August 2018


UVSS Meeting

August 9, 2018

Wild Water Farm

Hartford, VT

 

Present: Kye Cochran, Li Shen, Stuart Blood, Ruth Fleishman, Susan Musty, Jeff Kiralis, Margaret Bragg, Duncan Pogue (working) and Katie Williams with her daughter, Leila

 

The group was sidetracked from starting the garden tour by Margaret’s visit to the washing room where Duncan was washing and drying radish microgreens before bagging them up in two-gallon plastic bags for delivery to local restaurants. He grows a variety called Hong Vit which has about a 10-day seed-to-harvest time, allowing three plantings a month. Nice spicy flavor...

                                                Hong Vit sprouts

 

The garden tour began with an American chestnut tree, mulberry tree, hops and a Harry Lauder walking stick plant, then into the upper garden. Katie talked about some of the  herbs she is growing for healing uses, including (but certainly not limited to) native bee balm, anise hyssop, jasmine nicotiana and elecampane. We saw a broom corn plant, seeded in from some Kye grew three years ago and four cardoon plants she hopes to overwinter and have bloom next year.

                                            Hops and herbs

By the time we got past Duncan’s impressive fields of greens to the seed garden, I had forgotten I had a clipboard under my left arm. I remember onions… Kye reminded me later that she has Stuttgarter and Yellow of Parma onions growing for seed and Green Arrow peas.

 

 

Katie has a Three Sisters garden where she planted 11-year-old Hopi blue corn seeds that were given to her. The corn was lush, climbed by different bean varieties and surrounded by cucurbits,  All were thriving!

 

 

 

Up to dinner, passing a Gingko tree that looked beautiful in the early evening light, a Cornelian cherry from St Laurence Nursery that was identified as a dogwood (which, indeed, it is) http://uncommonfruit.cias.wisc.edu/cornelian-cherry/  and a large tree setting black berries-- an invasive buckthorn now slated for removal. We stopped to marvel at a Monarch butterfly egg on the underside of a milkweed leaf.

 

                                                       Gingko leaves

 

The potluck was delicious with many fresh vegetables, including Kwintus, Blue Coco, and Marché de Genève beans; Trionfo Violetto and Rattlesnake beans in the garden salad; potato salad made of freshly dug potatoes,Provider beans, Green Arrow peas and eggs from the homestead hens; fresh baked 80% whole wheat bread, cheese, beets, and switchel diluted with herbal tea and black currant juice… and, of course, applesauce as required by the UVSS by-laws.

 

After dinner some of us went back to the upper garden for a weed identification refresher and noted pigweed, goutweed, purslane, oxalis (wood sorrel), lamb’s quarter, galinsoga, lady’s thumbprint and foxtail as well as a few unknowns.

 

                                         Chinese chestnuts...

 

Next we checked out the solar dehydrators Duncan constructed. Impressive and said to be not too difficult to construct. (It was opined by this note-taker that a DIY kit would be wonderful.)

 

http://www.geopathfinder.com/Solar-Food-Drying.html