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October 26, 2009
Coconino County Master Gardener Meeting Minutes 10/15/09
6:30pm-6:40pm Welcome - Agenda/Dana Prom Smith
Dana suggested sending a card for Hattie who just lost her Mom.
Loni Shapiro agreed to send on behalf of the group.
6:40pm-7:25pm Continuing Education
Sharing Gardening Successes for 2009
Topic I - Planting bulbs
Loni Shapiro shared photos from the hospice garden of some of the successful bulbs, provided catalogs, and three resource articles from the MG blog (Bulbs are Easy, Species Tulips and our yearly resource for catalogs).
Bob Cooper shared pictures on his computer of his winning dahlias from the county fair. He also shared ideas about planting (soil, amendments, leaving or digging up (some do some don't).
Topic II - Tools
Loni Shapiro shared her trake (rake and trowel in one tool). Can be ordered online. Linda Guarino has a pruner with replaceable blades (Craftsmanfrom Sears) she has used for 10 years. Good for cutting small and large stems.
General discussion by several on ways to sift large pieces/rocks from soil. They included small gauge woven wire over a wheel barrow or molded into a sack, a Riddle (English), and small holed plastic pot racks from local nurseries.
Topic II - Varieties that worked well (veggies/flowers)
Turned into a general discussion about tomatoes. The only variety mentioned was Early Girl. Some in the group are still picking ripe tomatoes outside. Large potatoes were grown from the Maine Potato Catalog (Reddale). General consensus - good garden year!
7:25pm-7:50pm Social/refreshments
Thank you to Rebecca Snow and Irene Matthews for providing snacks.
Also thanks to Rebecca's son for minding the door again.
7:50pm-8:15pm Business Meeting /Committee Meetings
20 minutes planning and 5 minutes each sharing results with the group
CE & Social Support
Ideas for speakers for next year. January/Robyn from Violas. Other ideas included: someone from Native Plant and Seed about grasses, Terra Crampton to give her Habitat Garden Talk, Patrick Pynes on Beekeeping, Dana suggested a NAU professor about soil microcosm, Tom DeGomez on fruit trees, and Brad and Phil from the NAU greenhouse to talk about their seed bank and the plants they sell.
Discussion on possible Xmas party. Date would be Dec. 14. Several offered to check out possible sites (Dana/Episcopol Church -Loni/Hospice or Health Dept.) More to follow at next meeting.
Community Programs
Congratulations on meeting goal of hosting a MG table twice each month at the Flagstaff Community Market this summer. Steve Shields is working on a booth for the Home Show for 2010 and beginning to put together
a questionnaire for a speakers bureau.
Coordination MG Projects
Loni to adapt the forms from Yavapai County with input from her committee. These will be brought to the next meeting for the larger group to review. The group agreed that the projects should have an educational component and be funded by those requesting the project. They also feel that
this meeting is a good place to approve/reject with input from Hattie. Once approved if none of the group are interested in helping it would be available for new MGs.
Volunteers - None of committee attending meeting.
8:15pm-8:20pm Announcements
myfolia.com - Ed Skiba
Ed reviewed this internet blog available to gardeners. You can journal about your garden and share with other gardeners around the world - free.
Soil and Seed conference in Snowflake this month and pine needle pick-up available for $2.50 a bag, details for both on the blog (highelevationgardening.arizona.edu)
8:20pm-8:30pm Loni had questions about her flowering quince which fruited this year. Samples brought to show and tell and the group gave suggestions about what to do with the fruit.
Next meeting: November 19th, 630pm - 830pm
Coconino County Health Department
Speaker Dan Caputo
Managing Wildlife in Your Garden
Submitted by Loni Shapiro (maxmaddy@infomagic.net)
Posted by maxmaddy at 6:23 AM
October 25, 2009
AERA Fall Event
Hello friends!
TheArizona Ethnobotanical Research Association (AERA) would like to invite you to our premier fall event. We have invited Amazonian ethnobotanist Dr. Mark Plotkin to give a presentation entitled "Amazonian Shamans, Healthcare, and Google Earth: Saving the Rainforest in Six Dimensions." Please look at the beautiful poster attached as a PDF file for all the details. We are presenting this event in conjunction with the NAU Botany Club and Department of Anthropology.
Doors for this event will open at 5:00. We are hoping for standing room only, so get there early! In the hallway we will have groups tabling, featuring local non-profit organizations such as NAU Botany Club, Native Movement, Hopi Tutskwa Permiculture, the Hualapai Ethnobotany Project, and The Cultural Conservancy. At 6:30 our speakers begin, featuring Loretta Jackson and others from the Hualapai Tribe discussing their tribal mapping project.
This event will be held on Saturday, November 7th at the NAU Cline Library Assembly Hall. Free parking is available in the lot behind the library, off of Riordan Road. Please go to this link for a map of the NAU campus http://home.nau.edu/maps/campus_map_09.pdf
We are asking for an $8 donation ($5 for students and past contributors), which benefits the AERA. As a special offer, we will be giving out free goodies for larger donations. If you make a contribution of between $35 and $75, you will receive a free set of our plant-themed Kachina Doll postcards. If you donate $75 or above, you will receive a free AERA t-shirt. Both these items are new and hot off the press! You can also purchase these separately at the event.
We are so excited to be hosting Dr. Mark Plotkin and feel certain you will be inspired by the work of his non-profit, the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT). We look forward to seeing you there! We have an interview with Mark in the November issue of the Noise, as well as our monthly column, "What's Up in the Forest?". Also, listen to our local radio station, the Eagle 103.7 at 8:20 a.m. on Monday, November 2nd, when you can hear Phyllis and Jessa talking about the event LIVE on air!
Please email azethnobotany@hotmail.com if you have any questions.
Peace, Love, and Plants,
Phyllis Hogan, Director, AERA
Jessa Fisher, Herbarium Curator, AERA
Posted by maxmaddy at 8:13 PM
Is Plaque a Moral Issue
Master Gardener Column 10/24/09
After Patty Hooker, my dental hygienist, finished scraping, polishing, picking, and excavating debris, I asked her if she thought plaque were a moral issue. Appearing surprised, she claimed she'd never thought about it before. Patty bears an unnerving resemblance to Sarah Palin, a discomfiting experience for a cranky old Democrat. I was puzzled about her surprise, plaque being the raison ?être for dental hygiene.
I feel guilty about plaque because, as Patty explained, plaque amongst other things is the result of bad oral hygiene. Throughout my life, in one way or another, a woman in authority has been my hygienic nemesis. My great aunt Marie Aslaakson, a hygienic warrior, who resembled a Norse berserker with battle axe in hand, would often jab the air with her wooden spoon, proclaiming "Cleanliness is next to godliness."
My junior high school, home room teacher was the school's "mental hygiene" enforcer. "To dream the impossible dream," she set about in a high-pitched, nasal shrill to cleanse the hearts and minds of boys under the hormonal assault of puberty. "Nasty boys."
Reclining in Patty's dental chair with various nozzles in my mouth while she picked, poked, and scraped, I thought about my garden's plaque. Again, I felt guilty.
Now, Patty, a charming and delightful woman, has become another woman in authority. Smiling, her blue eyes dancing, she disputed any connection between morality and plaque, smugly asserting scientific impartiality, all the while asking me if I flossed regularly.
TIME TO SCRAPE THAT GARDEN PLAQUE!
It's those damned pine needles. Can a person love pine trees and hate dry pine needles? When grabbed, they stick right between the nail and the finger. Not only that, Jeff Lowenfels, a noted horticulturalist, during the recent Garden Conference in Flagstaff said that the pine needles should be left where they've dropped as a matter of sustainability. However, the Fire Department says they're a fire hazard, and the Home Owner's Association threatens fines if they aren't raked up and packed off. I was caught between a rock and a hard place.
Happily, Kayla Smith, a neighborhood teenager, happened by looking for work, an unusual occurrence. An avid pine needle raker, she took the bull by the horns of the dilemma and raked up the pine needles thus avoiding both the FFD's disapproval and the HOA's fines.
Now, that the scraping was over, I was free to pick, poke, and floss, digging up gladiolus corms and dahlia tubers. Please don't say "bulbs" because if you do, gardeners of the snooty sort will look askance, flaring their nostrils as though they'd whiffed a foul odor.
I've concluded that if something takes a lot of work, time, and care in the garden, it probably doesn't belong there. As a result, I've committed to bulbs that don't mind our winters, like daffodils (bulbs) and bearded irises (rhizomes). They thrive with occasional care, especially the daffodils. Loni Shapiro and Hattie Braun know a lot about bulbs so I'm going to ask them for easy unusual bulbs.
Sadly, there is more, pruning and clipping, the nip and tuck of gardening. Of course, there is a difference of opinion about pruning, whether in the fall or in the spring. I'm a fall advocate, unless I don't get around to it, and then I'm a spring advocate.
If it's roses, cut off old, weathered, unproductive canes. Then prune the thin shoots and the productive canes about a thumb nail above an outfacing bud. Prune the interior shoots that cross one another, leaving room for air circulation inside the bush.
If it's a tree, pay attention to the tree's architecture to achieve a well-balanced effect. When pruning a branch, don't cut flush with the trunk but beyond the branch collar that little knob where the branch meets the trunk. Don't bother with salves and anointments over the cut. Trees have learned to take care of themselves. Don't whack or hack. Shape. Trees aren't proper targets of anger.
A reminder: enjoy the aspens amidst the pines and the maples and oaks while brushing and flossing, scraping and pruning, practicing good horticultural hygiene and feeling self-righteous.
Dana Prom Smith, a Master Gardener volunteer, is coordinating editor for the Master Gardener Column. He can be contacted at stpauls@npgcable.com. For gardening questions, please call the Master Gardener Hotline at 774-1868 ext.19 or visit the Master Gardener Web Site: highelevationgardening.arizona.edu.
Posted by maxmaddy at 9:44 AM
October 23, 2009
Olivia White Hospice Garden Project
On Thursday we spent most of our time working on putting together some new "green" benches for the garden. They are made from recycled milk jugs and are smaller than our old benches, but very heavy so they won't be blown over in the wind. They are guaranteed to last for 30 years, and our less labor intensive because they don't need staining. Al Katte, David Hockman and Joe Harte all came to help put them together.
Dave Hill and his wife Terri donated 4 gliders and Olivia White's grandparents, Ray and Joan White, donated 2 benches in honor of her 16th birthday.
The rest of the gardeners (Marcia Lamkin, Crys Wells, Leslie Penick and Charlotte) spent time putting the garden to bed, feeding the birds, working on compost, adding solar batteries to our outdoor lights, and watering. We plan to turn off the drip next week.
We had our last Saturday workday for the season, with the Grand Canyon Youth and the Honor Society, both from Northland Prep Academy. They cleaned pots, planted more than 200 bulbs, cleaned up our compost pile, put compost into our raised beds, and deadheaded lavender. There were more than 10 and they did all that work in less than 3 hours.
Thanks to:
Dave and Terri Hill for 4 gliders
Ray and Joan White for 2 benches
Al, David and Joe for putting them together
Crys Wells for solar batteries for our outside lights
Grand Canyon Youth and Honor Society from NPA
What will probably be our last official workday for the season will be on Thursday from 8am-12 pm. We still have some bulbs to plant, one last watering before the drip is turned off, dead heading some tall perennials, and cleaning our tools. Come join us and if you are interested we begin winter planning meetings in January. Let me know if you want to join us and I will add you to our e-mail.
"If you really want to draw close to your garden, you must remember first of all that you are dealing with a being that lives and dies; like the human body, with its poor flesh, its illnesses at times repugnant. One must not always see it dressed up for a ball, manicured and immaculate."
- Fernand Lequenne
Thanks for a great season,
Loni Shapiro
928-522-8635
maxmaddy@infomagic.net
Posted by maxmaddy at 6:32 AM
October 19, 2009
Kitchen Gardener's International (KGI)
Greetings,
I know you're a gardener and I thought you might be interested in learning about an effective gardening nonprofit that I'm supporting. They're called Kitchen Gardeners International (KGI) and they're a network of 18,000 people from 100 countries who are growing some of their own food and helping others to do the same. You might have read about them in the news earlier this year for their successful campaign to replant a garden at the White House.
With that garden in the ground and producing, they're turning their attention back to the rest of the world and the timing couldn't be more urgent. You might have seen last week that the world's leaders were meeting in Rome to figure out how we're going to feed 9 billion people in 2050 when we can't feed 6.7 billion in 2009.
KGI thinks it has part of the solution to the problem: help and teach more people to feed themselves. They are currently running a new online campaign called "Crush Hunger" to win a prize of $50,000 from the Case Foundation. They're planning on using the funds to support their work in promoting gardens as a solution to hunger and food insecurity around the world. You can read about their campaign and make a donation if you like here:
The nonprofit group that secures the most donations between now and November 6th wins the $50,000 prize. Even if you can't make a donation now, do check out KGI. Their flagship website serves up millions of portions of food and garden how-to information and all of it ad-free which is refreshing compared with some of the other gardening sites out there.
Loni Shapiro
Posted by maxmaddy at 1:36 PM
October 18, 2009
Put the "Ah" in Autumn
Master Gardener Column 10/17/09
There's a chill in the air. The wind softly rustles the leaves around in the yard. The pots and flower beds look rough and will soon look bare. The perennials have run their course, and the annuals have suffered a season ending freeze. This is the time of year we fear that we have no color until spring, which makes for a long winter.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Fall for many people is a favorite time of year because of its full of color. If the weather doesn't turn cold fast, all lovers of fall will get to enjoy the color of the leaves changing. It is our last hurrah of the season, similar to the finale of a good fireworks show. Fall is also time to enjoy the wonderful rustic colors of mums and asters that scream autumn.
Our two old friends, pansies and violas, are also ready for an encore. For most of us, these two called it a season in the mid summer months because they just don't like the summer heat. They also brought us into this great season, and they are going to lead us into winter. Don't worry they will come back and welcome us into the coming spring.
Even with all of the wonderful colors of fall we are a little limited in variety of eye candy we have in the garden. I'm talking something that truly deserves the right of being called centerpiece. That is where ornamental cabbage and kale come in to save the day, as with Batman and Robin. Both ornamental cabbage and kale are members of the Brassica or mustard family which includes broccoli, Brussels sprouts, collards, cauliflower, rutabagas, and turnips, and, of course, regular cabbage and kale.
Ornamental cabbage and kale are both edible. Because they are bitter most people limit them to decorative planting because of their wonderful presence in the yard. If that isn't enough to scare you off, I even read that cooked ornamental kale it turns gray. Yikes!
Ornamental cabbage and kale are underrated in the uniqueness and wonderful color they put out. The colors range from purples with pink centers, green with white centers, purple with royal purple centers, and on to much more. The colder it gets the more intense the colors get, kicking down the door of color, if you would. Their ruffled edges make them a wonderful addition to any garden. They are good to around 5 degrees as long as it is a gradual drop in temperatures. They are more than likely going to last up to at least Thanksgiving.
Cabbage and kale are very similar in appearance except that the kale seems to be a little more on the frilly side and the leaves are narrower. Cabbage is also usually edged on the outside of the leaf with an accent color. Cabbage and kale like full sun and rich, well-drained soil. If they are planted in part shade, they tend to get leggy.
In the landscape these guys can be planted in separate blocks or grouped together. When planted in a group, they look very sharp. They are also a great accent plant when used with pansies, violas, mums, and asters.
Cabbage and kale can really spice up a fall container planting. They can even be used alone. Nothing says KA POW like using them as a centerpiece with violas and/or pansies around the edges. They look equally as good with mums and asters. One of my favorites for container gardening is using a one gallon cabbage as the centerpiece and two little 4" cabbage on the side and violas to finish off the pot.
Time to think outside of the box. Ornamental cabbage and kale are fantastic when displayed with pumpkins or hay as an outdoor fall decoration. Add some rust colored mums and/or asters, and you have yourself an outdoor setting that screams autumn. So the next time that you are searching for fall color remember that ornamental cabbage and kale put the "ah!" in autumn.
Art Escobedo is a co-owner of Viola's Flower Garden. Dana Prom Smith, a Master Gardener volunteer and coordinating editor of the Master Gardener Column for Coconino County Cooperative Extension, can be contacted at stpauls@npgcable.com. For more information about the Master Gardener Program, call Hattie Braun, Coordinator of the Master Gardener Program, at 774-1868 ext.17 or visit our Web Site: highelevationgardening.arizona.edu.
Posted by maxmaddy at 5:05 AM
October 16, 2009
Olivia White Hospice Garden Project 10/24/09
The colors on the trees and shrubs continue to change in the garden. The aspens this year are not as vivid due to a fungus but many other trees are quite vivid. Our 'Blaze' maples and the mountain ash are very colorful along with the cutleaf staghorn sumac.
This may be our last entry for this blog which may be ending on October 19. Watch for future entries on our own blog in a couple of weeks - Olivia White Volunteer Hospice Garden Project.
Last Thursday many of our regular volunteers came to help put the garden to bed for the season. Nancy Palmer spent most of her time feeding and providing water for the birds. David Hockman finished spreading our mulch and helping me move some heavy granite bird baths under shelter for the winter. Linda Guarino did some work on the drip (repairs and winterizing) and helped Marcia Lamkin put away hard scape from the Faerie Garden and the Birdhouse trellis. I planted some white bulbs in the Moon Garden, and Leslie Penick worked on the compost pile.
While working on the drip Linda came across some unusual fruits, It seems our flowering quince decided to fruit this year. It has been in the garden for probably 6 years and we have never seen fruit - but it was a very warm summer. After talking to several people at the Master Gardener Association meeting I have decided to try some quince jelly. If it works we will sample at the next meeting.
Thanks to an anonymous resident family for bird seed, a garden book, and some other garden supplies.
We will continue in the garden at least until the end of October on Thursdays from 8a-12p. Workdays in November will depend on when we are done. Our Saturday workday has changed to October 24th from 9-12, due to a change in schedule for the Grand Canyon Youth Corp. We will work on planting bulbs and whatever is not finished with clean-up on Thursday.
October 22, 8am-12pm workday:
Deadhead lavender
Wash pots
Put away hardscape
Assemble new benches
"How silently they tumble down
And come to rest upon the ground
To lay a carpet, rich and rare,
Beneath the trees without a care,
Content to sleep, their work well done,
Colors gleaming in the sun.
At other times, they wildly fly
Until they nearly reach the sky.
Twisting, turning through the air
Till all the trees stand stark and bare.
Exhausted, drop to earth below
To wait, like children, for the snow."
- Elsie N. Brady, Leaves
Thanks,
Loni
Posted by maxmaddy at 4:33 PM
Native Plant Society Monthly Program and Field Trip
It's the last talk and walk of the season, and what a fantastic season it's been. We've had such great speakers and events this year.
Join us next week as we will have the new style of AZNPS T-Shirts available for sale.
Evening Program Talk: Tuesday, October 20th, 7:00pm "Plant Programs of the Museum of Northern Arizona" by MNA Program Coordinator Keri Stiverson.
Ms. Stiverson will discuss the projects at the Museum of Northern Arizona that are aiding in the revitalization of the MNA botany program. These projects include the Native Plant Materials Program, field excursions for the Plant Atlas Project of Arizona (PAPAZ), a large research and community garden, and the living roof of the new Easton Collection Center.
Weekend Field Trip: Sunday, October 25th, 9:00am***
A tour of the MNA gardens, landscaping and living roof system and an opportunity to participate in the collection of native seed that will be used in various MNA projects.
****Please meet at the Museum of Northern Arizona Garden*** Directions from Flagstaff: Head north on Fort Valley Rd (Hwy 180) as if you were going to the museum or Snowbowl. Turn right on Winding Brook Rd(there is a sign for the Peaks Senior Assisted Living Facility). Winding Brook Rd dead-ends in a T. The top of
the T is the MNA Garden. Parking is available at this location.
Posted by maxmaddy at 5:35 AM
October 15, 2009
Garden Symposium Features Top Experts
What: The World of Seed and Soil
Who: Michael Martin Melendrez and Bill McDorman
Two highly-recognized tree, soil and seed experts.
When: Friday, October 30th, rom 9am-6pm.
Where: Northland Pioneer College, Silver Creek Campus in Snowflake/Taylor
Area gardeners and growers are invited to attend a special fall symposium, The symposium is the brainchild of two popular NPC gardening instructors, Kim Howell-Costion and Jan Mathis. "These two gentlemen will be here literally by popular demand!" says Mathis, a master gardener and forestry expert for the Navajo County Cooperative Extension Service. "They spoke at the High Country Garden Conference at Hon-Dah four years ago and people have been begging to have them visit and speak again. So Kim and I decided we'd do just that!"
Howell-Costion, an expert in her own right whose well-received NPC gardening classes often deal with seeds and with soil improvement, regards Melendrez and McDorman as mentors. "Bill has traveled as far as Siberia in search of unique seeds and Michael is one of the cutting-edge people in the field of soil microbiology. Yet they are so ... well ... they are so down to earth!"
Both Mathis and Howell-Costion emphasized that the speakers will address issues useful to every kind of grower. "Landscapers, turf farmers, nursery owners, tree growers, and home gardeners can all learn so much from these phenomenal experts," added Howell-Costion.
The morning session of the program will be headed by Melendrez, owner of Soil Secrets LLC and Trees That Please of Los Lunas, N.M. Trees That Please, the small business he started 22 years ago, is now a regional nursery for the entire Southwest. Soil Secrets, which evolved from that enterprise, is now a well-known producer and supplier of microbial products for soil amendment, soil restoration and control of plant diseases. His topics at the symposium will be, "Healthy soil grows healthy food" and "Understanding the science of humus and microbiology."
Bill McDorman, president of Seeds Trust, Inc., of Cornville, is presenting the afternoon program with "Gardening from the inside out and why we garden," as well as a session on seed saving. McDorman has dedicated himself to the concept of sustainable agriculture through preserving and expanding the genetic diversity of seeds, and has lectured about seeds and seed saving for more than two decades. Of special note to area growers is that one of Seeds Trust departments, High Altitude Gardens, specializes in wildflower, native grass, herb and vegetable seeds for cold climates and short growing seasons.
The Amazing World of Soil and Seed symposium is jointly sponsored by Northland Pioneer College and the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension and is offered as an NPC non-credit course (NCC AGR 37413). There is no tuition charge for the event, only a $10 fee to defray instructor expense. Those interested in attending may register at any NPC campus weekdays between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. or by calling 524-7660 or (800) 266-7845 to enroll by phone. For further information, contact Loyelin Aceves, Coordinator of Community Education, at 536-6244 or (800) 266-7845, extension 6244.
Northland Pioneer College serves the residents of Navajo and Apache counties through four regional campuses and six centers with a variety of educational options in academic, career and technical and personal enrichment subjects. NPC supports each student's educational goals through affordable tuition, small class sizes and caring, professional instructors. For more information about NPC programs and services, call (800) 266-7845.
Posted by maxmaddy at 5:30 AM
October 12, 2009
Water Security Issues
Take Back the Tap Free Pizza Lunch
When: Thursday, October 15, 12:30pm
Where: Large Pod Conference Room, Applied Research and Development Building, NAU Campus
Calling all supporters of water security! To help Flagstaff reap the health, economic, and environmental benefits of choosing tap water over bottled water, F3 has joined with national consumer advocacy group Food and Water Watch to "Take Back the Tap". Enjoy a free pizza lunch and learn about F3's role in a nationwide network of communities helping to protect local water supplies. Hear from local participants in this project and from Sam Schabacker of Food and Water Watch. Find out how our careful use of local H2O can help heal the world water crisis!
FLOW (For the Love of Water) Screening
When: Thursday, October 15th, 7:00pm
Where: Gardner Auditorium, Franke College of Business, NAU Campus
The NAU Student Chapter of Friends of Flagstaff's Future will host a free screening of the revolutionary film, FLOW. Irena Salina's award-winning documentary investigates into what experts label the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st Century - The World Water Crisis. Salina builds a case against the growing privatization of the world's dwindling fresh water supply with an unflinching focus on politics, pollution, human rights, and the emergence of a domineering world water cartel. Interviews with scientists and activists intelligently reveal the rapidly building crisis, at both the global and human scale, and the film introduces many of the governmental and corporate culprits behind the water grab, while begging the question "Can anyone really own water?" Beyond identifying the problem, FLOW also gives viewers a look at the people and institutions providing practical solutions to the water crisis and those developing new technologies, which are fast becoming blueprints for a successful global and economic turnaround.
For more information, contact Tamara Ramirez@nau.edu, (928) 523-0499
Posted by maxmaddy at 5:12 PM
October 10, 2009
The Firefighters' Culinary Guard
Master Gardeners Column 10/10/09
I first saw Bev MacAllister one evening across a crowded room at a fluorescently lit meeting of the Master Gardener Association. I felt an affinity. She sparkled, especially her eyes. She celebrated her age with joy, doing something for someone else without profit or aggrandizement. She develops vegetable gardens at our local fire stations, enabling firefighters to grow and eat their own fresh vegetables.
Age has given her the time and experience to manufacture a model of Ernest Hemingway's "built-in shockproof crap detector," the better to cope with that salient feature of modern culture. It isn't lying so much, as Harry G. Frankfurt writes, but someone who "doesn't know what he is talking about" (On Bullshit, Princeton University Press, 2005.)
Of its four commonest forms, pomposity, fanaticism, inanity, and authority, she's dispatched them long ago. She's not intimidated by political, corporate, academic, ecclesiastical, or professional pomposities. Well-educated, she glides by on the other side of the street. A pragmatist, she holds her beliefs deeply, especially about organic food and modern medicine, but disparages the fanaticism of ideologically-driven bigots with "daggers in their smiles."
Inane, she's not. No sympathy for yesterday's hackneyed platitudes and clichés. As in Kansas City, her mind "is up to date," ready to separate the sheep from the goats. Balancing the equilibrium between spirituality and skepticism, cynicism doesn't begrime her mind while she gracefully "cuts the crap." Spiritual without religious authoritarianism, she's secular without scientific absolutism.
Bev's "crap detector" liberates her from that "salient feature" weighing heavily on many people, leading them to waste their lives in mistaken certitudes followed by confusion, anger, and depression, unaware of the world around them.
At peace with herself, knowing her own shortcomings and foibles, Bev takes herself for what she is. She doesn't fiddle with her self-image and is free to look outward. An existentialist, her life is now.
Bev's passion, along with organic gardening, is the welfare of firefighters, especially their cuisine, cuisine being the cornerstone of health. Ill-fed, decrepit firefighters are not a good thing. Problematically, firefighters do their own cooking at the firehouse but aren't required to pass a culinary course before becoming firefighters. My son, in his early years as a firefighter and paramedic in Los Angeles County, frequently called for culinary suggestions on easy-to-fix, meat and potatoes recipes. Swiss chard hasn't been a regular on firefighters' fare which is precisely where Bev enters the scene of Flagstaff firefighting.
She does three things. She helps them grow vegetables at the firehouses, takes them vegetables from her garden and from wherever and whomever she can, and teaches them how to cook them. This is not easily done because most Americans are alienated from their senses, particularity their sense of taste after generations of fast-food. They've yet to pull a carrot from the ground or taste a tomato off the vine. Their exclusive spice is salt.
Bev is up to the task. "I don't baby sit them. I just give'em a chance to experience growth and harvest, especially finding that freshly picked vegetables taste better." While her micro task is gardening, vegetables, and cooking, her macro task is an expansion of life's experiences.
Funding the operation herself with support from Viola's, she uses containers in the firehouse gardens. "That way," Bev said, "they can move them around, like the hot peppers. They were startled at the difference in taste between the store bought and fresh hot peppers from the garden. Now, they're going to bring the containers of hot peppers into the station and grow them in sun-lit windows for the winter."
Her Firefighter's Swiss chard recipe is 2qts of washed Swiss chard, 2 chopped large garlic cloves, 1tbsp tamari. Cut stems into 1" pieces, simmer 5 minutes in ¼ cup water, covered. Add sliced leaves and diced garlic to pan and more water, if needed, bring to a boil, simmer covered 8 minutes. Add tamari, toss, and eat.
Bev not only sparkles, she's joyful. A happy warrior in the battle for good organic eats, she stands culinary guard for the first responders.
Dana Prom Smith, a Master Gardener volunteer, is coordinating editor for the Master Gardener Column. He can be contacted at stpauls@npgcable.com. For gardening questions, please call the Master Gardener Hotline at 774-1868 ext.19 or visit the Master Gardener Web Site: highelevationgardening.arizona.edu.
Posted by maxmaddy at 4:31 PM
October 9, 2009
'Youth Works' Pine Needle Pick-up
Need some help picking up all those pine needles. The juvenile court system has kids that need to do community service. Because of the economy they have had fewer requests this year for their help. For just $2.50 for a very large bag they will come and rake, bag and stack them curbside for you. They just finished my yard in an hour - 20 bags. It would have take me weeks to get them all bagged.
Judy Chapman, their supervisor, can be reached at 226-5426 to schedule a time. Judy tells me they are also available in the spring and summer. They brought their own bags, gloves, rakes, and garbage cans to fill the bags and were very efficient. Just think of all the money you will save on antihistimines and Bengay and give Judy a call.
Loni Shapiro
Posted by maxmaddy at 4:41 PM
Coconino County Master Gardener Association Meeting
Our monthly meeting will be this Thursday 10/15 at the County Health Dept. Bldg. The agenda follows:
Master Gardener Meeting Agenda 10/15/09
County Health Dept. - Ponderosa Room 630pm-830pm
6:30pm-6:40pm Welcome - Agenda
Chaired by Dana Prom Smith
6:40pm-7:25pm Continuing Education
Sharing Gardening Successes for 2009
Topic I - Planting bulbs
Successful varieties
Successful prevention of damage from animals
Topic II - Tools
Multiple use tools that work well
Unusual tools that work well
Topic II - Varieties that worked well(veggies/flowers)
Bring your success stories, objects, or results to share with others. Limited to 15 minutes on each topic. The chair will recognize individuals for no more than 2 minutes on each topic, so that more can participate. If you think you want to speak on a topic, it would help if you e-mail Dana ahead of time (STPAULS@npg.com).
7:35pm-7:50pm Social/refreshments (Thanks to Rebecca Snow and Irene Matthews!)
7:35pm-8:15pm Business Meeting /Committee Meetings
20 minutes planning and 5 minutes each sharing results with the group
CE & Social Support
Do we want a Dec. meeting or a get-together
Should we survey MGs on ideas for scheduling speakers for 2009?
Community Programs
Share successes for this season
What should we do next year? Goals for next year.
Coordination MG Projects
Look at Yavapai County info to see if we should use it or come up with our own. If you want a copy before the meeting let Loni Shapiro know (522-8635 maxmaddy@infomagic.net). Goals for next year.
Volunteers
Goals for committee .
8:15pm-8:20pm Announcements
my folica.com - Ed Skiba
8:20pm-8:30pm Garden Problems
Next meeting: November 19th, 630pm - 830pm
Speaker Dan Caputo "Managing Wildlife in Your Garden"
Posted by maxmaddy at 6:40 AM
Olivia White Hospice Garden Project 10/15/08
We had a very small crew working this week in the gardens with many on vacation or ill. David Hockman continued to spread mulch throughout the garden. Linda Guarino did some work on the drip, planted bearded iris donated by Nora Graf, and helped put away tea pots and clean up. Leslie Penick came and worked on the compost and also cleaned pots. Much is still to be done to wrap up for the season. Next week we will turn off the drip so hopefully weekly moisture will continue.
We are awaiting arrival of some new benches and gliders (6) which will need to be assembled. They are made from recycled milk jugs (green) and have a waranty good for 30 years. The redwood benches were beautiful, but very time consuming for our gardeners (staining and repairs). Between the intense sun and our snow they had a limited life. If you can do some repairs and are interested in buying one they will be available at Hodge Podge (the 2nd hand store for Northland Hospice).
Thank you:
Nora Graf for some beautiful bearded iris
Beverly & John Emerson for a DVD of the garden tours
Plans for 10/15/09:
Continue to put away hardscape (Faerie Garden and birdhouse trellis)
Wash pots to store
Turn off drip
Make sure roses are ready for winter (cut off roses and any long stems that may break)
Finish cleaning and spreading mulch
Time permitting - begin planting bulbs
Plans for 10/17/09:
Grand Canyon Youth Corp
Plant bulbs
General clean-up
Come join us for the last month of our gardening season. We will be busy putting things away and planting our bulbs in anticipation of spring. We meet between 8am-12pm. Come for any or part of that time. Park at the 1st Congregational Church on Turquoise just past Switzer Canyon Drive.
Thanks,
Loni Shapiro
"Bittersweet October. The mellow, messy, leaf-kicking, perfect pause
between the opposing miseries of summer and winter."
- Carol Bishop Hipps
Posted by maxmaddy at 6:01 AM
October 6, 2009
Friends of the Rio de Flag 1st Annual Fall Cleanup of the Rio
When: 9:00 a.m. - Noon; Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009
Where: Meet near the footbridge at Wheeler Park
Wear: Long pants; sturdy shoes; hat; appropriate clothing per the weather forecast
Bring: Water; sunscreen and a sack lunch
What to expect:
An introduction (trash bags, gloves and tools will be provided by the city) and brief history of this section of the Rio; assign teams for sections from Francis Short Pond to Route 66; hike up the Rio, on the FUTS Trail to Francis Short Pond (approximately 1/2 mile); cleanup on our way back downstream; have lunch in the Park with a discussion about the Friends of the Rio de Flag.
Posted by lunaticchick at 12:24 PM
Wild Places: Art, Gender and Planet Earth
Embrace and Explore Infinite Possibilities...
Enroll in WGS 499-2
Wild Places: Art, Gender and Planet Earth
Course Includes Trip to Marble Canyon
In this course, we will talk and learn about cultivating harmony through poetry, movement, and reflection in nature. The artistic imagination embraces and explores infinite possibility, including the kinship bonds we have with all beings. And as artists discovering our place in the nature of things, we achieve a new intimacy with the planet that nurtures us. From this rooted perspective, the threads of gender, relationship and right action can be woven into creative lies that are in balance with the Earth's riches and constraints.
Wild Places: Art, Gender and Earth
WGS 499-2 Class number 12777
1 Credit
Transportation/Lodging $200
A. Buford (Arianne.Buford@nau.edu)
Classroom Date: October 9th, 10am -11am, SBS West, 208
Dates in Marble Canyon with Ann Walka and Jayne Lee:
Friday - Sunday, October 16-18
Contact Ray Foushee at the Women's and Gender Studies Office, SBS West
Suite 100
(928) 523-2011
Print attached flyer and distribute: Marble Canyon Flyer.doc
Posted by maxmaddy at 11:55 AM
October 5, 2009
NoHo Apple Festival
What: NoHo Apple Festival
When: Sunday, October 11, 3:30 to 6 p.m.
Where: Parking lot of Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church (1601 N. San Francisco)
(Neighborhood north of the hospital)
Event flyer (pdf): NoHo Apple Fest.pdf
Everyone welcome -- Join us for fun activities and games for the whole family!
Apple cider-making and apple-themed potluck - bring a dish to share and your own plates, cups and utensils
Autumn recipe, garden seed and Halloween costume swaps
Solar cooking demonstration
Live music
Children's arts & crafts and fun booths
Event co-sponsor Friends of Flagstaff's Future will be bringing apples to the event for a cider-making demonstration/tasting.
Bring your own apples to make cider, bring the kids.
Event co-sponsors:
NoHo neighborhood, Friends of Flagstaff's Future, Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, Hopi Dance Program at Marshall and Sechrist Flagstaff Middle Schools
We hope you participate! For more information or if you have apples to spare, email dexter@intrinsicinfo.com or call 928-522-6015. Also, watch for us on Facebook - coming soon!
Posted by maxmaddy at 5:36 AM
October 4, 2009
Sui Generis: A Garden of Islands
Master Gardener Column 10/3/09
"When a plant does well, I propagate it, like those lilacs along the fence in the backyard. They all came from one lilac out front. Now, that lilac's dead, but all those out in the back are thriving legacies with beautiful blooms."
A tour through Grant and Nancy Gerver's garden is a tour of propagation from bearded irises to lilacs. A nurse at FMC, Nancy says, "I'm just a farm girl. I like to get my hands in the dirt and make things grow." Indeed, her garden is a potpourri of plants, all with histories, coming from other places in her garden.
Raised on a farm on Whidbey Island in the far reaches of Washington's Puget Sound, the island metaphor runs throughout her garden. A series of islands, islands of grass, ponds, flower beds, and gazeboes with no hard-edged rectangulars, gives her garden a sense of peace and ease.
Of course, some rectangles are allowed, a vegetable garden, a half basket ball court-cum-outdoor dining room with table and benches, and off the back door a shed and a deck with a hammock under great spreading trees, but they're off to the sides of the yard where they don't intrude.
At first glance, the back yard seems random, that is, until the visitor feels the pull of that line of sight, the draw of the islands, stepping stones leading one to the other. Islands of grass surrounded by graveled paths lead the eye to scattered isles of bedded flowers and then to three isles of ascending ponds of water knit together by waterfalls all the way to a small rustic gazebo set under an overhanging tree.
The line of islands isn't straight but a soft S curve, a subtle pattern giving both a sense of ease and power. A straight line is power spent while an S curve is power latent without stressed hard edges.
An island to read, think, chew the rag, sip a glass of wine, "two for tea and tea for two," and survey the whole of the garden, the gazebo is both the end of a journey and the beginning to see the journey from the other side. A retrospective, a looking backward gives the pilgrim opportunities to see what was not seen at first sight and what things look like the other way around.
What was not seen from the gazebo is another garden, again all islands, with one big oval bed with smaller oval patches, as though they were satellites.
Nancy cautioned that the garden isn't finished, that "there's a lot to do," but, indeed, there's always lots to do in a garden. There were some weeds, ovals that weren't complete and drifted off, but such is the case with any gardener's garden. Never finished, it is always a work in progress with things that need to be done. The best way to die is to be finished and complete.
As a graduate student toiling on my doctorate at the University of Chicago, I took a seminar with the famous theologian Paul Tillich who was at end of his career. I'd read nearly everything he's written and anticipated a fascinating seminar. Not so, I was bored by a great man who was merely tidying up his ideas and had stopped breaking new ground a generation previous.
Later, I took a seminar from Anders Nygren of Uppsala of Agape and Eros fame. Far older than Tillich, he was still plowing unfurrowed fields and drew me along on his intellectual journey scrutinized by his single, monocled eye.
Nancy Gerver's garden isn't modeled from a leftover landscaper's grid. Born of her private visions, sui generis, it's still a developing and growing place of peace and curiosity. Over to the left, unnoticed in her line of islands and pools, is a statue of Saint Francis holding a small pond of water. Once belonging to a neighbor of hers now dead but whose memory she cherishes, it is one end of an axis with the gazebo, holding those remembrances of things past, allowing the mind to follow the S curves in life, finding the other sides of reality.
Dana Prom Smith, a Master Gardener volunteer, is coordinating editor for the Master Gardener Column. He can be contacted at stpauls@npgcable.com. For gardening questions, please call the Master Gardener Hotline at 774-1868 ext.19 or visit the Master Gardener Web Site: highelevationgardening.arizona.edu.
Posted by maxmaddy at 7:55 AM
October 1, 2009
Olivia White Hospice Project Workday 10/8/09
On Thursday, we spent most of our time cleaning up after the hard frost. The annuals that we had not moved were mostly gone. We did manage to move in a few herbs that had been spared. Linda Guarino and David Hockman spent their time mulching all the roses. Nancy Palmer filled bird feeders. Julie Holmes transplanted some herbs to pots for the sun porch. Crys Wells watered the sun porch plants and helped Nancy get the fountain cleaned and put away for the winter. I spent my time cleaning the garage for winter and making sure others had enough work to do. Leslie Penick came and worked on compost and helped others finish their work.
On Friday, I stopped by the garden in the evening to make sure our solar lights were working and to check out the full moon on the Moon Garden. I got some good photos even though it was a little hazy. I also almost tripped on a hugh skunk. Luckily I wasn't sprayed. He ran in the opposite direction I did.
Two of our gardeners (Linda Guarino and Crys Wells) received their 2-year aprons and others (David Hockman, Nancy Palmer and Leslie Penick) got thank you gifts as well. Leslie brought some peach scones (still warm) made from peaches brought in from Colorado.
Thank you:
Leslie Penick for peaches and potatos
We will still be in the gardens working in October if you want to join us. The focus will be on putting the garden to bed for the winter and planting fall bulbs. The Saturday workday for October will be on the 17th from 9am-12pm. Weather permitting we will focus on bulb planting. We have a variety of tulips, dafodils, and squill to plant. The Grand Canyon Youth Corp will be joining us.
Come join us for our regular Thursday workday. Things are never dull and you can learn a great deal about high elevation gardening from the variety of master gardeners and the many trees, shrubs and plants we have. You can come for any or all of the scheduled time. Bring a hat, sun screen, gloves and any tools you like to work with (we also have tools and gloves but our supply is limited). Water and snacks are provided. Parking is not allowed at the home. Park at the 1st Congregation Church on Turquoise just past Switzer Canyon Drive.
Plans for next week 10/8/09:
Continue to spread mulch
Finish planting perennials (weather permitting)
Put away hard scape for the winter ( FG, TG, granite birdbaths, wind chimes, bird houses)
Get sensory pots ready for winter
Thin iris - plant iris (new colors)
Water as needed (sun room, trees and shrubs)
Thanks, Loni Shapiro
928-522-8635
maxmaddy@infomagic.net
"In the garden, Autumn is, indeed the crowning glory of the year, bringing us the fruition of months of thought and care and toil.
And at no season, safe perhaps in Daffodil time, do we get such superb colour effects as from August to November."
- Rose G. Kingsley, The Autumn Garden, 1905
Posted by maxmaddy at 7:28 PM