WNFGA News

                                     “Haiti is not a terminal illness”

        Dr. Paul Farmer, quoted at Harvard Medical School Conference, February 12, 2010

          Although Dr. Farmer’s remarks had to do with medical relief in his over-all assessment of the situation in Haiti, he expressed hope for this island and this hope is something which we in the WNF&G can partake. In the long term, the people of Haiti must be helped to advance their agriculture. Their soil is exhausted and needs fertilizer; they need seeds and people to teach them how to successfully plant and harvest crops, rather then depending on gift of grain and produce from other countries. We should look to our own Agriculture agencies for guidance in sending and money for fertilizer and tools. With this kind of aid, a generation from now things in Haiti would be much, much better.

          In the coming months, [and I know you all planning this] we must truly move in the direction of LOCAL. Our health and survival of farmers and agricultural land depend on it. More and more community garden plots, school programs and farmers market will materialize and we must support them and be fully engaged with the process.

          And just a word about root cellars and winter storage. Next month we will touch on this so that if you haven’t planned this kind of future for your cabbages, carrots, beets and potatoes next fall. There will be a few hints. Hint one: Don’t fall down the cellar steps.

          We are looking forward to being with you in June, sharing friendship knowledge, fun and —

          Oh yes, WNF&G, unlike the soil of Haiti, is rich, nurturing and comforting to the inner soul. Lets us plant generously grounds for our children and grandchildren.

                                      FAITH

“And when I went to sleep, I dreamed a dream but the dream was not in my
head: it seemed to come through my open bedroom door and settled on my
comforter for me to watch”
Angalina Luongo

Our Dreams sometimes elude us yet they linger some where in the backs of our busy minds …
Little snippets of memory that tend to color our thinking and actions, even though we aren’t consciously aware of it. You, as leaders in our organization, should take pride in the dreams of Woman’s Farm and Garden, for our dreams have fared well in 2009.

Our bee project has been successful. The Greenhouse Welcome Center is almost complete and in the next few weeks we will be working on our book and on plans for our June Meeting. Kathy Beveridge, our Sparkling editor, not only is helping with the book but working on a new branch in the Amber area.

On a personal note; if any of your have before worked in the postal system and the telephone system, relying on e-mail, I have to report to you that I have received no e-mails since November first.

The Chief Financial officer of our company, Edward Huppi has been in hospital and is only now, on Jan 6th at home under care, due to a very grave complication resulting from his cancer chemotherapy. This has been a most serious time for us; he is our nephew, and at Thanksgiving his step-father died so along with unremitting pressure at our plant for delivery of electronics to our troops in Afghanistan, sometimes over-night, you can imagine that our normal 8-5 lives are expanded and stressful. If you need to communicate with me, please write or telephone.

My dream for us at Farm and Garden in 2010 will be our finished greenhouse project, ready for the big, historic anniversary ahead, our book and a new emphasis on doing things locally. Next time I will be writing about the new trend in the United States, and we will want to be ahead of, or on the curve of this trend as were with the bee project, as we deftly close the door on our 2009 dreams.

Faith

Wishing you all a blessed Christmas and a Happy Healthy New Year.

Best, Faith 

                        “Come little leaves,” said the wind one day,

                        “Come ‘ore the meadow with me and play,

                         “Put on your dresses of red and gold”

                         ”For summer has gone and the days grow cold”

                Do you remember that nursery song? And as we reflect this holiday season, how much we have for which to be grateful, even all those piles of leaves, which can turn good use, for our gardens.

                Kathy Beveridge, our own wonderful magazine editor, has opened a new business called Spark, a nonprofit consulting firm which may be of use to you as you consider ways of fund raising.

                Many of our branches are busy fund raising; Rochester Branch is going all out with their “Greens Market.”  Their outstanding newsletters continue to inform and involve members into taking an active role in all the opportunities this busy club offers. Constant communication among the members helps keep branches alive and giving to their communities.

            Claudia Scioly is on top of “green” speakers, most importantly involving school programs and promises one for our June meeting, while Mayflower Branch is meeting this week to plan along those lines on a local farm, which has offered to become involved in a project.

                Sylvia Anderson is looking for delegates for ACWW. See the magazine for further information. Audrey Ehrler reports that New York and Mayflower have combined for purpose of getting enough member numbers for voting delegates at the Triennial Conference of ACWW. Kay Engelhart is working very hard as the Chairman of International Cooperation Focus to educate our membership.

                More stories have come in for “The Book”.  Please sit down for ½ an hour or so and put down some memory which your children / grandchildren will read sometime in the future. How surprised I was to read in Thomas Hardy [1804-1928] that bees were being transported by horse and cart from place to place even then, for it was in taking hives to market that Tess of the d’Urbervilles experienced the accident with the mail-carrier’s horse which cost the life of her family’s only means of livelihood, the faithful horse Prince.  Luckily for her, the mail carrier was a good and honest man who got the hives to market and saw to it that she got safely home.

            Summer really has gone and the days do grow cold, but our gardens will awaken; plans for next Spring and lovely canned, frozen and root cellar vegetables warm us now.

Faith

    “There were three crows”

It is the time for me to crow…to crow first; about the marvelous work of the Tri-County Branch and their festive, accomplished 80th birthday party in Hartford, NY, home finally of our beloved Mrs. E. Frances King.  Audrey Ehrler and Betty Monahan waited in the warm sunshine at the local firehouse for us to arrive. Within the branch and mounted several articles and clippings from their 80 years of work that included photos of Henry Ford, awarding a Ford tractor to the winner of a horse pulling and plowing contest, and Mrs. King along with Mrs. Ford, helping with a flower show. They are, I believe, the only branch still mounting a flower show, annually. And behold, on a table was a collection of rocks, for our Ambler project. As you remember, each branch is asked to furnish a local rock to go into the rock garden or path, at the Headhouse / Ambler project. Members shared recollections of branch history.

After the meeting, presided over by Janie Thomas, we visited the home of Mrs. King on Route 40. The young couple, a Mr. and Mrs. Waring are struggling to keep it going but her gardens have all but disappeared. Mr. Waring greeted us most hospitably and gave us a rock for the Ambler project from the grounds, and a white rose bush from what remains on a slope. He promised that the bush would thrive and the fragrance divine. I’ll report to you if it survives the New England winter.

Crow number two; I’ve just returned from the “Bee-Fest” at the Ambler Branch a huge crowd had paid $35 each to attend the lecture, displays and lunch along the garden tours at Temple / Ambler, our official home. It was a most successful fun-raiser which had been painstakingly planned by Mrs. Jenny Rose Carey, our Vise-President, Linda Lowe, our liaison and development at Temple Ambler, Grace Chapman, staff there and all in partnership with the Montgomery County bee association. Part of this effort is to re-establish a bee keeping course there. Every Booth had a T-shirts with a bee-keeping themes, and all kinds of honey, tulip and iris bulbs, displays with live bees in conjunction with 4-H. Not only was this great financial, but a lasting gift to the community.

 
Crow number three; Mary Bertolini has come up with a final and favorable reckoning of our June, Natick meeting and is well advanced toward next June in the Niagara Falls area. Michigan, as usual has been doing its wonderful things. Now sorry I was to miss the International Tea, which was such a grand success. The up coming, the Greens Market, just past, a Pumpkin Festival. Soon you will be getting your magazine, filled with good information edited by our talented Kathy Beveridge, and with an orchard cover from Jean Ehlinger’s collection of Orchidae.

 And now, like those three crows, I shall flap my verbal wings, and fly away.
FAITH

“Curses…an unidentified plant…..”

           Under all trees and plants in Heaven, (or whatever your thoughts on final destinations for us farmers and gardeners) I’m sure there are plant labels with names and even Latin ones.  Ideally we should all have on our bookshelves, a copy of “Gardener’s Latin” or a similar volume.  Eleanor Perenyi, writing in her “Green Thoughts” (1981) wishes she had ordered her Lavender plants using Linnaeus…that way, she would have avoided the “Lavender Swindles.”

            Deer cure…or so someone claims…two cups of water, two eggs and a teaspoon of dish detergent.  Spray on plants.

            We are most grateful to Julie Siefker for offering to handle Registration for the next June meeting.  Jenny Rose Carey is swamped with her work at the Ambler Arboretum for the coming months but will of course be available if needed.

            Congratulations once again to the Tri-County Branch on their 80^thyear.  I will be there to help them celebrate, along with Audrey Ehrler and her husband.  I hope to see many of you, then.

            I mentioned in my message to you in the forth-coming magazine, of the death of Norman Borlaug, Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Father of the Green Revolution and native of Iowa.  He was important to all of us, although many people had little knowledge of him and his work with wheat that provided untold millions of families with food.  He said later in life that it was his boyhood on the farm that motivated him to pursue his career in intensive modern agriculture.

            As the Green Revolution continues, whole towns such as Franklin, Massachusetts have applied new techniques to help nature.  Franklin discovered how to deal with storm water pollutants, by using “tree pit areas,” which catch storm water.  The trees capture the pollutants, filter them and the clean water goes back into the soil.  The town has chosen an ornamental flowering tree for its tree-centric storm water drains.

            These could save thousands of dollars and help to beautify the streets of this New England town.

            Don’t forget to send me your memory stories for our book.

            I suppose, like a good labeling gardener, I should label this message with something Latin.  Hmmmmm.

            “Summertime … When the living is easy…”

                Such a telling, a beautiful line from Gerschwin’s Porgy and Bess.

                Summer gives all of us time to enjoy the abundance around us and the blessing showered on us.

                All the wonders of the garden become available to us, not only to eat, but I hope that some of you are not only storing, freezing and canning your harvest, but will write some of your memories down for our book. Public Broadcasting is so eager to promote agriculture that it is running series on the importance of farm and garden life.

            Trees are a great part of our lives. Kay Engelhart touched upon this subject which deserves our attention … the awareness of trees as part of nature’s life cycle. Few people realize the value of their trees from just a monetary decorative point of view. But there is much more than that.

                For instance, The Arbor Day Foundation reports that the largest white oak in the U.S. is in Lawrenceville, VA, 86’ high and 5’ diameter. The Foundation stated that it would cost over $84,000 in a season to replace the storm water control provided by this tree. It removes 24 pounds of pollutants each year.

                So we can sympathize with Kay’s mother-in-law, who has been keeping alive against all odds, an elm tree nearly 17’ in circumference, alas, despite all she could do, the tree succumbed, leaving Kay’s mother-in-law devastated.

            So, from trees to bees – 60 Minutes had a sobering section on a recent broadcast, concerning bees; there was nothing on it that you haven’t already read about and discussed, except that a prediction that the U.S. would shut down for lack of bees if we don’t succeed in fixing things.  I’m so proud of all of you and what you have done, are doing and will do, concerning bees.

                In fact, I’m just plain proud of Farm and Garden members.

            Be sure to add to the message on your website, that not only did the Troy Branch in Michigan win a $500 cash prize for the “Plight of the Bee” program to help bees, but so too, did the Pennsylvania Keystone Ambler Branch. The judges were so impressed by the two top entries that a second award of $500 was made. How wonderful that there was a tie. An award also went to Audrey Ehrler’s New York Division.

                Many awards went into our history. Jean DeDecker and Marla Diamond honored members throughout our meeting.

                Barbara Hochstettler’s great knowledge of our organization kept our deliberations moving forward, her gracious tact and clear explanations always on point. Betty Monahan of course, kept us on the straight and narrow and offered many good ideas when not acting as Parliamentarian.

                The entire meeting went smoothly under the watchful eye of Mary Bertolini who managed to be everywhere at once, even greeting members as they went to the registration desk, manned by Aileen LaBret with her skilful performance of duty and with the aid of the host Mayflower Branch. The members greeted everyone in black and yellow bee costumes, and with useful bags that could be used as at home tote bags with tasteful green decorations. These were filled with “Welcome to the Meeting” gifts.

            Congratulations to Carol Leonard and Mary Merten on the “Silent Auction” … great success!!

                Susan Hunt got all of us on historical [and sometimes hysterically funny] “Duck” tours of Boston and then to the Harvard Club in the midst of the Harvard University campus. There, after a splendid luncheon, we heard Allyson Hayward present excerpts from her book on landscapes designer Norah Lindsay.

            At night, a nice tented clambake, garden tour and music at the home of Faith and Joseph Tiberio. Next! Our meeting will be at Niagara Falls.

                                      June 2009 Annual Meeting

          The annual June meeting of our beloved organization brought so many of us old and new friends together, that the feeling swept over us that we would wait for our meeting in Niagara Falls with great anticipation. So mark your calendars, June 2-6, 2010. I have already put my first change in a sugar bowl to save for the trip. I do this weekly. By June, it helps.

            To report to you all the great ideas actions and plans which took place will have to be done over a period of time. Most important to you, is that Hazel Herring, Margaret Latham and Carol Leonard met frequently over the course of the meeting, to up-date Linda Lowe our liaison with Temple-Ambler about the Visitor Center / Greenhouse Fund. We are almost at out $50,000 goal, due to the wonderful generosity of you all. You must congratulate yourselves, because you will have pledged and made good, a gift of $150,000 to establish this “home-base” for the National Farm and Garden Association. I believe this to be the largest such gift in our history.  You accomplished this in a short period of three years. Our heartfelt thanks to Hazel Herring and her committee and all of you who created fund-raising events, objects and achievements.

          And more thanks to Mary Bertolini, Aileen La Bret, Linda Coughlin and Joanne Harreld who got us all together in our circle of gardening friendship.  Next month I will report to you in some detail the goings on our meeting and travels, and the lovely, intelligent women and yes, men, who made it fun and easy.

Spring hangs her infant blossoms on the trees, rocked in the

cradle of the western breeze….. William Cowper (1731-1800)

Once more, Kathy Beveridge has charmed us with The Magazine.

In it are vital pages for the upcoming conference-meeting, June 11,12,13 in Massachusetts. Please send your information to Aileen LaBret. Registration is gratifying and you will find plenty of dear acquaintances from other meetings and times, and plenty of new folks eager to know you. I can hardly wait to greet you, to show you the New England you may not know and to exchange ideas, among all of us.

You members are ahead of the curve, as the media is to say. Not only are you bringing to light the plight of the bee, but even CNBC is talking on their financial shows about the “green shoots”…about local buying and local growing! Current phrases and jargon are taking on agricultural terms..a sure sign of importance of what we are doing.

I’ve just come back from a marvelous visit to the Ohio Division, hosted so graciously by Nancy Naugel and her branches. Julie Seifker became the new President and Nancy’s daughter, the new Vice President, Barbara Hochstettler and many others rejoiced when a contribution of $1500 from the division went to the Ambler Headhouse-headquarters project, with Julie Seifker giving an additional check of very generous proportions from the sale of topsoil, from her farm. How grateful I am, and I know that chairman Hazel Herring is very pleased. We still have a way to go, but remember, it is a one-time request. Once it’s done it’s done.

Next week, I will be going to Michigan and I am looking forward to being with so many friends there. In my travels on behalf of the other organizations,  I have seldom met with the courtesy, thoroughness and thoughtful preparation as given to me by the Woman National Farm and Garden Association. You are saluted by me.

Everywhere around me, apple trees, lilacs, dogwood and silver bells

move gently in the wind. Now, I wonder, did Spring cradle them there

as William Cowper suggests?

Young mothers, after a long winter, happily think “Spring Rocks”.