WNFGA News

June/July, 2010

We had a wonderful time at Grand Island, NY. Many friendships were renewed and new friends were formed. We toured, swam in the hotel pool, basked in the sun aboard a river boat and marveled at the Botanical Gardens. Of course, we ate our way through the four days, as Farm & Garden women always seem to need sustenance! The speakers were informative and interesting. Amanda Edmonds showed us the need of community gardens for food and social networking. Her power point presentation brought home the need for fresh, local produce at a time when small markets are closing with the current economy. Paul Lehman took the idea one step further by telling us how to set up a farm market, where to locate it and what to expect as consumers. As usual, there were many questions from our members. Fresh fruits and vegetables form the backbone of a healthy diet for everyone. We can search out our local Farmers’ offerings within the next few weeks.

As President, I welcome every member to send in ideas that will help shape our future. What do you like about your Branch, Division, or the National level of Farm & Garden? Do you have suggestions of projects or books? Did you find something to share with others in your travels this winter? Please tell me, or let your Branch President or Division President know what is on your mind. Communication begins through the sharing of thoughts and ideas. One little notion sparks the next, and soon the brainstorm starts to smolder into a bone fide flame. Our name, Woman’s National Farm and Garden, of one Woman, shows the necessity and individuality of each of you. I have heard from many of you in the past and implemented your ideas for meetings. I promise to listen now, and in the future. Write to me, call or e mail. My ears are open.

                                      Root Allures

            To quote the New York Times “A survey on consumer anxieties over higher foods and fuel prices from the LePold Center for sustainable agriculture at Iowa State University in Ames, a great number of people will raise more of their own vegetables and many are going back to the Root cellars of our Grandmothers Day.”

            There is a 1979 “Root Cellaring” by Mike and Nancy Bubel which is helpful. But there are many others, with hints for cutting of tops of vegetables within one inch of the growth; glazing turnips and rutabagas with paraffin and putting beets into buckets with dry fall leaves. Carrots can be stored in moist sand or peat moss with crowns removed, nor is it necessary to have a dirt floored cellar. Nooks and crannies that are cool and ventilated can be used successfully.

            Meanwhile, our branches continue to work and grow. Rochester Branch will celebrate its 75^th Anniversary and annual meeting on Tuesday May 11, 2010 at Addison Oaks in Leonard, Michigan. Their newsletter is always filled with up coming events and information as in Ohio Newsletter “Daffodil Days” in Detroit, May 27^th with the Claudia Society.

            Audrey Ehrler reports that on April 15^th Janine Thomas of Hartford, NY will be installed as the New York State Division president. Their work on the Bee Project will continue, and we thank Audrey for her inspiring leadership. She and Margaret Latham have managed our interim commitment at the National Arboretum with great success.

            Mayflower Branch is working on herb gardens and eradicating invasive plants while Keystone Branch is attracting community folk to participate in local agriculture, among many other projects at our “Home” Temple – Ambler.

            Another beautiful magazine from Kathy Beveridge, and within is the call for the meeting in Buffalo.

            Before I forget, we are still looking for stories. Does anyone remember Spirella Corset Company of Buffalo [and world wide] which gave Real career opportunities to woman at the turn of the century and for decades afterwards? This company changed woman’s mental and physical states for the better and yet today is nearly forgotten. Let me know.

            We must not forget Mary Bertolini, either, and safely, happily and economically to Niagara Falls, where you just might get to see the two legged vegetables welcoming you with open foliage.

                                    Best

                                                Faith

“What to do with 500 million dollars!”

    How many of us have thought about the seeds we plant? It is so easy to buy a colorful packet of seeds and at least in my case, it has never occurred to me to question how a seed is saved, gathered and merchandised.  It has never occurred to me to think about breeding traits, about lost plants or about seed banks.  But in an important new book, THE VIKING IN THE WHEAT FIELD,  by Susan Dworkin, we learn that it would take only 500 million dollars, worldwide, to keep every seed safe for the future.  Scientists who work as guardians in seed banks are spread out so that only one “seed guardian” has to safeguard one million people.  It is thought that in the near future the population will reach 9 billion and worldwide starvation could happen.  As the big companies like Monsanto take over genetic engineering of our major crops like wheat and rice, we are losing fundamental agricultural material.

   We have spoken of the basic needs in Haiti….(1) a need for simple soil improvement; AND (2) simple agriculture.  At last a few articles have appeared suggesting this long lasting aid.  We members of WNF&G should support this approach as I mentioned last month.

   The Rochester Branch continues with great ideas and programs…..I loved the idea of a “potato” bar at its recent luncheon.  New York, under Audrey Ehrler is moving forward and sends out a beautiful newsletter by D. Brown, while the Keystone Branch at Ambler is having an all day symposium which I plan to attend and will report to you.

   In the meantime keep in mind our forthcoming meeting in June which Mary Bertolini is creating for your pleasure, friendship and instruction.

Faith

                                     “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.