Happy Thanksgiving Poem from Helene C.

Let us give thanks...

For generous friends...with hearts as big as hubbards 
and smiles as bright as their blossoms;

For feisty friends as tart as apples;

For continuous friends, who, like scallions and cucumbers, keep reminding us we had them;

For crotchety friends, as sour as rhubarb and as indestructible;

For handsome friends, who are as gorgeous as eggplants and as elegant as a row of corn -- and the others -- as plain as potatoes, and so good for you.

For funny friends, who are as silly as brussels sprouts and as amusing as Jerusalem artichokes, and serious friends as complex as cauliflowers and as intricate as onions;

For friends as unpretentious as cabbages, as subtle as summer squash, as persistent as parsley, as delightful as dill, as endless as zucchini, and who -- like parsnips -- can be counted on to see you through the long winter;

For old friends, nodding like sunflowers in the evening-time, and young friends coming on as fast as radishes;

For loving friends, who wind around as like tendrils, and hold us despite our blights, wilts, and witherings;

And finally, for those friends now gone, like gardens past, that have been harvested - but who fed us in their times that we might have life thereafter;

For all these we give thanks.  

Amen. 

Film "Farmageddon" on Friday November 18th at 6:30pm at Alcott School

Hello Gardeners,

Thought you'd want to hear about a film being shown this Friday, details below:

Don't miss the first of the Focus on Food Film Series screening of Farmageddon on FRIDAY NOVEMBER 18, 7:30 PM at the Alcott School, 93 Laurel Street in Concord Center. The FREE film is co-sponsored by ConcordCAN and Walden Woods, and features discussion with local filmmaker Kristin Canty after the film. Learn more about the plight of small family farms caught up in regulations geared to factor farm agri-business.

Red Wiggler Event - Thurs. Nov. 10th at 7:30 at Harvey Wheeler

VERMICULTURE BASICS: WINTER COMPOSTING WITH RED WIGGLERS

Come join us on Thursday, November 10 at 7:30 pm with Ray Pourali, Green Planet, at Harvey Wheeler Community Center, 1276 Main Street, West Concord (same parking lot as the Concord Children's Center). Please RSVP to deb01742@comcast.net by November 8! Come on your own, or bring a friend! All are welcome.

Tired of trudging through the snow to your compost bin?  Try vermicomposting....get rid of  your kitchen scraps in an odorless, effective and low cost INDOOR compost! Sound intriguing?? Learn more from Ray Pourali...Environmental Engineer by day...and all-the-time champion  of  vermicomposting!

This spring, Debbie Bier and the community gardeners brought Ray to Concord to sell the start up kit of red wigglers to 25 gardeners. I can attest that mine are alive and well in my compost  bin...but they will not take freezing weather. They are best for indoor composting! 

Ray will  bring concentrated compost tea for sale (500 ml, 3000 ml) to feed plants this winter ( a popular  product),  and 1/2 lb packages of the starter kit and care instructions, including how to make your own vermiculture bin!

Come join the discussion...and reduce the volume of trash at your curbside pick-up this winter!

More Local Food Events

Gardeners,

Hope you all find some of these food related events interesting to attend!

COMPOSTING BASICS 10/11 tonight!, 7:30 – 9 PM Mark Hanson, experienced gardener and avid compost fan: Harvey Wheeler Community Center: Sponsored by Garden/ Life. RSVP by 10/10 to deb01742@comcast.net


ROOT CELLARS AND OTHER STORAGE TIPS FOR VEGGIES ALL WINTER: 10/16, 2-3 pm: Leslie Thomas and Katherine Endicott, Sweet Autumn Farm, Carlisle: Sponsored by Garden for Life; RSVP to deb01742@comcast.net:  http://www.carlislemosquito.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1576:sweet-autumn-farm-is-simply-organic-&catid=8:feature-articles&Itemid=12

SUSTAINABLE CONCORD COFFEE: 10/18 from 7:30-9 AM at Harvey Wheeler Community Center:
Facilitated discussion of Town approved Sustainability Principles as they apply to Concord’s Food System-- with special guest Henry David Thoreau! ALL ARE WELCOMED! For details:  hassoewing@comcast.net.

CARLISLE SCHOOL GARDEN TOUR & COMPOSTING PROGRAM: 10/23, 3-4 pm, led by Launa Zimarro. Learn about the 75-student composting crew, drop in garden club, role of parents and teachers in this expanding project: check out www.carlisleschoolgarden.org; RSVP to deb01742@comcast.net

NATIONAL FOOD DAY IS 10/24! Help us grow the list of events to celebrate local/homegrown; share
a recipe, host a potluck. Volunteers are needed to research and promote local participation; follow leads by
phone or internet. Plan and post your activity! Interested? Contact deb01742@comcast.net.

MUSEUM OF SCIENCE FOOD FIGHT FILM AND PANEL: 10/ 24 @ 3:00 p.m. Since the 20s and 30s, American agricultural policy has promoted big farms and bigger food processing conglomerates that favor cheap commodities and long shelf life over fresh, healthy, flavorful food. Food Fight offers a look at how this food culture developed, and how the 60s brought values centered on local and healthy meals.

MUSHROOM WALK, 10/30 10:30 am to 1 pm Sudbury Valley Trustees, Memorial Forest, Sudbury; With Doug Brown, Boston Mycological Club; RSVP: http://www.svtweb.org/events-calendar.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: deb01742@comcast.net, or click on the ConcordCAN/League of Women Voters of Concord-Carlisle Food for Thought website: www.concordfood.ning.com.

Sustainable Concord Coffee - You're Invited

Cousins Field Community Gardeners,

You are invited to:

Sustainable Concord Coffee

Tuesday, October18th, 7:30 -  9AM

Harvey Wheeler Community Center, West Concord

How sustainable is our food system?


October kicks off Focus on Food Six months of food-related study and public conversation through a film series, speakers, garden tours, cooking classes and more!

Discuss with special guest, Henry David Thoreau, Concord’s recently adopted sustainability principles and how we can apply them to our local food system.
(Richard Smith, Thoreau Scholar and Historic Interpreter for
The Concord Museum & Thoreau Birthplace will join us)

 Brooke Redmond, of the Farm-based Education Association, will introduce
Concord’s Community Food Assessment Project to develop a
Food Baseline Report by March, 2012


We'll have strong coffee and local treats.
Bring your cup, co-workers and friends

Upcoming Events

Hello Gardeners,

It's about time to put our gardens to bed, but it's not time to stop learning about gardening. I'm forwarding along a couple of events that are sponsored by Gardens for Life and Debbie Barr, that I thought you may be interested in. Hope you can make it!

Hello Gardening friends,

Our fall calendar is ready for garden lovers to enjoy! Among the
topics members have requested is a tour of root cellars, and we are
following  up some leads, but if you know someone, please let Debbie
Barr know! (deb01742@comcast.net)

COMING SOON: GARDEN TOUR, 10/2, 3-4:30 PM
Don't miss the tour of Black Brook Farm tour with Hasso Ewing on
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 3-4:00 PM in Carlisle. Hasso is a landscape
designer and farmer, and we will see newly installed hoop beds, learn
more tips for extending the season, harvesting and putting the beds to
rest for the winter. If you heard Hasso's standing room only gardening
presentation at the Concord Library last year, you know we are in for
a terrific conversation!

SPACE IS LIMITED, so RSVP by September 30 to deb01742@comcast.net.
Directions will be provided when you sign up.

NEXT UP: COMPOSTING TIPS -- JUST IN TIME TO DO NOW.....AND ENRICH
YOUR  LAWN AND GARDENS NEXT SPRING!
Our October Garden/Life program is on COMPOSTING, with Mark Hanson,
experienced gardener and true composting fan, on Tuesday, October 11,
7:30-9 PM at Harvey Wheeler Community Center in West Concord (note the
7:30 time, which will make it easier to have dinners/tend to kids etc
and still come to enjoy our speaker!). Mark's presentation at the
Concord Library speaker last year also wowed the crowd!

PRESERVES: SUMMER IN A GLASS JAR
Check out this website with great photos and recipes for jams and
pickled veggies from Treehugger
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/09/summer-in-a-mason-jar-3-recipes-and-tips.php?campaign=weekly_nl

SAVE THE DATE: We are joining all three community garden members in a
joint potluck on Friday, October 21 at 6:30 PM at the Thoreau
Birthplace. Details to follow!

Happy Gardening!
Debbie Barr

In Memoriam of Dan Farmer

Some of you know Dan as the husband of Jeanne Farmer, the former Coordinator of the Cousins Field Community Garden, before Pamela H. and I. Dan passed away on Aug. 18th, 2011 and in memory of him a Mum has been planted in the planter at the front of Cousins Field Community Garden. Dan had been gardening many years at Cousins and I know he enjoyed many beautiful tomatoes and basil over the years.  I'm sure I can speak for all when I say we will truly miss his wit and humor around the garden. See here for more.

Please take a moment to pause at the planter and enjoy the newly planted Mum and remember Dan and his enthusiasm for gardening, his love of West Concord, and his friendship.

Concord Ag Day - Sat. Sept. 10, 2011, 10am - 2pm

Reminder:

Please come to

Main Street, Concord Center on

Saturday, September 10, 2011 10AM-2PM 

for

A Farmers Market on the Milldam

Participants:

Colonial Gardens, Verrill Farm, Hutchins Farm, Brigham Farm and Greenhouses, Scimone Farm, Macone Farm, Millbrook Farm, Kenney Farms, Silferleaf Farm, Walden Bros., Gaining Ground, Minuteman National Historical Park, Concord Land Conservation Trust, Pete and Jen's Backyard Birds and more.

Basil Blight

I'm including an email from Cherrie Corrie, a gardener from the East Quarter Farm Community Garden, who's sad to say she's gotten basil blight. Hope this hasn't effected any of you...I'm going to be on the lookout at ours today. Here are the details:

"A heads up, gardening friends -

Just as I am reveling in the beautiful lushness of my East Quarter Farm community garden, I'm SO sad to report that the sudden yellowing of leaves that I noticed on four varieties of my many basil plants last weekend is confirmed basil blight.  Now the leaves are quickly thinning and dark spores are appearing on the undersides and they must be pulled.

See my photo link:  https://picasaweb.google.com/khadro06/BasilBlight2011

This particular blight is relatively unfamiliar in the U.S.  Even our own Thurston Handley was unaware of it when I mentioned it to him today.  It apparently was first seen and ID'd in Uganda in 1933, then not again until 2001 in Switzerland and made the press last year in another resurgence. Wish I'd seen those news flashes before making it the dominant planting (in several varieties) in this year's garden design. Here's a link with more information for anyone with basil:

http://organicgardening.about.com/b/2010/06/24/a-new-blight-to-worry-about-here-comes-basil-blight.htm which is also linked to this one from NPR:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128061773

The organic gardening post has instructions regarding detection, harvest, and disposal...much the same as with the late blight that hit tomatoes 2 years ago.  Hope yours will be passed over...good luck!

Sigh!!!

Cherrie

-- 

Cherrie A. Corey

Naturalist, educator, and photographer
Concord, MA   978.760.1933

http://sense-of-place-concord.blogspot.com/"

The Public Works Commission Has Declared a State of Water Supply Conservation

Hello Cousins Field Community Gardeners,

Please read the Public Works Advisory notice below and follow for your home. What this means to us: Water before 7am and after 7pm  (correction per Delia K.) 8:30am and after 6pm to minimize water loss through evaporation.

Thanks all!

The Public Works Commission Has Declared a

State of Water Supply Conservation

 ADVISORY

 Due to the extended period of extreme heat and lack of precipitation, customer demand is reaching the limits of our available water supply.  If demand is not curtailed voluntarily, the Public Works Commission will be required to upgrade this declaration to a Mandatory Water Use Restriction – Level 1 which includes enforcement on noted water use restrictions.    

 To avoid this measure, we are seeking your support.  This can be done by increased awareness and abidance of the following Best Management Practices for lawn irrigation.   

Best Management Practices

S  Horticulturists agree that a total of one-inch of water applied to a lawn (rainfall and/or supplemental irrigation) over the course of a week is generally sufficient.

S  Water before 7 am to minimize water loss via evaporation. 

S  Mow high. Keep your lawn 2.5”-3” high to encourage a stronger roots system, reduce evaporation and crowd out weeds.

•   Leave the clippings on the lawn, they help retain moisture and provide valuable nutrients.

S  Check your lawn to see if it is thirsty by sticking a screwdriver into your lawn. If it goes through 5 inches of soil easily, your lawn may not need to be watered.

• Lawns that go brown in the heat of summer are not dead; they are just dormant and will become green again when the rain returns.

Please adjust your irrigation controller accordingly.  If you do not know how to adjust your controller, contact your irrigation professional.

Concord Public Works is monitoring customer demand and available water supply around the clock and will provide additional information as it becomes available. 

 For additional information as to what activities are acceptable under different levels of a Declared State of Water Conservation, please go to http://www.concordma.gov/pages/ConcordMA_PublicWorks/index 

Memorial Planter Dedication

When: 6/27/2011 @7PM
Where: Cousins Field Community Garden
Why: So we may dedicate the new planter to remember Gardeners who have passed away.

Please join us for a short dedication of the Memorial Planter as well as to enjoy some light appetizers and soft drinks and chat with other gardeners and Barbara McKenna. Bug spray might be a good idea. Donations will be welcome to offset the cost of the flowers.
 
Thanks to all and hope you can make it!

Good Event to Check Out This Sat. 6/25

Let's Talk About Food Chefs at Work

Looks like a terrific event to check out: http://www.letstalkaboutfood.com/

There'll be lots of demos on cooking by Boston top chefs, food court with many different cuisines to eat, activity booths, exhibitor tents and more.

It's next Sat. 6/25/11 from 10am - 5pm outside the Royal Sonesta Hotel on Cambridge Pkwy. near the Museum of Science.

Thought I'd pass it along...

Flea Beetles and Colorado Potato Beetles

Beware the Colorado Potato Beetle!

These are the bane of potato growers in N. America and Europe. Take a look here for more info. Evidently they are starting to appear on our potato crops, so take organic precautions such as insecticidal soap as soon as you see these guys.

I heard from another gardener the other day that her potatoes are getting eaten by flea beetles. I did some looking up of these critters and found this image (notice how small they are):

 The gardener I mention above is also going to use insecticidal soap on these beetles as they're making some holes already in her potatoes. Here are some more natural insect control ideas.  Let me know how this works!

Ken McKenna

Ken D. McKenna, a longtime gardener at Cousins Field Community Garden, and friend, died on May 24th, 2011.  He will be sorely missed by all. I remember Ken because he always wore a smile and had kind words to say to all that met him.

I learned Ken was an avid Lily gardener, and hope that we can soon create a long lasting tribute to Ken at CF Community Garden.

More details on that to come...

Thank you Town of Concord and Hawthorne Tree!

Recently, you may have probably noticed that some "black gold" as some call it (a.k.a. compost) appeared, then a few days later, some wood chips arrived to the left of the Community Garden recently. The compost was compliments of Rod Robison and Dick Fowler from the Town of Concord, and the wood chips of Chester Sadlow of Hawthorne Tree & Landscape.

Please accept our heartfelt thanks to the Town for delivering the rich compost for our gardeners to use to ammend their garden plots and to the local tree company, Hawthorne Tree & Landscape, for donating wood chips after a job, we are very grateful!

Please consider their generosity and think of them if you have any tree or landscape needs:

Hawthorne Tree & Landscape
130 Old Stow Road
Concord, MA 01742-2827
(978) 369-2506
Contact: Mr. Chester Sadlow

Conantum Garden Visit

We had a very nice visit to Conantum Community Garden today. We were invited by Mark and Pamela Hanson, enthusiastic gardeners who were kind enough to show us their herb and vegetable garden plots. We learned quite a bit touring their gardens and they generously gave us some rhubarb, strawberries, raspberries, garlic and chives. We immediately went back to Cousins Field Community Garden and planted them in our new perennial plot and raspberry area.

We look forward to growing the Concord community gardens network as well as developing a Concord "grange", where we might learn from one another and share ideas and knowledge.

Teaming With Microbes

I picked up this book at the Concord Main library, not sure if it is at the Fowler. It was an enjoyable read, written by an "amateur soil biologist" and columnist on gardening, from Alaska of all places. Turns out the book is quite popular. There is a rich and lively micro world in the 8 inches of soil beneath your feet in your Cousin's garden plot.

http://www.amazon.com/Teaming-Microbes-Gardeners-Guide-Soil/dp/0881927775

Great Meeting Last Night and Not So New Invasives Info

Thanks all for coming last night and making it a successful meeting!

Thanks to Mark and Pamela Hanson, our guest speakers, who joined us to talk about different topics that we're going to put together over next Fall, related to all things gardening. Stay tuned...

I forgot to mention something that we'll need to do during in the month of May after our cleanup April 9th & 10th which is to pull then drop any garlic mustard weeds we might see.  If you're interested in why we want to get rid of this, see this link: http://www.invasive.org/weedcd/pdfs/wow/garlic_mustard.pdf

Pretty nasty stuff!

Let's all be on the lookout around the perimeter of the Garden for this weed and "pull it then drop it" so it doesn't go to seed.

Thanks all!