Category: Farm and Garden

In the Garden

By Laurie Marshall of See Laurie Write

When my grandmother died, my mother bought her house and continued to care for the small cottage garden that had become grandma’s showplace. Around the hand-built rock fountain my grandfather built when I was a toddler, she planted lamb’s ears, azaleas, blue bells, daffodils, and several varieties of iris. All the garden goodness was watched over by a small statue of St. Francis of Assisi.

St. Francis and Iris

When my mother died in 2009, the task of cleaning out the house fell to my sister and me. It was difficult to part with the furniture and mementos that mom left behind, but because of the genuine love of the digging in the dirt that seems to be a genetic trait in my family, it was perhaps even harder to give up the years of passionate work that built that garden. One of the final things I did before I left the house for the last time was to  fill a few tote bags with iris tubers. And St. Frank. Call me greedy. Or grieving.

Grandma’s irises have been in the ground in my front yard for several years now, and this year they have apparently reached their adolescence or something, because they are fantastic! There are several purple and lilac varieties, and a pink and gold one that is truly special.

Purple Iris 1

Pink and Yellow 2

The garden that was already in place in our back yard when we bought our house has provided white, yellow, pink and peach iris as well. It’s been a lovely spring for hand-picked bouquets. I know this fall will be a perfect time to cut a few pieces off to share with friends, so before they stopped blooming, I wanted to mark them.

I’ve been collecting mismatched pieces of old silver plate, knowing that I’d find a use for them “someday”. I am drawn to the tarnished and the rusty, you see. To create some plant markers, I dug out a box of old canning lids from my stash, and wrote the flower colors on them before wedging them between the tines of the forks.

Plant markers 2

I tend to decorate my garden with found and repurposed objects, so these markers fit right in. And they remind me of the thrifty“wear it out” sensibilities of my mother and grandmother. A fitting tribute, don’t you think?

Plant markers

 

LaurieMarshallLaurie is a writer and junque-hunter living in Springdale, Arkansas with her husband, son and three goofy cats. She raises kids and chickens and makes messes in her craft room. She loves to create good food, pretty gardens, and happy kids. But when that doesn’t happen as planned, she simply reads about them on Pinterest. You can follow Laurie at See Laurie Write.

Confessions of a Semi-successful Gardener

by Jeanetta Darley

“April showers bring May flowers.”

And yes, May flowers bring pilgrims but this time of year they also bring bees to the garden.  And bees bring pollination.  And pollination brings a bountiful harvest.  

Well, that’s the theory of gardening anyway.  

When that theory is proved right you feel so successful.  You feel like the queen cultivator out to provide food for her family from the dirt of the earth.  Crowned with your over-sized sun hat and your trusty trowel at your side.  You envision an ever vigilant summer where weeds tremble at your hands, beetles and aphids have retreated in terror and the neighbor’s dog has banished any thought of digging in that fresh smelling dirt.  You can and freeze and dehydrate.  Fresh salads are fixed every night.  And your kids no longer snub the dark green vegetables from days of yore because they have been enlightened and now know where their food comes from and will eat it happily.

Sorry to burst your bubble but the dream of gardening nirvana just doesn’t exist.  Not even for professional farmers and gardeners. The reality is a garden, like anything worthwhile, is hard work.  It’s dirty work during the hottest most humid times of the year. But don’t let the fear of failure or the harsh conditions stop you from pushing on.

I have only been gardening with minor success for maybe the past four years.  I say minor success because each year I learn some things I need to stop doing and some things I need to start doing.  So this is my garden confessional for this year.

Things to stop:

  • I’m a hopeless over-planter.  I envision myself harvesting and washing and cooking and canning every evening during the summer when the reality is I’m lucky to give them a quick rinse and blanch and pop them in the freezer.  

  • Don’t get angry at my family when they don’t share my gardening passion.  I can get grumpy being the only one that ever waters or mulches or shells peas.  Even if they do enjoy the eating.

Things to start:

  • Keep a better journal.  I use a fantastic online journal with the website SmartGardener.  It is very easy to use and helps with your garden floor plan and even sends email reminders.
  • Prune! I’m terrified to prune. So by mid summer my over-planted, over-grown raised beds resemble a small jungle.
  • Compost.  It’s time I gathered all the chicken poop and tossed it in with the eggshells and other matter and get some composting bins started
  • Plan our meals around the harvest and give our abundance to food pantries.

I am always asked questions about starting a garden and when you’re supposed to do what when.  The truth is I’m still learning all that too.  I ask questions. I look things up and most importantly I just go ahead and do it.  Start simple.  Don’t get discouraged.  Pay attention.  And have fun.  Happy gardening!

My Favorite Gardening Resources:

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Karen Kingsolver

SmartGardener.com

P. Allen Smith’s Youtube Channel

#Bean2Blog: Meet Your Community

#Bean2blog P. Allen Smith
Photo credit: Kelly Stamps

Written by Lyndi of nwafoodie

Today I want to talk about community.

Merriam-Webster defines community as “a people with common interests living in a particular area.”

I think I can safely say that we all joined the Arkansas Women Blogger’s community specifically for the reason that it gives us access to each other. Access to discover who is in our backyard.

We are here to learn, grow, share, and build on that community.

Last Tuesday, I had the extreme pleasure to meeting seventeen other Arkansas women bloggers at P. Allen Smith’s Moss Mountain Garden Home just outside of Little Rock at an event called #Bean2Blog. The Arkansas Soybean Board selected a cross-section of female bloggers from Arkansas to come to the farm and learn about the benefits of the humble soybean, one of Arkansas pride and joy bushel crops.

To say that we learned a lot that day on the farm would be an extreme understatement. Each one gathered knowledge in their unique way and then shared that knowledge by their own unique voices.

I loved meeting those ladies and wanted you to meet them, too.

Pour yourself a nice cool drink and pull up a chair or get comfy on the couch. Today you’re going to meet the #Bean2Blog ladies and hear their unique voices about the event. You are going to swoon over P. Allen’s gorgeous farmhouse and post a billion Pinterest photos for inspiration. You are going to laugh and fall in love with a real Arkansas farmer and immediately want to be adopted into his family.

You are going to want to hear all of their stories. I guarantee you will find a friend or two in the process.

I know I did.

Here’s a bonus. Some of these lovely ladies may be in your very own backyards.

Just waiting for you both to “meet” each other.

Enjoy the tour.

Northwest Arkansas Region
1. Stephanie McCratic, Evolved Mommy, “That’s Soy Controversial”
2. Lela Davidson, After the Bubbly, “Beans, Bloggers, and Big Ass Vegetables”
3. Amy James, Our Everyday Dinners, “Part IV. The People, The Boots.”
4. Kelly Stamps, Kellys Korner, “My Day at Moss Mountain”
5. Lyndi Fultz (me), nwafoodie “Learn, Share, Teach, and Continue Building on Lessons”

Northeast Arkansas Region
6. Sara Bird-Bogner, East 9th Street, “I’m a Little Country at the Garden Home Retreat”
7. Anita Stafford, Aunt Nubbys kitchen, “Bean2Blog 2012”

Central Arkansas Region
8. Alison Chino, Chino House, “Soaking it all in”
9. Ashley Ederington, The Ederington Family, “The Inaugural Bean2Blog Event”
10. Jerusalem Greer, Jolly Goode Gal, “ Soy Joy Pt2 Mucking Around the True Love Tree”
11. Johnice Hopson, Wynns Folly
12. Christi Ison, Fancy Pants Foodie
13. Tara Johnson, Taste Arkansas, “Bean2Blog”
14. JoBeth “Boots” McElhanon, Boots McBlog, “The Little Things, Part 2. The Farmhouse”
15. Kricia Palmer, Palmer Home, “A Simpler Life”
16. LaTonya Richardson, 40s, Reasons to Live, Love & Laugh Out Loud, “The Miracle Bean”
17. Cara Wilkerson, Living the Home Life, “Life Outside the Construction Site: Moss Mountain Farm”
18. Fawn Rechkemmer, Instead of the Dishes, “P. Allen Smiths #Bean2Blog Part 1”

Happy Reading!
Lyndi

Lyndi of nwafoodie is a girl who just happens to live in beautiful Northwest Arkansas. Much of her blogging inspiration comes from this gem of a place she refers to as the proverbial land of milk-and-honey. Read about her in the ARWB January 2012 blogger of the month autobiography.


Farmers’ Market Shopping 101

Written by ARWB Founder The Park Wife

Farmers Market season is upon us with many markets already open while others must wait until late June or July before farmers’ fields are productive. Four years ago, I started and ran two farmers markets – coordinating with the towns, recruiting vendors, connecting with customers and devising eccentric activities that keep the customers returning to the market even after their shopping was done.   With four market seasons under my belt and my time on the Arkansas Farmers’ Market Board, I have garnered a little wisdom (and a lot of farmer friends) and want to share a few tips with you that can enhance your farmers marketing experience.

Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food. Spend a few minutes chatting it up at your local farmers’ market! It takes tremendous dedication to both science and art (not to mention dirty feet and nails)  to turn out beautiful produce on a small farm, and the time you spend inquiring about the results of that dedication will yield both useful information and infectious enthusiasm.

 A huge benefit of farmers’ markets is your ability to look the farmer in the eye and ask anything you want about how the food was grown. That’s a rare opportunity in our supermarket culture. Do it!  Ask about a food you don’t recognize, how to cook it, and whether it’s coming in or heading out of season. Find out what the farmer expects to bring to market next week so you can start to plan ahead. Learn all you can about the farmer’s growing practices, and make sure you know who you’re buying from. And, sweet strawberry, make sure you are buying from a real farmer, not a peddler who went to a warehouse or south of the border and bought a truck load of produce to sell.

Know Your Seasons: If someone is selling watermelons in May in Arkansas, you can bet that they did not grow them locally. Check out the Arkansas crop harvest calendar.  http://www.pickyourown.org/ARharvestcalendar.htm

The Early Bird Gets the Worm, or Best Tomatoes: The season’s first blueberries and finest tomatoes will disappear within the first hour that the market is open, so if you’ve got your heart set on something in particular, it pays to wake up early. Hopefully the market you frequent will serve coffee.

Go Big: If it is in season, buy as much as you can! You’ll enjoy the best flavors and the best prices when you buy a lot of whatever is at its harvest peak. How to use it all up? Try new recipes with favorite vegetables or learn the lost art of preserving food. Freezing, canning, and drying are just some of the ways you can save seasonal tastes you find at the farmers market for later in the year.

Try Something New Each Week. A benefit of farmers’ markets, as compared to CSAs, is the increased ability to stay within your comfort zone if you so choose. But if you are lucky enough to visit a farmers’ market with a selection of unusual produce, why not try one new food each time you visit? At best, maybe you’ll discover a new love. At worst, you will know better next time.

BYOB -Bring your own bag, and maybe a cooler. Yea hippie chics, that reusable canvas tote is good for the earth and it helps the farmers out by not cutting into their already slim profit margins. You are also being kind to yourself, because those el cheapo plastic bags are no way to carry cantaloupes and a dozen ears of corn in one hand, yes, I have seen them bust resulting in bruised produce and embarrassed foodies. If your market sells eggs, cheese, or meat, bring a cooler. The only thing worse than passing up a dozen beautiful eggs because you’re not prepared to bring them home is bringing them home anyway and they ruin.

 And, my favorite-
Volunteer at the Market! By volunteering at the market not only do you get a better understanding of the workings of a farmers market and farm-to-market relationships, but you also enjoy an opportunity to spend some time outside volunteering for a good cause. By volunteering at the market, you reduce the substantial workload faced by the market manager. A good market manager makes a market, help them do their job, they usually are doing it for free. It will make your local market stronger and you may also earn some free fruit, vegetables or other food as many vendors will leave goods they don’t want to take home with market volunteers and management.

Celebrate your market and your local farmers.   Buy fresh, buy local and buy in season.

The Park Wife

Things I Heart Thursday – Garden Fancies

Things I Heart Thursday – Garden Fancies
Written by Paige of Approaching Joy

MD mentioned recently, there is something very satisfying about the “starting over” process that asks us both literally and metaphorically dig a little deeper than we may do otherwise.
With a move coming up in my near future, I can’t help but daydream about the opportunity to “start fresh” in and out of the garden.

#1 These are whimsical, cute, and utterly amazing gnomes.  But they are perfect for infusing a big chunk of personality into one’s garden. (Especially, if garden=potted flowers as it does for me.)

#2 I like the color green as much as the next girl but who could resist this baby blue water hose? Not me.

#3 I am a tiny bit obsessed by all things yellow lately (as shown by the addition of three new pair of yellow shoes in my closet within the last year.) Much more practical: these mustard cafe chairs which practically beg to be put out on a porch to enjoy a glorious southern sunset after putting in all the work in your potted plants/ backyard/ back 40.  Best of all- they’re faux wicker I.e. durable to the max.

#4 Okay okay. I’ve already admitted that my kind of gardening takes place in pots on the patio BUT if I were to foray into the real thing these boots would be on my “must have” list.

#5 And these lovelies call to mind the über romantic dance scene in Hope Floats. Thanks to the cool kids over at Target we can all pretend we are Sandra Bullock even if in reality we are just relaxing on our own patio listening to Harry Conick Jr’s sweet voice on the stereo and enjoying homemade ice cream with our girlfriends.

Paige is a fabulous twenty something who is into photography, food, fashion, and (most especially) fun. A south Arkansas native she plans on moving to Northwest Arkansas in t-minus 6 weeks and she couldn’t be any happier about it.  She blogs because she believes everyones prettier when they share.

 

You can find her here:

http://paigemeredith.typepad.com/approachingjoy/
https://twitter.com/#!/approaching_joy
http://pinterest.com/paigemeredith/