimed a record-breaking 64th gold medal this year, with his "seven ages of man" garden. The spectacle charts a person's entire journey through life, beginning with a starter garden and ending with "pushing up daisies".
I is for ingenuity
Almost from the dawn of the event, designers cottoned on to the fact that the most outlandish creations will always garner the most - if not the kindest - publicity. Those that dare to be different and push the boundaries of traditional garden design are part of what makes Chelsea special. Tom Stuart-Smith pinpoints this year's weird and wonderful trends.
J is for the joker in the pack
Over the decades, several gardens have garnered a somewhat negative reaction from critics unimpressed by a wacky concept or bizarre theme. Gardens featuring gnomes, Martians, gratuitous nudity and giant metal lollipops have proved particularly unpopular with some of Chelsea's more traditional fans.
K is for kids
The show is open to children over five and includes a wealth of activities to keep curious children educated and entertained. This year youngsters might enjoy learning how to adapt flower gardens in the Continuous Learning centre, nosing about in Laurie Chetwood and Patrick Collin's gold medal-winning perfume garden or playing in the plasticine paradise, which has been awarded its own special medal.
L is for landscape
Months of hard toil and preparation go into every individual Chelsea plot, and sculpting the landscape to perfection is crucial in achieving a gold-standard garden. Chelsea's most famous landscape architect is Swedish designer Ulf Nordfjell, whose speciality is combining Scandinavian sharpness with English elegance. His magnificent show garden for the Daily Telegraph has earned him his first gold.
M is for medals
Sixty gold medals were awarded for this year's event. In addition to the traditional gold, silver-gilt, silver and bronze medals, there are several other specialist categories, which include the RHS junior display trophies for talented young gardeners and the president's award, which is given to an exhibitor selected by the RHS president, Peter Buckley, as his personal favourite. View the eight section-winning designs in our picture gallery.
N is for novice
Despite the financial climate there is a glut of designers exhibiting for the first time this year. Chelsea newbies include Luciano Guibbilei, who has designed the gold-winning Laurent Perrier garden, and James Wong and David Cubero, the duo responsible for the Canary Islands Spa garden, which scooped a silver award.
O is for oasis
There is usually at least one stand-out garden each year, which has been lovingly crafted to provide a peaceful haven, such as Andy Sturgeon's garden last year. This year the Eden Project's Key Garden is taking up the challenge. Visitors who manage to navigate its spiky, arid maze will be rewarded with a calming oasis filled with freshly planted vegetables and a mass of artfully arranged flowers.
P is for plasticine
Ambitious doesn't really begin to describe Top Gear presenter James May's plan to build an entire garden from the squishy stuff. After the immense scale of his plans finally began to dawn on him, May cunningly recruited members of the public to help him complete his petrolhead's paradise.
Q is for queen
Those green-fingered royals just can't keep away from the Chelsea Flower Show. This year Her Majesty presented Prince Charles with the Victoria Medal - the horticultural society's highest honour.
R is for retail therapy
When it comes to gifts, Chelsea is home to the weird, the wonderful and the suitably whacky. With hundreds of exhibitors selling their wares at the event, even the pickiest punter will find something to suit.
S is for socialites
The prestigious event marks the start of the summer social season, with those keen to see and be seen making their annual pilgrimage. Come rain or shine, there are celebs aplenty pretending to be 'serious' gardeners, before making an undignified dash for the booze/cameras/goodie bags at the earliest opportunity. As our gallery shows, Helen Mirren, Sienna Miller and Stephen Fry are just a few of the stars who have put in an appearance this year.
T is for tantrums
Perhaps it's the pursuit of perfection that lead to personality clashes, but celebrity strops seems to be par for the course at Chelsea. Of particular note was a rather thorny plagiarism dispute beween Diarmuid Gavin and Andy Sturgeon in 2006, and Prince Phillip's public flounce-off after his pronunciation of a plant was politely called into question by a gardener in 2008.
U is for urban gardens
Urban gardens are one of the most challenging types to craft, presenting designers with a particular space or design challenge to overcome. This year the Tyndall Centre's creation focuses on the affects of high emissions on future gardens, while the Urban Rain Design demonstrates unique ways to conserve rainwater.
V is for vicious
Diarmuid Gavin's somewhat extreme description of the atmosphere at last year's show. Who'd have thought a show filled with sweet-smelling flowers and lovely-looking gardens could prove so toxic? Needless to say, Gavin is not exhibiting this year.
W is for water features
Water features are as much a permanent fixture of Chelsea as its Pimms-drinking patrons. The general rule is that too much is never enough, with gallons of H20 being showcased in all manner of weird and wonderful ways throughout the event.
X is for xanthorhiza
OK, so you might never have actually heard of it, let alone felt the urge to plant one in your garden, but it really is a beautiful flower. Honestly.
Y is for yacht
A remote-controlled one can be found in the moat of Sarah Eberle's offshore garden. The credit crunch-themed design is loaded with tongue-in-cheek humour and symbolises the importance of keeping assets away from prying eyes.
Z is for zucchini
… and other delicious vegetables available at the show. The grow-your-own brigade will out in force to promote their trade and various gardens will be offering much more than just a feast for the eyes.
Lakes Homes brings garden therapy to residents for 10 years
Anyone who spends their spare time planting, pruning, watering and harvesting will tell you that there’s something soothing about working with nature.Tom Reiffenberger has parlayed his Master Gardener status into his job for over 10 years with that very idea in mind.
For those that thought nature’s relaxing qualities were just coincidental, Reiffenberger, the executive administrator at Lakes Homes and Program Development, calls it horticulture therapy.
Along the lines of music therapy or dog therapy, he said, it helps relax and improve the lives of the residents at Lakes Homes’ various group homes in the area.
Lakes Homes’, a local nonprofit, works with adults who have developmental disabilities, many of whom reside in group homes. The organization has most of their locations in Becker County, but has also expanded to Ottertail and Mahnomen counties.
Reiffenberger became a certified Master Gardener about 12 years ago after taking an 8-week long course through the University of Minnesota Extension Office, where students learned the specifics of plant pathology, insects, diseases and how to research problems and help a fellow Gardener with a problem.
Not long after receiving his certification, Reiffenberger decided to get residents of Lakes Homes involved. The organization wrote up a grant proposal to the American Horticulture Society and received enough to build a greenhouse — the same one that most Detroit Lakes residents see on Summit Avenue.
Now, he said, every one of Lakes’ Homes locations has some sort of garden, whether it’s a simple window box or full landscaping with raised beds, ponds and walking paths.
Residents help with much of the gardening work, he said, but it varies significantly depending on the functioning level of the resident.
“It totally depends on the individual,” he said. “We have a group of very interested people, who had either done work on a farm or grew up around it, and they can be quite independent, whereas some can just hold the hose and water things, and some just put their hands in the soil and feel it.”
There are many benefits, too, Reiffenberger said. It helps with physical activity for some, but for some, the sense of accomplishment from completing a task can be all it takes.
“It depends on their function level, but it’s initiating a task that they can be successful at is why it’s so important,” he said. “And plants, you know, they’re a living thing, so they’re delicate, but if you’re too rough with it and it breaks or whatever, it can also be replaced.”
Reiffenberger recalled one young resident who would fill pot after pot with soil as his task.
“It gets to be rote filling, but then he’s not thinking about other socially unacceptable behaviors,” he explained. “It takes their minds off of other things.”
There are many social benefits, too.
“We often have garden parties or tea parties, and compete at the Becker County Fair,” he said. “And it’s considered kind of a normal act, and appropriate for all age groups.”
Although each garden is different, Reiffenberger said there is typically a lot of color in the front, and vegetable and herb gardens elsewhere.
“And then when people drive by they won’t say, ‘Oh there’s the group home,’ they’ll say ‘Look at those flowers,’ instead of the stigma of the location of a group home,” he explained.
It’s not just planting and tending to outdoor gardens, either.
Although Reiffenberger said they’re busy in springtime with planting, even in wintertime, staff finds ways to bring nature inside with pine boughs at Christmastime and leaves during Thanksgiving.
In the summer, then, they’ll have a “theme.” Last year’s, he said, was peppers and tomatoes — residents helped plant seedlings, which were then sold to staff and other residents.
At the end of the summer, they held a contest for the best produce, or the biggest, and residents could win prizes. At the end, a potluck was held, but the dish had to be made using the peppers and tomatoes.
He continues to help out at the Extension Office, especially in the summers, when they operate plant and pest clinics.
Reiffenberger said the Extension Office continues to offer the Master Gardener class — in fact, they just completed another class in Perham, where over 60 participants became Master Gardeners. Most were from Ottertail County, he said.
He also volunteers his time there for the Plant and Pest Clinic, answering phones and helping research and diagnose plant problems.
Lakes Homes is also sponsoring an upcoming community event for Gardeners:
“Real Gardens for Real People,” a gardening workshop, will be on May 2 from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. at the Detroit Lakes campus of the Minnesota State Community and Technical College.
To learn how to design basic floral arrangements, show exhibits at flower shows, or how to judge exhibits, the “Exhibiting and Judging School” will be on May 30 at the Lakes Homes office.
Finally, a middle-of-summer “Shoe Container Show” will showcase plants grown in shoes at the Washington Square Mall on July 16.
North Haven Gardens focuses on urban henkeeping
When readers cross paths with me at a garden sale or tour, guess what they always ask about. Not flowers. Not garden design. Not how to treat trees for webworms. Nothing about gardening at all, in fact. People want to talk about my hens.
I keep five hens, each a different breed, in my inner-city backyard. They range from 5 years old to almost a year old. When I acquired them, I thought of them as garden ornament. That's how uninformed I was about henkeeping.
My girls, they'd be proud to tell you, can peck a quart pot of Dragonwing begonia down to the nubs in under two minutes. Same for a silvery echeveria as broad as my outstretched palm.
On the other hand, their eggs have large, marigold-orange yolks; their soiled bedding straw turns up the heat in my compost bin and enriches my garden; and they can be counted on to trigger laughter in their humans.
Dallas is a city-chicken hotbed. East Dallas is the epicenter, but folks in Oak Cliff and North Dallas also are building coops. Still, I was surprised to hear that North Haven Gardens, a venerable, sophisticated garden retailer, aims to become your one-stop shop to set up your own urban flock.
On Saturday, the 58-year-old garden shop sponsors a seminar on backyard chickens. Farmer Dan Probst of Poetry, Texas, will explain what's involved in keeping a few hens (roosters are banned in Dallas): how to house them, what to feed them, how to protect them from predators and such.
At the same time, North Haven is unveiling its new inventory: a private-label cedar ark (a movable coop that keeps chickens corralled and safe from predators) for $399, feeders and waterers, supplements and electrolytes to help hens deal with extreme summer heat, hay for bedding and chicken feed. In a few weeks, says general manager Leslie Halleck, she hopes to have organic laying crumbles and chicken starter, packaged by a certified-organic producer in Austin.
North Haven will not sell chickens, but Probst will sell juvenile hens from his truck on Saturday. Probst, a former Oak Cliff restaurateur, has applied for his farm's organic certification. He raises standard breeds such as Rhode Island Reds, Buff Orpingtons and Barred Rocks, and the specialty breeds Silkies, Polish, Ameraucanas and Transylvania Naked Necks. If there is demand, Probst will sell young hens once a month at North Haven into autumn.
"I want to give Dallas an urban resource that's catering to the needs of urban dwellers with smaller spaces," says Halleck, herself a henkeeper of mere weeks. "We're very tied into what's going on in our community. People want their urban spaces to be more productive for them."
Backyard vegetable gardening skyrocketed this spring, says Halleck. "If you vegetable-garden, you compost. Why not have chickens, too?" Hens love castoffs from the garden and the cabbage loopers that invariably feed on greens; in turn, their soiled bedding and eggshells are composted. "It's a closed loop."
Halleck established a flock of five because "eggs are the only animal protein I consume, so I want the eggs to be the highest possible quality they can be," she says. "I feed my chickens a lot of greens from my garden. Their eggs are just about the most bright orange I've seen in my life." Halleck says she will switch from conventional laying pellets to the organic feed once it arrives at the store, despite the steep price difference.
She's already had to shoo a Cooper's hawk looking for supper out of her Little Forest Hills backyard. The young hens instinctively jammed themselves between the compost bin and the fence when the hawk swooped in. And though Ramona the Chihuahua quickly learned to run the chickens out of Halleck's newly planted hostas, she wasn't willing to confront the hawk. She yawned and looked the other way; Halleck says she had to lunge at the hawk herself to make it leave.
Consequently, Eunice, Einstein, Phyllis Diller, Pecker and Scooter are never set loose in the yard unless Halleck is there, too.
"People are interested in this, but they're afraid of not knowing what to do," Halleck says. "If you already garden and compost, it's not that hard to add chickens.
"I'm sticking my neck out on this," she adds, "but just because North Haven has been around a long time doesn't mean we're not progressive. Besides, I didn't see anybody else in town filling this niche."
2009年5月19日星期二
Dharma Harvest creates sustainable learning environments
The day before Mother’s Day, on Buddha’s Birthday, an edible forest was born on a farm in Harvard. The farm belongs to the parents of Sarah Tracey, and on May 9, friends and families turned out to plant and eat good food in the sunshine.
The day began with a Durga Yoga class in the field and included baked goods, cooked meals and farmer’s market produce. Adults shopped and chatted while children climbed up and down a big rock, watched the ducks and happily snacked on bagels and muffins.
“They have inspired me; I am going to try and make the vegetable thing work this year,” said Virginia Justicz.
Jamie Cruz shared some of the abundance that she regularly brings to the Harvard Farmer’s Market, including baskets of flowers, fresh eggs, asparagus, chocolate mint, and several varieties of heirloom tomatoes.
“Brandywine is what got everyone into growing heirloom tomatoes. Big and sweet, they taste like a tomato should taste,” said Cruz.
In mid-afternoon, kids were invited to climb over the garden fence and help plant the edible garden. Earlier in the day, Sean Roulan, Dharma Harvest’s principal designer, and friend Jeff Glenn dug three deep holes and three plants stood ready. As the last child jumped into the field, Roulan carried large buckets of water to the field that was about to become a garden.
Tracey invited the children to help plant the forest garden — an apple tree ecosystem. Tracey and the children gathered around a hole that smelled like springtime and earth. Tracey talked in a musical voice about the honey crisp apple tree, the children got to touch its roots and, with their hands, helped cover the roots with rich black soil. They found earthworms and grubs and learned the difference between them. The grubs were fed to the ducks and the earthworms were returned to the soil when all danger of drowning had passed.
All together, the children helped plant an apple tree, a persimmon tree and a gooseberry bush. Absorbed in gentle explanations of sustainability and interdependence, little girls in bright pink and flowered dresses were comfortably covered in black mud past their elbows.
According to Roulan, “We learn from the forest. Mimicking the way a natural forest grows, the Edible Forest will have multiple layers of fruitful vegetation. An oak tree in a field all by itself doesn’t do as well as when it has raspberries growing around it.”
The Dharma Harvest path is “bringing people to the land and to each other” by creating sustainable learning environments and socio-ecological connections. Dharma Harvest offers environmental education to schools, working with teachers to connect science curricula directly to outdoor spaces near the school, such as conservation land. Dharma Harvest also connects farmers and fresh local food with school lunch programs. According to Tracey, Dharma Harvest is partnered with about 25 schools already.
To learn more about Dharma Harvest’s programs, please visit dharmaharvest.org.
The Process of Processing a Healthy Savory Snack
For the answer to our question, "so just how does one go about creating a line of healthy, savory snacks?," we visited the doctor — Dr. Kracker that is, a.k.a. George Eckrich, owner of flatbread and cracker makers Kracker Enterprises LLC, Dallas. “Much of our development works has its inspiration in my frequent trips doing demos in the stores of our retailers,” says Eckrich. “By doing demos myself, I hear directly what customers say, what they are thinking and how they react to Dr. Kracker — plus I can watch what customers are buying from the cracker aisle.”
From such first-hand surveying, Eckrich has learned that “baby boomers in particular enjoy the flavor of whole grains and seeds, but want a cracker that is not as hard. The challenge of aging teeth is a reality.” Eckrich discovered the 55-and-up age group is the demographic most supporting the shift to whole grains. “This fact cannot be ignored if we want to continue our 20 percent rate of growth,” he cautions.
Challenges described by Eckrich on developing a recent new product line included shelf life and organic status. “This meant we had to reconsider our toppings,” he explains. “Since sunflower seeds are the most delicate with regard to rancidity, we decided not to use it as a topping” in some new formulations. While previous products have been organic, cost became a factor “when sourcing the new ingredients we were considering, such as sun dried tomatoes, freeze dried apples and sweet potatoes.” The company gave up the USDA organic emblem, but maintains an all-natural claim. “We would remain true to our core value of supporting organic grain and see farmers.”
Eckrich then went through a “long, iterative process” of test baking. “Out of this, we got four new products that match emerging taste trends, but more importantly, they are trends that we believe will continue for some time. Black sesame seeds, lemon flavor, garlic flavor, coriander, apples and oats, semolina and sour cherries and a dot of chili pepper.” The four new Dr. Kracker flavors about to launch include savory, sweet and combinations of the two: Apple Crisp, Fire Roasted Crisp, Hummus Maximus and Cherry Semolina.
Over at Gilroy Foods & Flavors, Omaha, Neb., senior executive chef Sean Craig says, “The first step we take with customers is to determine what their target consumer wants in ‘healthy.’ When developing a topical seasoning blend for a baked chip, for example, it not only needs to taste right, but it must adhere to a low-fat chip surface. When creating snacks with a healthy-halo such as ‘natural,’ we determine whether blending flavor into the mix rather than topically is the best solution. Considerations such as vegetable particulate size for ingredients like garlic or parsley can offer a more rustic appeal and can be marketed as gourmet. We insist on taking the customer’s entire product formulation and lifecycle into consideration to ensure we're offering the ideal savory flavor solution.”
From such first-hand surveying, Eckrich has learned that “baby boomers in particular enjoy the flavor of whole grains and seeds, but want a cracker that is not as hard. The challenge of aging teeth is a reality.” Eckrich discovered the 55-and-up age group is the demographic most supporting the shift to whole grains. “This fact cannot be ignored if we want to continue our 20 percent rate of growth,” he cautions.
Challenges described by Eckrich on developing a recent new product line included shelf life and organic status. “This meant we had to reconsider our toppings,” he explains. “Since sunflower seeds are the most delicate with regard to rancidity, we decided not to use it as a topping” in some new formulations. While previous products have been organic, cost became a factor “when sourcing the new ingredients we were considering, such as sun dried tomatoes, freeze dried apples and sweet potatoes.” The company gave up the USDA organic emblem, but maintains an all-natural claim. “We would remain true to our core value of supporting organic grain and see farmers.”
Eckrich then went through a “long, iterative process” of test baking. “Out of this, we got four new products that match emerging taste trends, but more importantly, they are trends that we believe will continue for some time. Black sesame seeds, lemon flavor, garlic flavor, coriander, apples and oats, semolina and sour cherries and a dot of chili pepper.” The four new Dr. Kracker flavors about to launch include savory, sweet and combinations of the two: Apple Crisp, Fire Roasted Crisp, Hummus Maximus and Cherry Semolina.
Over at Gilroy Foods & Flavors, Omaha, Neb., senior executive chef Sean Craig says, “The first step we take with customers is to determine what their target consumer wants in ‘healthy.’ When developing a topical seasoning blend for a baked chip, for example, it not only needs to taste right, but it must adhere to a low-fat chip surface. When creating snacks with a healthy-halo such as ‘natural,’ we determine whether blending flavor into the mix rather than topically is the best solution. Considerations such as vegetable particulate size for ingredients like garlic or parsley can offer a more rustic appeal and can be marketed as gourmet. We insist on taking the customer’s entire product formulation and lifecycle into consideration to ensure we're offering the ideal savory flavor solution.”
Kent blooms in Chelsea
RHS Chelsea (Kent) Flower Show 2009 will be the title of this year's biggest event in the horticultural calendar.
The county is spectacularly represented across the whole exhibition, through plantsmen, landscaping, design and inspiration.
After years of focus on the exotic and an overkill on extravagance, Chelsea has gone back to its roots this year.
Marshalls, the show's sponsor, with its head office in Sittingbourne, is paving the way forward with environmentally friendly hard landscaping.
Its Living Street show garden, designed by Ian Dexter in his second year Chelsea (he was last year's Silver medal winner with the Garden that Every Kid Wants), uses permeable paving - it not only allows rainwater to drain directly into the subsoil, it is formulated to improve air quality by counteracting the effect of air pollution through a chemical reaction on the surface.
Ian's show garden continues the eco-theme with four gardens to the front of four contemporary homes - each one a reflection of the residents' differing needs and aspirations.
The young family at No 1 are short of space so they grow their plants horizontally on the ground and the roof, and vertically - the wall planting survives through a hidden water system. "There is an irrigation system that zig-zags across the wall," said Ian, clearly pleased with the result. (See pic).
Another Kent hard landscaping company, Willerby, based near Four Elms, Edenbridge, is the backbone of Laurie Chetwood and Patrick Collins' sensational perfume garden. This huge show garden embraces sustainable design through rainwater harvesting, a wind turbine and the conversion of daylight to electricity.
It is a fusion of ultra, ultra modern architecture against a reflection of planting from the 1600s when Elizabeth I ordered perfume to be created for her. The sweet-smelling lavenders, roses, herbs and ferns (yes, ferns, the rhizones yield an oil that infuses masculine scents) weave paths to the 10m high perfumery where white spires burst from its heart, held by petal -like canopies.
This is the work of a plantsman and an architect who think differently but pool their talents to fuse low tech with hi tech. "The perfumery lights up at night," said Laurie. "It will be purple and pink to echo the planting." That's not the only colour you will see - the whiff of gold, not just perfume, surrounds 'the' exhibit of the Chelsea (Kent) 2009.
Willerby is also the contractor for Robert Myer's Cancer Research UK garden. The elegant ornamental garden has a large reflecting pool has a practical side - the ripples across the figure of eight pool have a secondary purpose as urban drainage.
Wander from the main exhibits to the Courtyard Gardens and Kent's presence continues to dominate.
Demelza, a garden designed for the children's hospice in Bobbing, Sittingbourne, introduces gentle musical sounds to a garden. A water harp, a Japanese sui-kin-kutsu (an underground water chamber), introduces mysterious echoing sounds while aluminium chimes in the flower beds give children the chance to make their own music.
Merriments Garden, in neighbouring East Sussex, has created a swathe of colour around the seating area of the garden, including the new red iris 'County Town Red' and dazzling orange geum Prinses Juliana. This beautiful garden will be recreated at Demelza House at the end of the show.
In the same Courtyard area, The Pilgrim's Rest, designed by Chris O'Donoghue, from Cranbrook, is a small but perfectly formed photographer's delight. Against the backdrop of a 'ruined monastic building' a wheelbarrow, thatched dovecote and straw bee skeps take visitors to the middle ages when monks held an encyclopedic knowledge of herb lore and plants for curing ills, flavouring food and dying cloth. The planting includes angelica for indigestion (angelica is one of the popular plants of the show - perhaps because it seeds so easily) and elder to combats colds.
You have probably got the planting drift by now - back to basics is very much the essence of this year's show and the Garden of England is therefore back in vogue - the message is clear - we can longer take nature for granted we must put back into the earth what we take out.
In the Great Pavilion, Kent champion plantsman Roger Platts makes his return to the show for the first time since winning best garden at Chelsea in 2002. His 'Plantsman's Palette' is a delicious display of traditional country garden planting. There are no gimmicks, no shining steel sculptures - the plants do the talking in a soft, natural way with old-fashioned roses, delphiniums, tradescantia, nepeta and geraniums flowing effortlessly to what must be a place in the medals.
Simon Charlesworth, of Downderry Lavender, Hadlow, near Tonbridge must also be hopeful of being in the medals, having gained four golds in the last four years with his specialist scented plants that do so well in warm, dry positions and can survive in pretty poor soil, too.
Scotney Castle, the National Trust's romantic castle and gardens in Lamberhurst, near Tunbridge Wells, is the focus of Centrepoint's garden in the Continuous Learning area - with the theme (you've guessed it) Climate Change.
So how do Scotney and the Centrepoint charity come together? One stands for beauty, history and romance, the other a last-chance hotel accommodating those who may have lost their way.
Centrepoint is marking its 40th anniversary at Chelsea with a garden that has been inspired by the young people who are supported by the charity and have been part of its horticultural training scheme.
Each year groups of Centrepoint young people attend a course at Capel Manor College, in London, but as part of their course they work in the grounds of Scotney Castle as volunteers. During the last two years their focus has been on the renovation of Scotney's Victorian vegetable garden.
Many of the young people staying at Centrepoint have been learning new skills via the National Trust.
Designer David Arkly has been working with the young volunteers to create this little bit of Scotney. He spent many years as a fibre optic designer but knew that was 'just to make my way'.
The South African threw it all in and took a garden design course at Capel Manor. Next thing, he was working with the Centrepoint young people.
"There are so many skills needed to bring together this show garden," said David.
"We needed to cut down trees to make the raised beds. The sweet chestnuts are from sustainable plantations at Scotney but we had to consider the size we needed for the height of the raised bed before we got the chainsaws out.
"It was no good saying that's too big or small, the tree is cut, you can't put it back."
The variety of skills gave the Centrepoint youngsters a chance to shine in various areas. Some were happy to do the planting, others found that the electrical wiring or carpentry was their forte.
"We also considered the carbon footprint," added David. "We did not want gravel from the coast - a long journey and then it was full of salt to kill off the plants.
"We sourced it from local gravel pits. All that sort of thing has been thought through with the young people. Nothing has been easy."
And that sums it up - the underdog is fighting back.
The mini Scotney vegetable garden says everything about this year's Kent show, sorry, I mean Chelsea: let's stop the waste and get back to earth and garden for England - yes, the Garden of England.
The county is spectacularly represented across the whole exhibition, through plantsmen, landscaping, design and inspiration.
After years of focus on the exotic and an overkill on extravagance, Chelsea has gone back to its roots this year.
Marshalls, the show's sponsor, with its head office in Sittingbourne, is paving the way forward with environmentally friendly hard landscaping.
Its Living Street show garden, designed by Ian Dexter in his second year Chelsea (he was last year's Silver medal winner with the Garden that Every Kid Wants), uses permeable paving - it not only allows rainwater to drain directly into the subsoil, it is formulated to improve air quality by counteracting the effect of air pollution through a chemical reaction on the surface.
Ian's show garden continues the eco-theme with four gardens to the front of four contemporary homes - each one a reflection of the residents' differing needs and aspirations.
The young family at No 1 are short of space so they grow their plants horizontally on the ground and the roof, and vertically - the wall planting survives through a hidden water system. "There is an irrigation system that zig-zags across the wall," said Ian, clearly pleased with the result. (See pic).
Another Kent hard landscaping company, Willerby, based near Four Elms, Edenbridge, is the backbone of Laurie Chetwood and Patrick Collins' sensational perfume garden. This huge show garden embraces sustainable design through rainwater harvesting, a wind turbine and the conversion of daylight to electricity.
It is a fusion of ultra, ultra modern architecture against a reflection of planting from the 1600s when Elizabeth I ordered perfume to be created for her. The sweet-smelling lavenders, roses, herbs and ferns (yes, ferns, the rhizones yield an oil that infuses masculine scents) weave paths to the 10m high perfumery where white spires burst from its heart, held by petal -like canopies.
This is the work of a plantsman and an architect who think differently but pool their talents to fuse low tech with hi tech. "The perfumery lights up at night," said Laurie. "It will be purple and pink to echo the planting." That's not the only colour you will see - the whiff of gold, not just perfume, surrounds 'the' exhibit of the Chelsea (Kent) 2009.
Willerby is also the contractor for Robert Myer's Cancer Research UK garden. The elegant ornamental garden has a large reflecting pool has a practical side - the ripples across the figure of eight pool have a secondary purpose as urban drainage.
Wander from the main exhibits to the Courtyard Gardens and Kent's presence continues to dominate.
Demelza, a garden designed for the children's hospice in Bobbing, Sittingbourne, introduces gentle musical sounds to a garden. A water harp, a Japanese sui-kin-kutsu (an underground water chamber), introduces mysterious echoing sounds while aluminium chimes in the flower beds give children the chance to make their own music.
Merriments Garden, in neighbouring East Sussex, has created a swathe of colour around the seating area of the garden, including the new red iris 'County Town Red' and dazzling orange geum Prinses Juliana. This beautiful garden will be recreated at Demelza House at the end of the show.
In the same Courtyard area, The Pilgrim's Rest, designed by Chris O'Donoghue, from Cranbrook, is a small but perfectly formed photographer's delight. Against the backdrop of a 'ruined monastic building' a wheelbarrow, thatched dovecote and straw bee skeps take visitors to the middle ages when monks held an encyclopedic knowledge of herb lore and plants for curing ills, flavouring food and dying cloth. The planting includes angelica for indigestion (angelica is one of the popular plants of the show - perhaps because it seeds so easily) and elder to combats colds.
You have probably got the planting drift by now - back to basics is very much the essence of this year's show and the Garden of England is therefore back in vogue - the message is clear - we can longer take nature for granted we must put back into the earth what we take out.
In the Great Pavilion, Kent champion plantsman Roger Platts makes his return to the show for the first time since winning best garden at Chelsea in 2002. His 'Plantsman's Palette' is a delicious display of traditional country garden planting. There are no gimmicks, no shining steel sculptures - the plants do the talking in a soft, natural way with old-fashioned roses, delphiniums, tradescantia, nepeta and geraniums flowing effortlessly to what must be a place in the medals.
Simon Charlesworth, of Downderry Lavender, Hadlow, near Tonbridge must also be hopeful of being in the medals, having gained four golds in the last four years with his specialist scented plants that do so well in warm, dry positions and can survive in pretty poor soil, too.
Scotney Castle, the National Trust's romantic castle and gardens in Lamberhurst, near Tunbridge Wells, is the focus of Centrepoint's garden in the Continuous Learning area - with the theme (you've guessed it) Climate Change.
So how do Scotney and the Centrepoint charity come together? One stands for beauty, history and romance, the other a last-chance hotel accommodating those who may have lost their way.
Centrepoint is marking its 40th anniversary at Chelsea with a garden that has been inspired by the young people who are supported by the charity and have been part of its horticultural training scheme.
Each year groups of Centrepoint young people attend a course at Capel Manor College, in London, but as part of their course they work in the grounds of Scotney Castle as volunteers. During the last two years their focus has been on the renovation of Scotney's Victorian vegetable garden.
Many of the young people staying at Centrepoint have been learning new skills via the National Trust.
Designer David Arkly has been working with the young volunteers to create this little bit of Scotney. He spent many years as a fibre optic designer but knew that was 'just to make my way'.
The South African threw it all in and took a garden design course at Capel Manor. Next thing, he was working with the Centrepoint young people.
"There are so many skills needed to bring together this show garden," said David.
"We needed to cut down trees to make the raised beds. The sweet chestnuts are from sustainable plantations at Scotney but we had to consider the size we needed for the height of the raised bed before we got the chainsaws out.
"It was no good saying that's too big or small, the tree is cut, you can't put it back."
The variety of skills gave the Centrepoint youngsters a chance to shine in various areas. Some were happy to do the planting, others found that the electrical wiring or carpentry was their forte.
"We also considered the carbon footprint," added David. "We did not want gravel from the coast - a long journey and then it was full of salt to kill off the plants.
"We sourced it from local gravel pits. All that sort of thing has been thought through with the young people. Nothing has been easy."
And that sums it up - the underdog is fighting back.
The mini Scotney vegetable garden says everything about this year's Kent show, sorry, I mean Chelsea: let's stop the waste and get back to earth and garden for England - yes, the Garden of England.
2009年5月17日星期日
Ways of nature and the stars in organic farming
Early in the 1900’s, the American colonial government set up their station here to escape the heat of Manila. The Chinese settlers then knew Americans love green salads and started cultivating vegetable gardens using secret organic methods. An industry was born.
Peasants of old also farmed seeking guidance through spiritual beliefs, the seasons and the phases of the moon.
In the early 1960’s, the era of chemical farming arrived and became the norm of conventional farming and wiped out the old wisdom of farming.
Decades later, the industry was in shambles as the soil became infertile and pests went out of control because of the excessive use of chemical inputs. The apparent demise of the vegetable industry loom over the region and farmers and the local government scrambled to find a niche in an ever changing and highly competitive market.
From the problems of conventional farming evolved practices reclaiming nature’s way and ‘farming by the stars’, or sustainable agriculture.
Pat Acosta, who owns and manages The Master’s Garden, popularized organic farming, introducing Effective Microganisms-1 (EM-1) as a composting agent and soil conditioner.
Acosta says that EM-1, an all-natural certified organic product, evolved in Japan and has been in use all over the world for 50 years now. In the early 1980’s, a horticulture professor at the University of Ryuku, Dr. Teruo Higa, popularized an EM-1 formula that includes lactic acid bacteria, phototropic purple nonsulfur bacteria and yeast for agriculture use.
EM-1 hastens composting of garden debris, a strategy Acosta successfully employed in his garden that soon turned into a model farm. It is said that continuous use of EM-1 can convert soil to a sustainable or zymogenic soil.
Farmers with a quest for higher principles in farming and a need to improve their incomes were inspired with the success of Acosta’s farm and went to him for training.
In 2005, then mayor of La Trinidad, Nestor Fongwan (now Benguet governor), consulted Acosta on organic farming to help propagate a brand of healthy vegetables and save the ailing agriculture industry in La Trinidad, also known as the Salad Bowl of the Philippines.
The meeting gave rise to the La Trinidad Organic Producers cooperative (LATOP), with an initial 26 members. LATOP has 72 members, mostly trained by Acosta who has trained some 500 farmers to this day.
Acosta mixes a tablespoon of EM-1 and a tablespoon of molasses with one liter of water. The mixture is cultured for seven days. Twenty-five milliliters of the culture is then mixed to a liter of water and sprayed for composting plant cuttings. Acosta says that the mix remains active longer if distilled water is used. In as little as two weeks or so, the compost is ready for use.
Acosta raises a caveat on indigenous microorganisms because one can’t really tell what is in the mix. “It’s important to know what exactly is going to your soil,” he said. Acosta said one could simply gather soil from rock crevices or virgin forests and treat it with the same formula for EM-1. “But then again, who can tell just what is in that soil.” He cautions for instance that trichoderma, now promoted as an agriculture microorganism, is a carbon-hungry organism that can eat a wooden house.
Acosta, a gentleman farmer, is the first and only certified practitioner in the Cordillera region by the internationally-recognized Organic Certification Center of the Philippines.
Felix Tan was a Quantum Medicine practitioner before he turned to organic gardening. Tan calls himself a “successful disciple” of Acosta, who helped him set up his farm, the Garden of Life, where he grows wheat grass among other salad vegetables.
The juice of wheat grass is called a super-food that contains an acid that is poison to cancer cells. Tan grows his wheat grass for 30 days when the grass reaches its “jointing stage, just before flowering, and when nutrients are at peak.”
Acosta and Tan are just two of LATOP’s farmers who are regularly attending to customers (doctors, housewives and health buffs) during market days to explain the nutritive value of their products. A LATOP seal is a stamp of high standards in organic farming.
Bio-Dynamic (BD) farming was launched in 1924 by European philosopher Rudolf Steiner, founder of the science of the spirit, Anthroposophy. BD is based on the principle that ethereal invisible life forms and cosmic rhythms influence the life of plants.
Greg Kitma, a known BD practitioner in the region in the last 13 years, trained under Nicanor Perlas, a 1994 UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) awardee in sustainable agriculture.
Special preparations are a key to BD farming, and trained farmers were dismayed at the start because the materials were imported from the US at P20,000 a kilo each.
Perlas names the BD preparations in a training manual to include BD 500, 501 and six herbs that help make excellent compost namely, yarrow flowers, to regulate potash; chamomile flowers for calcium; stinging nettle to regulate calcium, potassium and iron; oak tree bark for plants to grow more seeds and dandelion flowers to help regulate “life forces of the cosmos.” Perlas also names BD 508 made of horsetail, a plant abundant in Benguet, to fight diseases.
Kitma trained in Australia upon the invitation of Alex Podolinsky who developed BD in Australia. Through this experience Kitma acquired the knowledge to make the preparations himself.
BD 500 is cow manure. Kitma gathers this fresh from a female cow and puts it in cow horn as the winter equinox begins (September 20 in the Southern Hemisphere) and buries it for six months. Steiner explained in his lecture that the earth is most inwardly alive in winter. All that is living is stored in this manure, thus we get a highly concentrated life force. This activates the life-giving forces in soil.
Kitma has effectively combined BD 500 and the six-herb preparations into one, and supplies the formula to serious BD farmers for P75 per hectare. He charges the same for BD 501. “The cost is just to sustain production, Kitma explained, adding that the preparations cannot be commercialized as this may give way to fraud in the form of deceptive preparations. BD 501 is made of quartz crystals and increases the ability of the leaves to absorb light and gives more taste, aroma and color to plants.
Bio-dynamic requires humus, which is like jelly that holds the nutrients in it and does not leach out the soil.
The bio-dynamic farmer looks at a plant in relation to the four elements—earth, water, sun and air. Podolinsky describes plants as children of the sun as its warmth signals to the plant when to feed and when to rest. Transpiration of a plant in leaf is what breathing is to humans, and must take in water all the time. Feed and water intake are two different processes, where dark bigger roots are like water pipes and finer white roots are feeder roots that heed the sun when to take nitrogen from humus.
When the plant feeds—inspired by the sun—it takes only the right amount of nutrients from the soil and nitrogen is transformed into high-quality protein. But if artificial nitrogen such as urea is applied, which may be much more than the original nitrogen soil moisture, the plant is forced to take the nitrogen through water feeding roots, thus flushing it with nitrates. According to Podolinsky, the nitrate that is not absorbed turns into nitrite, and as such is a deadly poison.
Podolinsky describes it as a plant asking, “If I release the water, will the salt kill me?” and thus does not transpire water and results in huge crops. Nitrate poisoning has been documented to cause “blue babies” among other disorders.
The sowing calendar classifies root, leaf, flower and fruit plants, in relation to when the moon and planets have their strongest influence on plants. “Node days,” the point when the path of the moon and that of the sun cross, which happen twice a month, are marked as days when one must not sow seeds.
Steiner marveled at the miracle of the plant, the mediator between cosmic light and the darkness of the earth. As a result of BD practices, healthy plants full of the vitality of life forces are produced.
Kitma continues to give training on BD. This month, he is opening up Bokod for BD training of 40 farmers. There are now 200 hectares in the country devoted to BD.
Initiatives such as LATOP and BD in the region become significant in the light of studies that show the ill-effects of pesticides on organic health. In 2007, Green Peace International detected nitrates in artesian wells of Buguias and Atok where there are intensive farming activities.
Benguet is feeding a large population with its vegetables. Records of the Provincial Agriculturist Office show that Benguet produces an average of 756,656 metric tons of crops yearly and Metro Manila consumes 80 percent of the produce.
Peasants of old also farmed seeking guidance through spiritual beliefs, the seasons and the phases of the moon.
In the early 1960’s, the era of chemical farming arrived and became the norm of conventional farming and wiped out the old wisdom of farming.
Decades later, the industry was in shambles as the soil became infertile and pests went out of control because of the excessive use of chemical inputs. The apparent demise of the vegetable industry loom over the region and farmers and the local government scrambled to find a niche in an ever changing and highly competitive market.
From the problems of conventional farming evolved practices reclaiming nature’s way and ‘farming by the stars’, or sustainable agriculture.
Pat Acosta, who owns and manages The Master’s Garden, popularized organic farming, introducing Effective Microganisms-1 (EM-1) as a composting agent and soil conditioner.
Acosta says that EM-1, an all-natural certified organic product, evolved in Japan and has been in use all over the world for 50 years now. In the early 1980’s, a horticulture professor at the University of Ryuku, Dr. Teruo Higa, popularized an EM-1 formula that includes lactic acid bacteria, phototropic purple nonsulfur bacteria and yeast for agriculture use.
EM-1 hastens composting of garden debris, a strategy Acosta successfully employed in his garden that soon turned into a model farm. It is said that continuous use of EM-1 can convert soil to a sustainable or zymogenic soil.
Farmers with a quest for higher principles in farming and a need to improve their incomes were inspired with the success of Acosta’s farm and went to him for training.
In 2005, then mayor of La Trinidad, Nestor Fongwan (now Benguet governor), consulted Acosta on organic farming to help propagate a brand of healthy vegetables and save the ailing agriculture industry in La Trinidad, also known as the Salad Bowl of the Philippines.
The meeting gave rise to the La Trinidad Organic Producers cooperative (LATOP), with an initial 26 members. LATOP has 72 members, mostly trained by Acosta who has trained some 500 farmers to this day.
Acosta mixes a tablespoon of EM-1 and a tablespoon of molasses with one liter of water. The mixture is cultured for seven days. Twenty-five milliliters of the culture is then mixed to a liter of water and sprayed for composting plant cuttings. Acosta says that the mix remains active longer if distilled water is used. In as little as two weeks or so, the compost is ready for use.
Acosta raises a caveat on indigenous microorganisms because one can’t really tell what is in the mix. “It’s important to know what exactly is going to your soil,” he said. Acosta said one could simply gather soil from rock crevices or virgin forests and treat it with the same formula for EM-1. “But then again, who can tell just what is in that soil.” He cautions for instance that trichoderma, now promoted as an agriculture microorganism, is a carbon-hungry organism that can eat a wooden house.
Acosta, a gentleman farmer, is the first and only certified practitioner in the Cordillera region by the internationally-recognized Organic Certification Center of the Philippines.
Felix Tan was a Quantum Medicine practitioner before he turned to organic gardening. Tan calls himself a “successful disciple” of Acosta, who helped him set up his farm, the Garden of Life, where he grows wheat grass among other salad vegetables.
The juice of wheat grass is called a super-food that contains an acid that is poison to cancer cells. Tan grows his wheat grass for 30 days when the grass reaches its “jointing stage, just before flowering, and when nutrients are at peak.”
Acosta and Tan are just two of LATOP’s farmers who are regularly attending to customers (doctors, housewives and health buffs) during market days to explain the nutritive value of their products. A LATOP seal is a stamp of high standards in organic farming.
Bio-Dynamic (BD) farming was launched in 1924 by European philosopher Rudolf Steiner, founder of the science of the spirit, Anthroposophy. BD is based on the principle that ethereal invisible life forms and cosmic rhythms influence the life of plants.
Greg Kitma, a known BD practitioner in the region in the last 13 years, trained under Nicanor Perlas, a 1994 UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) awardee in sustainable agriculture.
Special preparations are a key to BD farming, and trained farmers were dismayed at the start because the materials were imported from the US at P20,000 a kilo each.
Perlas names the BD preparations in a training manual to include BD 500, 501 and six herbs that help make excellent compost namely, yarrow flowers, to regulate potash; chamomile flowers for calcium; stinging nettle to regulate calcium, potassium and iron; oak tree bark for plants to grow more seeds and dandelion flowers to help regulate “life forces of the cosmos.” Perlas also names BD 508 made of horsetail, a plant abundant in Benguet, to fight diseases.
Kitma trained in Australia upon the invitation of Alex Podolinsky who developed BD in Australia. Through this experience Kitma acquired the knowledge to make the preparations himself.
BD 500 is cow manure. Kitma gathers this fresh from a female cow and puts it in cow horn as the winter equinox begins (September 20 in the Southern Hemisphere) and buries it for six months. Steiner explained in his lecture that the earth is most inwardly alive in winter. All that is living is stored in this manure, thus we get a highly concentrated life force. This activates the life-giving forces in soil.
Kitma has effectively combined BD 500 and the six-herb preparations into one, and supplies the formula to serious BD farmers for P75 per hectare. He charges the same for BD 501. “The cost is just to sustain production, Kitma explained, adding that the preparations cannot be commercialized as this may give way to fraud in the form of deceptive preparations. BD 501 is made of quartz crystals and increases the ability of the leaves to absorb light and gives more taste, aroma and color to plants.
Bio-dynamic requires humus, which is like jelly that holds the nutrients in it and does not leach out the soil.
The bio-dynamic farmer looks at a plant in relation to the four elements—earth, water, sun and air. Podolinsky describes plants as children of the sun as its warmth signals to the plant when to feed and when to rest. Transpiration of a plant in leaf is what breathing is to humans, and must take in water all the time. Feed and water intake are two different processes, where dark bigger roots are like water pipes and finer white roots are feeder roots that heed the sun when to take nitrogen from humus.
When the plant feeds—inspired by the sun—it takes only the right amount of nutrients from the soil and nitrogen is transformed into high-quality protein. But if artificial nitrogen such as urea is applied, which may be much more than the original nitrogen soil moisture, the plant is forced to take the nitrogen through water feeding roots, thus flushing it with nitrates. According to Podolinsky, the nitrate that is not absorbed turns into nitrite, and as such is a deadly poison.
Podolinsky describes it as a plant asking, “If I release the water, will the salt kill me?” and thus does not transpire water and results in huge crops. Nitrate poisoning has been documented to cause “blue babies” among other disorders.
The sowing calendar classifies root, leaf, flower and fruit plants, in relation to when the moon and planets have their strongest influence on plants. “Node days,” the point when the path of the moon and that of the sun cross, which happen twice a month, are marked as days when one must not sow seeds.
Steiner marveled at the miracle of the plant, the mediator between cosmic light and the darkness of the earth. As a result of BD practices, healthy plants full of the vitality of life forces are produced.
Kitma continues to give training on BD. This month, he is opening up Bokod for BD training of 40 farmers. There are now 200 hectares in the country devoted to BD.
Initiatives such as LATOP and BD in the region become significant in the light of studies that show the ill-effects of pesticides on organic health. In 2007, Green Peace International detected nitrates in artesian wells of Buguias and Atok where there are intensive farming activities.
Benguet is feeding a large population with its vegetables. Records of the Provincial Agriculturist Office show that Benguet produces an average of 756,656 metric tons of crops yearly and Metro Manila consumes 80 percent of the produce.
2009年5月16日星期六
Small farm revival
The din of a neighborhood gathering made it hard to hear Barbara Finnin as she strolled through a dense garden thriving on a once vacant lot in West Oakland.
On all four corners near the fenced-in garden, a dozen adults, young and old, shouted greetings and comments. Some sat in white plastic chairs, others leaned against walls, and several swigged from bottles covered with brown paper bags. Two or three children played on the streets, which featured a couple of tidy homes, a few boarded-up ones, and others in between.
Ignoring the ruckus, Finnin, executive director of City Slicker Farms, pointed to the plum, mulberry, fig, cherry and apple trees, the climbing vines, and planting beds growing thick with produce such as lettuce, carrots, garlic and strawberries. On one side of the garden, honey bees unhurriedly entered and exited two white boxes, and building material lay on the floor of a partially-built henhouse in the corner.
Then lifelong West Oakland resident Charles Brown, 31, walked toward Finnin, smiling broadly with his hand outstretched.
"You all are doing a pretty good job," he tells Finnin, shaking her hand. "It's great here. This is what we want to see. Gardens and fruit and everything we need."
There's no grocery store in West Oakland, a low-income neighborhood of 23,000. A nearby corner market gamely sells some produce — cabbage, onions, potatoes, oranges and apples — but the latter were bruised and old.
In contrast, when the garden's chained gate opens at 10 a.m. on Saturdays, residents can buy inexpensive freshly-picked organic produce, newly-gathered eggs and Oakland-made honey at a farm stand run by City Slicker's, a nonprofit dedicated to developing urban agriculture in West Oakland.
"People come super early for our honey and eggs," said Finnin.
Brown said his mother buys collard greens from the stand "to make the old recipes."
In counties around the Bay Area, there's a similar burst of agriculture in formerly empty fields, vacant lots and backyards.
Older farms, survivors of a long-gone pastoral era, are also facing a fresh future as new markets and policies support their operations. And a new generation of farmers dedicated to environmentally-friendly practices and equitable distribution of fresh foods are starting new endeavors with colorful names.
From 2002 to 2007, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported a surge in the growth of small farms in the Bay Area, with a 24 percent increase in Alameda County, 7 percent in Contra Costa County, 8 percent in San Mateo County, 4 percent in Santa Clara County, and 13 percent in Napa County. (The agency didn't survey San Francisco.)
It's a trend occurring nationwide, as the number of U.S. farms grew 4 percent during that time.
"We've seen growth in what we call 'the new farmer,'" said Gail Raabe, agricultural commissioner for San Mateo County. She cited operations such as Pie Ranch and Blue House Farm along the county's coast, which sell organic produce, eggs, and other products, while providing apprenticeships for young adults aspiring to learn about sustainable agriculture and what's called food justice — ensuring widespread access to healthful foods, regardless of income level.
Richmond has the 5% Local Coalition, launched in 2007 to help residents, especially those in neighborhoods devoid of grocery stores, grow their own food. Several gardens tended by students and adult volunteers provide berries, lettuce, tomatoes and many other foods.
"It's the most apparent solution," said Park Guthrie, a former schoolteacher and founder of the 5% Local Coalition, which operates under the umbrella of nonprofit Urban Tilth. "We have hundreds of acres of open space in West Contra Costa County, and we have kids who don't want to spend all day inside. Gardens actually address lots and lots of problems at once."
Enthusiasm for urban farming has waxed and waned over the decades, said Hilary Melcarek, a graduate student at UC Santa Cruz with an expertise in urban agriculture.
Economic necessity fueled the growth of gardens during the Great Depression. And Melcarek said the "victory gardens" planted by millions during World War II supplied 40 percent of the nation's produce. But that gardening devotion faded in the prosperous 1950s. In the 1970s, Melcarek said a back-to-the-land movement launched a renewal of urban agriculture, but when the USDA dismantled its 17-year-old Urban Gardening Program in 1993, it reflected the waning interest in farming in and around cities.
But this time, organizations backing the rebirth of urban agriculture speak of a movement that's here to stay, in part to ensure the food security not just of low-income neighborhoods, but the entire region.
"You never want to give up the ability to feed yourself, you don't want to be relying on imported food alone," said Raabe, the San Mateo County agricultural commissioner.
And ensuring a local food supply means helping small operators survive, Raabe said. "It takes two things to farm, land and a farmer, and you have to protect both."
In 2006, the San Mateo County Food System Alliance was launched to develop new markets for the county's farming and fishing industries. Alliance members realized the county had an economically precarious food-producing industry, while certain areas were coping with high rates of diabetes, obesity and other health problems linked in part to poor nutrition. So the alliance is developing numerous programs to increase sales of locally-raised and -caught foods into these communities, as well as to institutions such as hospitals and jails.
"What you look at when you step back is the proverbial win-win," said Raabe.
A similar program is running in Contra Costa County with the "Buy Fresh, Buy Local" campaign, which distributes produce from the county's agricultural-rich East side to the produce-poor West side.
Established farmers, such as 77-year-old Joseph Perry in Fremont, stay in business by adapting to changing markets and tastes. Years ago, he certified his 91-acre farm as organic, and now he grows lettuce, broccoli, peas, strawberries and other produce. He and his sons sell to Berkeley Bowl grocery store, organic produce distributor Veritable Vegetable, at three farmers markets, and at their own stand next to their farmland on Ardenwood Historic Farm, a site managed by the East Bay Regional Park District.
It's a different world from the time he mostly grew tomatoes in Fremont, sold on contract to long-gone canneries.
"You have to change," said Perry. "You can't lock your mind on one thing."
Adaptive policies are also critical to help farmers stay in business, or expand, said Kathryn Lyddan, executive director of the Brentwood Agricultural Land Trust. Even with 12,000 acres of farmland in Contra Costa County east of Mt. Diablo, Lyddan said many farms struggle to compete against larger operations. So the 2007 County General Plan was amended to allow roadside stands, which were limited to 200 square feet, to expand up to 3,500 square feet. And to increase sales, farmers now can sell jams and jellies made from their produce.
"We're 50 miles from the epicenter of the local food movement," Lyddan said. "There's just an extraordinary opportunity. But there are certain things we need to do to foster the development of small farms."
In addition to the six urban plots that City Slicker Farms planted in West Oakland, which yielded 8,000 pounds of produce in 2007, the group intends to keep its backyard gardening program going strong. Since 2005, the nonprofit has established nearly 90 backyard gardens at little or no cost to the home dweller, and expects to add at least one weekly. Backyard gardens aren't counted in the USDA's farm survey, but City Slicker Farms and other organizations consider their growth as critical to increasing the availability of fresh produce in low-income areas.
Edith, who asked that her last name not be used, lives in Emeryville, across the border from West Oakland. The 64-year-old retired nurse from San Francisco moved to the area seven years ago to escape high rents, and last year, she set up a garden at her cottage with the help of City Slicker Farms.
"I just love it," Edith said. "I eat out of my garden every single day, and it's a good feeling."
Wearing black gardener's clogs, tan pants and a black shirt, Edith walked around her the small garden the City Slicker workers set up. In planter boxes filled with rich soil and fitted with trellises for climbing vines, she pointed out the numerous plants growing — including several kinds of lettuce, celery, broccoli, tomatoes, cauliflower, chard, zucchini, peppers, parsley, mint and apples. She'll soon have a drip irrigation system set up at no charge.
Her 8-year-old neighbor, Brianna, also frequents the garden.
"I like it here because I just wanted to try some new foods," said Brianna. "The peas are good, the strawberries are good." She snapped a pea pod from a vine, and Edith showed Brianna an emerging artichoke and young arugula leaves.
Guthrie, with the 5% Local Coalition, said students relish the produce they grow. "I can't stop the kids from eating the collard greens straight from the garden," he said.
Gardens also have a calming effect on neighborhoods. Studies in housing projects found that areas with trees had less violence than those areas devoid of vegetation. And Edith thinks the gardening she embarked on when she moved to the cottage, starting with her flower garden out front, earned her respect from the drug dealers she said used to hang out in front of her house, but moved on when she asked them to.
"They appreciate it," she said of the geraniums, poppies, hanging flower baskets and tall grasses in the front yard. "It takes someone to come along and say it doesn't have to look so rough. Let's pick it up, keep it clean."
The self-sufficiency that comes from growing your own food also instills a sense of pride, said Finnin, with City Slicker Farms. One-quarter of West Oakland residents use some form of food assistance, and 69 emergency food sites in the neighborhood feed 2,300 people a month.
"We have all this yard space in West Oakland," she said. "So let's use it as opposed to relying on charity models, soup kitchens. It's life affirming."
At the California Food and Justice Coalition in Berkeley, director Shereen D'Souza applauded the work of City Slicker Farms, and the resurgence of farming in and on the edge of urban areas. But she predicted the programs will have marginal long-term effects without significant government support.
Her group has been lobbying to amend the USDA's Farm Bill to support more urban agricultural initiatives. Since 1996, the USDA's primary program for funding a range of community programs for improving food security has provided $41 million for nearly 300 projects. In comparison, the agency has an annual budget this year of $97 billion.
"Can you imagine if they had the kind of funding that made it possible to create 500 backyard gardens?" D'Souza asked. "City Slicker has excellent solutions, but they need major, major funding."
On all four corners near the fenced-in garden, a dozen adults, young and old, shouted greetings and comments. Some sat in white plastic chairs, others leaned against walls, and several swigged from bottles covered with brown paper bags. Two or three children played on the streets, which featured a couple of tidy homes, a few boarded-up ones, and others in between.
Ignoring the ruckus, Finnin, executive director of City Slicker Farms, pointed to the plum, mulberry, fig, cherry and apple trees, the climbing vines, and planting beds growing thick with produce such as lettuce, carrots, garlic and strawberries. On one side of the garden, honey bees unhurriedly entered and exited two white boxes, and building material lay on the floor of a partially-built henhouse in the corner.
Then lifelong West Oakland resident Charles Brown, 31, walked toward Finnin, smiling broadly with his hand outstretched.
"You all are doing a pretty good job," he tells Finnin, shaking her hand. "It's great here. This is what we want to see. Gardens and fruit and everything we need."
There's no grocery store in West Oakland, a low-income neighborhood of 23,000. A nearby corner market gamely sells some produce — cabbage, onions, potatoes, oranges and apples — but the latter were bruised and old.
In contrast, when the garden's chained gate opens at 10 a.m. on Saturdays, residents can buy inexpensive freshly-picked organic produce, newly-gathered eggs and Oakland-made honey at a farm stand run by City Slicker's, a nonprofit dedicated to developing urban agriculture in West Oakland.
"People come super early for our honey and eggs," said Finnin.
Brown said his mother buys collard greens from the stand "to make the old recipes."
In counties around the Bay Area, there's a similar burst of agriculture in formerly empty fields, vacant lots and backyards.
Older farms, survivors of a long-gone pastoral era, are also facing a fresh future as new markets and policies support their operations. And a new generation of farmers dedicated to environmentally-friendly practices and equitable distribution of fresh foods are starting new endeavors with colorful names.
From 2002 to 2007, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported a surge in the growth of small farms in the Bay Area, with a 24 percent increase in Alameda County, 7 percent in Contra Costa County, 8 percent in San Mateo County, 4 percent in Santa Clara County, and 13 percent in Napa County. (The agency didn't survey San Francisco.)
It's a trend occurring nationwide, as the number of U.S. farms grew 4 percent during that time.
"We've seen growth in what we call 'the new farmer,'" said Gail Raabe, agricultural commissioner for San Mateo County. She cited operations such as Pie Ranch and Blue House Farm along the county's coast, which sell organic produce, eggs, and other products, while providing apprenticeships for young adults aspiring to learn about sustainable agriculture and what's called food justice — ensuring widespread access to healthful foods, regardless of income level.
Richmond has the 5% Local Coalition, launched in 2007 to help residents, especially those in neighborhoods devoid of grocery stores, grow their own food. Several gardens tended by students and adult volunteers provide berries, lettuce, tomatoes and many other foods.
"It's the most apparent solution," said Park Guthrie, a former schoolteacher and founder of the 5% Local Coalition, which operates under the umbrella of nonprofit Urban Tilth. "We have hundreds of acres of open space in West Contra Costa County, and we have kids who don't want to spend all day inside. Gardens actually address lots and lots of problems at once."
Enthusiasm for urban farming has waxed and waned over the decades, said Hilary Melcarek, a graduate student at UC Santa Cruz with an expertise in urban agriculture.
Economic necessity fueled the growth of gardens during the Great Depression. And Melcarek said the "victory gardens" planted by millions during World War II supplied 40 percent of the nation's produce. But that gardening devotion faded in the prosperous 1950s. In the 1970s, Melcarek said a back-to-the-land movement launched a renewal of urban agriculture, but when the USDA dismantled its 17-year-old Urban Gardening Program in 1993, it reflected the waning interest in farming in and around cities.
But this time, organizations backing the rebirth of urban agriculture speak of a movement that's here to stay, in part to ensure the food security not just of low-income neighborhoods, but the entire region.
"You never want to give up the ability to feed yourself, you don't want to be relying on imported food alone," said Raabe, the San Mateo County agricultural commissioner.
And ensuring a local food supply means helping small operators survive, Raabe said. "It takes two things to farm, land and a farmer, and you have to protect both."
In 2006, the San Mateo County Food System Alliance was launched to develop new markets for the county's farming and fishing industries. Alliance members realized the county had an economically precarious food-producing industry, while certain areas were coping with high rates of diabetes, obesity and other health problems linked in part to poor nutrition. So the alliance is developing numerous programs to increase sales of locally-raised and -caught foods into these communities, as well as to institutions such as hospitals and jails.
"What you look at when you step back is the proverbial win-win," said Raabe.
A similar program is running in Contra Costa County with the "Buy Fresh, Buy Local" campaign, which distributes produce from the county's agricultural-rich East side to the produce-poor West side.
Established farmers, such as 77-year-old Joseph Perry in Fremont, stay in business by adapting to changing markets and tastes. Years ago, he certified his 91-acre farm as organic, and now he grows lettuce, broccoli, peas, strawberries and other produce. He and his sons sell to Berkeley Bowl grocery store, organic produce distributor Veritable Vegetable, at three farmers markets, and at their own stand next to their farmland on Ardenwood Historic Farm, a site managed by the East Bay Regional Park District.
It's a different world from the time he mostly grew tomatoes in Fremont, sold on contract to long-gone canneries.
"You have to change," said Perry. "You can't lock your mind on one thing."
Adaptive policies are also critical to help farmers stay in business, or expand, said Kathryn Lyddan, executive director of the Brentwood Agricultural Land Trust. Even with 12,000 acres of farmland in Contra Costa County east of Mt. Diablo, Lyddan said many farms struggle to compete against larger operations. So the 2007 County General Plan was amended to allow roadside stands, which were limited to 200 square feet, to expand up to 3,500 square feet. And to increase sales, farmers now can sell jams and jellies made from their produce.
"We're 50 miles from the epicenter of the local food movement," Lyddan said. "There's just an extraordinary opportunity. But there are certain things we need to do to foster the development of small farms."
In addition to the six urban plots that City Slicker Farms planted in West Oakland, which yielded 8,000 pounds of produce in 2007, the group intends to keep its backyard gardening program going strong. Since 2005, the nonprofit has established nearly 90 backyard gardens at little or no cost to the home dweller, and expects to add at least one weekly. Backyard gardens aren't counted in the USDA's farm survey, but City Slicker Farms and other organizations consider their growth as critical to increasing the availability of fresh produce in low-income areas.
Edith, who asked that her last name not be used, lives in Emeryville, across the border from West Oakland. The 64-year-old retired nurse from San Francisco moved to the area seven years ago to escape high rents, and last year, she set up a garden at her cottage with the help of City Slicker Farms.
"I just love it," Edith said. "I eat out of my garden every single day, and it's a good feeling."
Wearing black gardener's clogs, tan pants and a black shirt, Edith walked around her the small garden the City Slicker workers set up. In planter boxes filled with rich soil and fitted with trellises for climbing vines, she pointed out the numerous plants growing — including several kinds of lettuce, celery, broccoli, tomatoes, cauliflower, chard, zucchini, peppers, parsley, mint and apples. She'll soon have a drip irrigation system set up at no charge.
Her 8-year-old neighbor, Brianna, also frequents the garden.
"I like it here because I just wanted to try some new foods," said Brianna. "The peas are good, the strawberries are good." She snapped a pea pod from a vine, and Edith showed Brianna an emerging artichoke and young arugula leaves.
Guthrie, with the 5% Local Coalition, said students relish the produce they grow. "I can't stop the kids from eating the collard greens straight from the garden," he said.
Gardens also have a calming effect on neighborhoods. Studies in housing projects found that areas with trees had less violence than those areas devoid of vegetation. And Edith thinks the gardening she embarked on when she moved to the cottage, starting with her flower garden out front, earned her respect from the drug dealers she said used to hang out in front of her house, but moved on when she asked them to.
"They appreciate it," she said of the geraniums, poppies, hanging flower baskets and tall grasses in the front yard. "It takes someone to come along and say it doesn't have to look so rough. Let's pick it up, keep it clean."
The self-sufficiency that comes from growing your own food also instills a sense of pride, said Finnin, with City Slicker Farms. One-quarter of West Oakland residents use some form of food assistance, and 69 emergency food sites in the neighborhood feed 2,300 people a month.
"We have all this yard space in West Oakland," she said. "So let's use it as opposed to relying on charity models, soup kitchens. It's life affirming."
At the California Food and Justice Coalition in Berkeley, director Shereen D'Souza applauded the work of City Slicker Farms, and the resurgence of farming in and on the edge of urban areas. But she predicted the programs will have marginal long-term effects without significant government support.
Her group has been lobbying to amend the USDA's Farm Bill to support more urban agricultural initiatives. Since 1996, the USDA's primary program for funding a range of community programs for improving food security has provided $41 million for nearly 300 projects. In comparison, the agency has an annual budget this year of $97 billion.
"Can you imagine if they had the kind of funding that made it possible to create 500 backyard gardens?" D'Souza asked. "City Slicker has excellent solutions, but they need major, major funding."
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