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When The Student Is Ready, The Teacher Appears

Vonne — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 00:47:00 GMT

If you've ever been enraptured by a tiny stream in the middle of the woods, or blown away by a giant fern leaf ice pattern on the windows of a green house on a cold winter's day or noticed that truly every snowflake is unique, then you've experienced something bigger than yourself. Maybe you even thought there has to be something making all this happen because it just can't be a coincidence. It is perfect.

Has the Divine tapped you on the shoulder or whispered softly in your ear? Pay attention and listen. You too might by called to better things.

The Victory Garden in Early Spring

Vonne — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 00:39:00 GMT

I've started spring clean up in some of the gardens that I maintain and I've also been busy getting soil samples recently. It still feels like winter but I want the gardens to be ready when the first warm spring weather arrives.

Yesterday, I spent some time out in my own garden. It was cold but sunny and I turned over the winter rye cover crop that I planted in the fall. Cover crops, also called green manure, can add either nitrogen or organic matter to the soil and since I have a no Rototill policy, I just scoop up shovelfuls of rye grass and turn them upside down. This method has been working for me; it doesn't detroy the soil structure and it provides aeration to soil microbes.

Signs of life are apparent and the soil seems to be waking up. My son helped me plant blue podded peas and I planted another variety called 'Little Marvel'. We also planted three types of beets, two types of kale, arugula and carrots.

Also, I inoculated all my seeds for myself and my clients with beneficial fungi and bacteria. This will help the plants get a head start and I'm hoping that they are more disease and pest resistant later in the season. I also planted onions seeds, two local varieties named 'Southport Globe' and 'Wethersfield Red'. You may know that during the 1800's Fairfield, Connecticut was mostly onion farms and we shipped onions to Union troops to prevent scurvy during the Cival War. The two onion varieties that I planted are heirloom seeds and I wonder if they will be easy growers just like their ancestors. Along with the onions, I started tomatoes, peppers and brussels sprouts in seed trays on my back porch. Seed starts need more heat than light and since the temps have dropped it may be a little longer until I see their little green faces peeking out of the soil.

Bundle up and get out there and start digging.

Control of Cucumber and Mexican Bean Beetles without Pesticides

Vonne — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 01:19:00 GMT

I am a new member of our local community garden in Westport and just constructed my raised beds late last summer and managed to get a few cool weather veggies in my plot in the beginning of September. My fellow gardener and good friend Jennifer and I decided to combine our two adjacent plots to get maximum use of our planting beds and shared pathways. The community garden opened up additional plot space last year to organic gardeners but because we are in close proximity to a public school and share a common parking lot, the entire community garden has manage pest and disease problems without chemical pesticides and herbicides.

I was told that my seasoned fellow gardeners have had infestations of Mexican Bean Beetles and Cucumber Beetles in their garden plots in the past few years. Instead of spraying pyrethrins (which is an organic product but also a known neurotoxin), I have compiled the following data using research and recommendations from the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, Cornell University Insect Diagnostic Laboratory and the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension.

Recommendations for Control of Mexican Bean Beetles without Pesticides

*Plant beans in a different area than they were planted in last year. Interplanting beans with other crops may make them more difficult for the beetles to locate.

*Plant early season beans or beans with a shorter maturity date. Most beetle populations are heaviest in mid to late summer.

*Handpicking is relatively easy in small gardens because the adults, eggmasses and larvae are all together on the underside of the leaves and none of these stages are camouflaged. If you pick off the adults by hand, make sure you actually crush them or drown them in soapy water, don’t just knock them off the plant because they will crawl back.

*Crush the eggs that are on the underside of the leaves. Check for yellow eggs in clusters of the bean leaves in mid-to-late spring.

*Hand pick and crush larvae which begin to feed in 5-14 days after eggs are laid.

*Crush beetles when they appear in 3-5 weeks after larval stage.

*Use an insecticidal soap (potassium salts of fatty acids) on the underside of the leaves.

(Check the Days to Harvest on the label and make sure to wait a sufficient number of days after application, before picking beans for use.)

* A parasitic wasp, Pediobius foveolatus, has been used successfully to control the Mexican bean beetle in both commercial farming and community garden settings. This tiny wasp lays its eggs in Mexican bean beetle larvae. When new adult wasps emerge, they kill the bean beetle. Unfortunately, the adult wasps do not survive the winter in Connecticut, so they have to be reintroduced each year. Because the adult wasps have a short life span, it is important to introduce them when mid-sized bean beetle larvae are already present on the plants. Some commercial growers plant one plot of snap beans earlier than usual to build up a small population of Mexican bean beetle larvae and introduce the wasps before the main population of Mexican bean beetles develops. The adult wasps feed on nectar at flowers, and benefit from composite (sunflower family) or umbellifer (carrot family) flowers near the bean plot. Pediobius foveolatus is available from several mail-order companies that sell biological control agents.

*Pick beans frequently. Mexican bean beetle populations build up more rapidly on plants where beans have been left to mature than on plants where young beans are picked off frequently. So, keep picking your snap beans before they get large and mature. (They taste better and are more productive that way, anyway). In a test of 14 bush snap bean varieties, Blue Lake 274 and Idaho Refugee produced the most consistent high yield, whether or not they were treated with insecticides. Destroy bean plants as soon as they are no longer productive to deny the last generation of beetles the plant material and overwintering sites they provide.

*Plant sunflowers near beans.

Recommendations for Control of Cucumber Beetles without Pesticides

*Rotate cucurbit crops to a new place in the garden each year. Deprive adult beetles of homes for overwintering by removing crop residues and alternative host plants such as asters and goldenrod from around the garden.

*Covering planting beds with floating row covers immediately after planting seed or setting out transplants will protect cucurbits from early damage by cucumber beetles. Be sure to remove row covers as plants begin to bloom, to ensure adequate pollination by bees.

Applying a heavy mulch of straw, leaves or grass clippings around established plants may help reduce beetle attack.

*Varieties of squash, cucumbers, and melons vary in their resistance to cucumber beetles. Among squashes, zucchini and caserta types are generally preferred to pumpkins and delicata, acorn, scallop, and yellow straightneck types of squash. Stono cucumber has also been reported to be resistant to both species. Ashley, Chipper, and Gemini cucumbers are notable for having resistance to spotted cucumber beetles both as seedlings and as mature plants. The melons Super Star, Rising Star, Pulsar, Passport, and Galia are less preferred by the striped cucumber beetles than other varieties of muskmelon.

*Cucumber beetles are stimulated to feed by the chemical cucurbitacin, the chemical which can make cucumbers bitter or indigestible to some people. Thus, cucumber varieties advertised as "non-bitter" or "burpless" are not as attractive to the beetles.

*The beetles are attracted by smell to chemicals found in the odor of squash blossoms, and by sight to yellow-green fluorescent sticky traps. With the addition of squash seedlings, the traps catch beetles in May, before the field plantings are up, and the traps can be used in the field throughout the season.

*Damage by beetles can be reduced by starting seedlings in a protected environment and transplanting them to the field and by use of row covers. Row covers must be removed at flowering to permit pollination.

How The Farm Bill Helped Me Find My Calling

Vonne — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:12:00 GMT

One day in early 2008, I attended a symposium on the Farm Bill which was held at the Westport Country Playhouse in Westport, CT. I had no idea that this would be a life changing day.

I was interested in attending simply because most of my family are farmers and I thought I would learn more about the challenges they face. That day I listened to Michel Nichan, the executive chef at The Dressing Room Restaurant in Westport and Annie Farrell, the farmer at Millstone Farm in Weston, CT. They spoke about farm subsidies, commodity crops and the lack of subsidies for specialty crop farmers. (Specialty crops are basically vegetable crops that are not sold as commodities. Commodity crops are rice, wheat, cotton, corn and soybeans). I also joined NOFA (Northeast Organic Farmers Association) and went on organic farm tours a few months later.

As I began to read books like Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver it became clear to me that as a nation we have become too dependent on others for our food. I also realized that there are major issues with not only the quality of our food in this country but environmental and health related concerns that are linked to our food system. I began to see that feeding our families from local instead of international sources is not as easy as it once was. Other problems like low nutrient foods, obesity, diabetes, food safety and food security are prevalent in our society.

I began to talk with my close friend Jennifer about the things that I was learning and told her I wanted to do my part to make some changes. She thought I should start my own business installing organic veggie gardens in our town and she imagined many of us growing unique varieties of heirloom vegetables and then trading veggies and seeds with our neighbors.

After that conversation I began to feel that I had found my calling (or it found me) and there was no turning back. For those of you who have experienced a calling, you know that you find yourself saying "yes!" even though it would be easier to say "no". I thought about the logistics of starting a business when I have young kids at home, how to fund my new venture and also went through periods of self-doubt. I wondered if I had the experience and tenacity to continue and found a thousand other reasons to say "no" but I kept saying "yes!".

Now I realize that I still have much work to do. We need to learn backyard gardening skills, we need to be self-sufficient, we need more food from local sources, we need nutritious, local food in our schools
and we need to know our neighbors, our local community and our farmers.

I am grateful to my friends, family, colleagues and clients who have supported me in my work. I hope you will stay in touch and send me updates and pictures of your gardens.

Declare Victory,

Vonne Whittleton

Note:

A link to the policy highlight of the 2012 Farm Bill: An Opportunity to Support Farmers and Promote Public Health is below
http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/20100803flag.pdf

The Farmer in Winter

Vonne — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 12:43:00 GMT

Many people ask me what happens to my business in the off season. Most farmers I know use the winter months to get some much needed rest and to recharge for the coming season. We also use this time to get some of our financials in order, get organized and make our seed orders. This winter I've been taking two classes. One is an Holistic Whole Farm Planning course for Beginning Women Farmers. I was very happy to be one of twenty women in the State to be accepted for this course which is offered through NOFA. I have met a group of incredibly bright and determined women and I'm learning about the triple bottom line and making holistic goals for your farm or business. In Holistic Whole Farm Planning the farmer doesn't just look at the financial profits but also the social and environmental bottom line. In other words, do the decisions that you are about to make fit with what you want for your life and your family. Do they feel right in your gut? And do the decisions you make help the environment or your community?

I'm also taking a course on nutrient dense crop production given by Dan Kittredge with the Real Food Campaign/Binderies Food Association. This course is offered at the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in Tarrytown, NY which is on the Rockefeller Estate. (A most beautiful place for a class.) I'm learning that our soil is depleted of vital nutrients and minerals and that there is a connection between soil health and human health. Plants that are grown in nutrient rich soil are naturally more disease and pest resistant, just as someone who is healthy has more resistance to colds, flu and other illnesses.

Over the next few weeks I will be heading out to all of my gardens to clean them and prep them for the coming season. I have begun soil testing and will be direct sowing lettuces and peas soon.

Working in nature has taught me that when life is in balance there is health and happiness, when life is out of balance there is illness and disfunction. Nature offers us a blueprint to the rhythms of life. Spring is coming and it's time for me to stretch...both physically and metaphysically. Next time you're outside, take a minute to notice the perfect balance and rhythms that nature has to offer and see if you can find a way to use nature's blueprint in your life.

Starting Seeds

Vonne — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 12:36:00 GMT

If you haven't done so already, now is the time to start your seeds indoors so that they are ready to plant outdoors at the end of April and beginning of May. Seeds don't need sunlight to germinate, they actually need heat. A sunny window helps but there are also seed warming or propagation mats, an electrical device that supplies bottom heat to the underside of the trays. The mats can be purchased through some seed supply companies and on the Internet starting at around $20.00.

Tomato seeds will start showing their tiny green heads in approximately one to one and a half weeks after sowing and melon, squash, pumpkin and cucumber seeds are fast-sprouting and are up in a week. I direct sow a lot of these seeds during the summer at the appropriate time instead of bothering with starting them in flats in the winter. I'm building a cold frame later this month and will use it in the future for seed starts.

Vegetable seeds are the easiest to grow while flower seeds started indoors prove a little more difficult. Vegetables that can be started indoors this week are lettuce, early cabbage, kale, collards, broccoli, arugula, spring raab, parsley, onions, leeks, scallions, chives, celery and celeriac. You can direct sow spinach, peas, arugula and spring/summer onions this week.

My friends at the Hudson Valley Seed Library have a very informative 6 part series on seed starting. The links are provided here.

http://www.seedlibrary.org/wp/?p=1500

http://www.seedlibrary.org/wp/?cat=93

Backyard Gardening

Vonne — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Today I spent some time in my own garden. Because I have been busy all season with my clients' gardens, I rarely have the time to give my garden the attention it deserves. Although it is not perfect, it still yields many good things to eat, but I do wish I had time to make it look perfectly manicured. The garden writer Henry Mitchell once said, "Nothing in the garden is ever perfect, just as it is never a complete disaster." I try to keep that in mind and have been working on seeing the beauty and not the flaws of my little backyard farm.

I harvested a grocery sack full of cucumbers and have so many that I will probably sell some extras to the LL Farm Stand in Westport. I also got more okra and had the kids helped me dig up the rest of the potatoes in the front garden. I moved some of the Jeruselum Articokes (Sun Chokes) out of the front bed and out of the back garden to a new spot in the front yard. Some of the roots were ready to harvest so we plan on making a combo mashed pototoes and J.A. with dinner. We have a whole basket of potatoes and I will probably make a potato salad tomorrow and some roasted potatoes with eggs for breakfast this week.

Vonne's Blog

Vonne — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 19:51:00 GMT

Welcome

Vonne — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:29:10 GMT

Welcome to my blog. Please check back soon for new entries.