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October 3, 2008  

With a presidential election at our doorstep and the stock market teetering, the economy is on everyone’s minds these days. Perhaps for the first time since the Great Depression, Americans are painfully realizing that our country’s financial system is too heavily based on speculation and spending beyond a reasonable means to repay.

Fueled by cheap energy and irrational exuberance, consumers have become addicted to purchasing items we don’t need, eating rich food filled with empty calories, and spending far too much time in cars, trucks, and planes. Sedentary lifestyles and poor nutrition are contributing to a health care and obesity crisis that will sink our economic ship, unless we collectively work together to steward and conserve natural resources.

As millions of Americans worry about economic futures and retirement plans, countless Vermonters are rolling up their sleeves and turning attention back to the land. Organic farms are booming across the state, while home and community vegetable gardens are popping up in numbers not seen since the Victory Garden days of World War II.

The reason is simple—a well tended vegetable garden is a sound investment that pays dividends year after year, and not just in the bounty of fresh food produced. The reality is that the outdoor work involved in planting, tending, and harvesting contributes abundantly to good health and nutrition, and to a positive sense of community well being. 

If you’re considering planting a garden next spring, fall is the best time to plan ahead. To start a home vegetable garden, select a sunny spot in your yard, turn over the sod, and cover the area with mulch to help the roots decompose over the winter. If yard space is an issue, timber framed raised beds filled with compost-enriched top soil can be constructed.

For those who lack garden space at home, a nearby community or neighborhood garden may have plots or raised beds available. To access a directory of community-based gardens and contacts, check out the FBG web site at www.burlingtongardens.org.

Residents of Burlington, Essex Junction, Shelburne, and Williston interested in joining a local community garden can contact their parks and recreation department and ask to be placed on the mailing list for spring registrations. Colchester residents in need of neighborhood community garden space are encouraged to contact Kristy Spengler of the Colchester Energy Task Force at 864-6567.

Until next month, happy harvesting and thanks to all who help to support community and school gardening.

For nearly fifty years, my life has revolved around the timeless ritual of growing, preparing, eating, and celebrating fresh food. From the first planting of peas in early April until the garden is put to bed late in October, a seasonal clock tuned to nature’s rhythms pulls me along. Deep inside I know that despite drenching rains or long periods of drought, most of the seeds and tender transplants will spring up, blossom, and eventually bear fruit if I patiently do my part.

Reflecting on the 2008 growing season, I remember the warm April sunshine which allowed for early spading and tilling in many area gardens. Although May was lean on precipitation, the moderate temperatures provided almost perfect conditions for fruit tree pollination.

June rains were welcomed by thirsty plantings of peas, greens, and root crops. Striped cucumber beetles emerged between showers to munch on vine crop seedlings. Aided by a stretch of sunny days in early July, most plants were fortunately able to fight off the insect attacks. 

Rains of epic proportions followed, seemingly for 40 days and nights, saturating the soil and allowing slugs and blight to spread through the lush plant growth. Onions, carrots, beets, and potatoes fared well, but the heat loving zucchinis, eggplants, and cucumbers tended to struggle.

Pleasant weather returned to greet the Champlain Valley Fair, lift our spirits, and usher in the peak harvest season. Now with sunflowers blooming, tomatoes ripening, and apple picking underway, September is a perfect time to gather in community and celebrate the bounty of nature.

Corn Roast Dinner and Veggie Ball

For the second year, Friends of Burlington Gardens will host a Corn Roast Dinner and Veggie Ball, held on Saturday, September 13 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Ethan Allen Homestead. The event is a lively benefit gala to help support community and school gardening, locally and statewide.

Tickets are $30 for adults and teens, and $15 for children ages 6 to 12 accompanied by an adult. A five dollar per person discount is available for advance tickets purchased by September 11. To reserve tickets, please call the Friends of Burlington Gardens office at 861-4769.

The vegetarian dinner features delicious gourmet appetizers, entrees, sweet corn, and desserts, prepared with fresh ingredients from local gardens and farms. Jenni Johnson and Friends will perform live jazz after dinner, with dancing under the event tents or in the moonlight.

Until next month, happy harvest celebrations!

Snow banks still linger as I sit down on a cool spring morning to draft this April garden column. Although the maple sap dripped in the buckets last night, winter seems ever so slow to lose its icy grip. Yet nature’s clock is steadily ticking ahead and gently nudging the Earth to awaken with each new minute of daylight.

Soon it will be time to turn over the soil, mark out rows with stakes and string, and plant the first seeds of peas and spinach in the garden. Memories will come floating back with the caress of sunlight warming my face and the sturdy feel of the rake and the hoe in my hands.

Two generations ago, a majority of Vermonters tended vegetable gardens as a source of food, enjoyment, and community pride. Children learned to garden from their parents, grandparents, and aunts and uncles. An abundant harvest provided food to share with neighbors and preserve for winter use. Working at the kitchen table snapping beans and canning tomatoes nurtured strong family ties and a sense of interdependence—values that are just as important today.

At their graduation dinner last October, Community Teaching Garden students gave me a copy of “Animal Vegetable Miracle: A Year of Food Life” by Barbara Kingsolver. This encouraging book details the efforts of the Kingsolver family to consciously eat foods grown and produced in the same area where they live, work, and go to school. Through sharing the joys and challenges of vegetable gardening, raising chickens, making cheese, and canning summer fruits, a message comes through urging our society to move back to local food sources.

On May 12, students in the 2008 Community Teaching Garden will begin a 20-week trek at Ethan Allen Homestead learning to plant, cultivate, harvest, and preserve their own fresh organically grown vegetables. Participants will receive a gift copy of “Animal Vegetable Miracle” to accompany the hands-on classes, which meet Monday and Thursday evenings at 7 p.m. The cost for the 40-session course is $200, which includes seeds, tools, supplies, abundant fresh produce, and special events. Scholarships covering up to half the course fee are available for limited income participants.

The Community Teaching Garden is open to anyone in the Burlington area who has a sincere desire and commitment to learn how to garden organically in a community setting. To learn more about the program and receive an application form (deadline April 30), please visit www.burlingtongardens.org or call the Friends of Burlington Gardens office at 861-4769. 

Winter in Vermont lived up to its reputation this year with abundant snowfall, moderately cold temperatures, and thaws at just the right intervals to ward off cabin fever. As the vernal equinox approaches on March 20, gardeners across Vermont await to embark on the timeless path of planting, weeding, watering, and harvesting fresh food from the land.

For a few enterprising green thumbs, crops planted in 2007 are 2008’s first fruits. Peter Hopkins, who coordinates a community garden in Pownal, Vermont, mulched a row of carrots last fall to winter over in the garden. On President’s Day, Peter sent me a photo of bright orange roots freshly dug from the semi-frozen soil. Looking at the prized carrots in his hand, I could almost taste the sweetness soon to be enjoyed.
Like their carrot cousins, parsnips are also a member of the parsley family. In Vermont, parsnip seeds are planted in early to mid May. The seedlings usually take two weeks for germination and should be thinned to every two inches by early summer. Parsnips can be dug in the late fall to use in stews, but if left in the ground until spring, the fleshy roots become much sweeter as stored starch is magically converted to sugar.

When cultivated in sandy soil, parsnips may grow up to two feet in length and three inches in diameter. The outer flesh of the largest roots remains tender, while the inner core often becomes woody. Parsnips can be boiled, baked, mashed, or roasted. One of my favorite cooking methods is to sauté parsnips and ham in a little butter. The natural sugars carmelize as the strips of parsnips sizzle to golden brown in a well seasoned fry pan.

Speaking of sweets, our family had fun last spring tapping the silver maple tree in front of our home in Burlington. Using two buckets and taps purchased from Depot Farm Supply, we produced 16 ounces of pure Vermont maple syrup. The process required 5-1/2 gallons of sap, plus an unknown quantity of natural gas for the stove.

When making syrup, the trick is to pay close attention at the end of the boiling process. Like many first timers, we managed to artfully burn our first batch. Who would have known that an ounce of syrup could produce such a mess in the pan? But with perseverance we kept at it like Ponce de Leon searching for the Fountain of Youth, or at least a few humble pancakes graced with our own version of Vermont’s finest.