News & Events

7:30 a.m. -11°. -28° windchill. Leaving the warm house to start my vehicle was harsh this morning. I want the chill out of the Blazer before I take kids to school. We watch the temperature on the way to school. "Heat wave! It's up to nine below!" I dropped kids off at the door and reminded them to stay warm. They probably won't go out for their recesses today.

During the winter I am up long before the sun. Each morning I push back the window quilt over the bay window to look for early birds. Just before sunrise the first ones arrive to what is usually a well-stocked feeding station. If I've been paying attention there's plenty of seed and suet waiting for them. If not, I put on my coat, boots and glove and head out to the feeders.

The chickadees are always grateful for a freshly filled feeder. Before I leave the feeding station they start landing in branches beside the feeder. Thanks for seed...seed...seed!" Two and three winters ago I had a chickadee that tapped on the window if the feeders were empty. He didn't stop tapping until I went out. Tossing a cup of seed out the window wasn't good enough. He wanted the feeders filled. And being the well-trained feeder of birds that I am, I obliged. The bluejays aren't as polite. “NOW! NOW! NOW!” And what do I get as a thanks for filling the feeder? They throw seed to the ground while looking for the perfect sunflower seed. Ha! Joke's on them. They missed a lot of plump seeds, as do the rest of the birds. In the spring I find them germinating in my flower garden. Or is that joke on me? The garden is supposed to be filled with perennials!

This month I'm announcing a contest. But before I give you the details let me give you some background about why.

I've been involved in farming and gardening in some fashion for more than 30 years. I've watched the organic movement transition from the back-to-the-land hippies into the commodity of multinational marketing departments. The term organic has gone from a general concept of food raised without use of chemical fertilizers or pesticides into a Federal law that splits hairs over the minute details of what should or shouldn't be considered "organic".

I met Ellie through pictures and emails last year, right after she was born. She's Tish King's granddaughter. Tish is one of the members of our F&G family. Ellie is one of the most beautiful babies I've ever seen. I'm convinced this little girl never frowns let alone cries. When she gets closer to the "terrible twos" I am certain she'll never scream "NO!" or give her parents, Richard and Chrystie, a run for their money. Ever. She is an angel! She's always smiling. Tish sends out a daily newsletter. When it arrives in the morning the first thing I do is scroll down to the photo and hope that it's Ellie. I can't help but smile when I see those big, beautiful blue eyes and those long eyelashes, the big smile - she truly is one of the cutest kids I've ever seen. And it's not because I love Tish and Ellie is her granddaughter - this kid really is cute...as you'll get to see.

It's late November and I live in Maine. Presumably, the garden was put to bed for the winter a month or so ago. That's true for most of the garden. With cold frames and greenhouses we can add lots of time to both ends of the growing season. But outside, without protection, we can't expect to have much a week away from December in Maine. It feels like we should be done in the garden. Weeds were pulled and tossed on top of the soil weeks ago. All of the leaves I could rake and collect from other folks were spread on the garden in October. Finished compost was spread and new piles were made. It was 16° when I woke up at 5 a.m. The soil was crunchy under my feet this morning; so much better than slipping in mud. My boots didn't need to be left on the back porch to give mud time to dry and fall off.

A car pulled in a little while ago. That's unusual for a Sunday afternoon, especially now that the farmstand is closed. It was a young couple and their baby, looking for the pumpkin patch that used to be up the road. They were disappointed that it wasn't open. Darryl had been to the patch many times as a kid. He and Heather wanted 18 month old Cadence, their daughter, to pick her first pumpkin this year. Cadence had other plans. She was sound asleep. I have a few pumpkins left. There's not much to pick from but they were welcome to what they'd like. They chose four; two traditional jackolanterns, a white Lumina and a small orange pumpkin Heather's nephew would be able to carry around.

Smart Packaging?

Here we go again with irradiation. A Texas A&M University researcher has developed a way to improve the safety of packaged fresh vegetables. Dr. Jaejoon Han studied how packing vegetables in plastic bags coated with a natural antimicrobial agent and then processing them under electronic beam irradiation can reduce amounts of foodborne pathogens. They call it "Smart Packaging". I don't like the direction this could lead. It's not a big step to conceive the USDA would require all packaging of fresh vegetables use this method of sterilization. Irradiated salad anyone?

This year's third graders have taken to the garden like ducks to water. We harvested more than 20 pie pumpkins from the garden last Friday. We will be making pumpkin pies, bread, muffins, seeds, etc.

In my opinion, Monsanto is public enemy number one when it comes to genetically modified crops (aka transgenic crops). It is estimated they have invested millions in the industry and fully expect to reap several times that much in return. But it should be common knowledge that Monsanto isn't in this for the short-term dollar. They aren't naive. Monsanto knows that winning the genetically modified food battle is about who can stand in the ring the longest and with their deep pockets and marketing machine, Monsanto stands to win the war. Monsanto's latest right hook, their new website Conversations about Plant Biotechnology (http://www.monsanto.com/biotech-gmo/asp/default.asp), is just another punch in their arsenal.

When we were looking for the right person to write the Feature column on flowers Jeannie Pierce came to mind quickly. Jeannie has a beautiful flower garden at her home in Florida. She shared her garden with us in Bloom With A View. This month's Feature article was also written by Jeannie.