10,000 Garden Challenge is headed to Springfield, Mo

The 10,000 Garden Challenge is headed to Springfield, Mo. The Missouri Department of Agriculture will visit the “A Tribute to the Red, White & Blue: A Patriotic Flower Show” event, Friday, May 27 to register gardens, share gardening advice and encourage Missourians to participate in the Challenge.

The 10,000 Garden Challenge is an initiative to register 10,000 Missouri gardens to promote agriculture, gardening, health and nutrition. Department staff will be at the Library Center in Springfield, Mo. from noon to 8:30 p.m. to add to the more than 3,100 gardens already registered at AgriMissouri.com.

On March 14, Governor Nixon, the First Lady, and Director Jon Hagler of the Missouri Department of Agriculture challenged Missourians to register 10,000 gardens in the state of Missouri and put them on a map to promote gardening, health and nutrition throughout the state.

Galena Farmers And Crafters Market a Success

The Galena Farmers And Crafters Market kicked off it’s 2011 season earlier this month and by all accounts it was a success. More vendors are needed to supply spring produce including lettuce, cauliflower, cabbage and onions. Fee’s are $10 and according to Debbie Bridges you can sell all summer long! It is a perfect way for the community to come together and provide fresh fruits and vegetables, canned goods and local crafts for our community and visitors alike. And once a month on Saturday’s we can all enjoy some family entertainment! For more information on how to join call Debbie Bridges at 417-559- 1089 or Connie Johnson at 417- 357-6061

The Crane Creek Market also looking for vendors

Crane Creek Market opens at 8:00 a.m. till noon every Saturday. Located on highway 413 at the old grocery store parking lot. There is still vendor space available. Vendors that have not already signed up are welcome to come that morning, and remember that everything must be locally produced, homemade or handmade. There will not be any fees for vendors. The are also looking for local musicians so grab your fiddles, guitars and banjos for an hometown jam session. Come join us Saturday to sell or shop and support your local community. Contact Patty at mcmpatty@gmail.com for more information and with any questions.

In The Ozarks Tomorrow

The Master Gardeners of Greene County are hosting a free gardening event for kids Saturday. 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Springfield-Greene County Botanical Center at Nathanael Greene|Close Memorial Park, 2400 S. Scenic in Springfield. Organizers say the event will take place rain or shine.

The 5th Annual Springfield Missouri Indian Artifact Show is scheduled for Saturday at Remington’s Event Center at 1655 W Republic in Springfield. It starts at 8:00 a.m. and ends at 5:00 p.m. Collectors from eight states will present authentic artifacts for sale and display. An artifact authenticator will be in attendance to help you with your finds.

Home Grown Festival and House Tour This Weekend – in Old North St. Louis

Be prepared to be inspired at the “Old North St. Louis Home Grown Festival and House Tour” Saturday, May 14, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. There is so much to enjoy about the redevelopment of Old North St. Louis. And AgriMissouri will be there to help celebrate every bit of it.

Just this year the community-based revitalization efforts of ONSL led to St. Louis’ first co-op grocery store, the re-opening of Crown Square, recognition by the National Historic Trust for Preservation, Habitat for Humanity’s completion of 17 new LEED platinum homes and the development of the 13^th Street Garden. The self-guided tour allows visitors to visit homes and gardens and witness some of the dramatic changes of the neighborhood at their own pace. A free shuttle service will also be provided.

Tickets are available online and on the day of the event. Included in the tour booklet is a coupon for free ice cream from Crown Candy, an Old North Saint Louis landmark since 1913. For more information go www.onsl.org. To learn more about AgriMissouri, head to AgriMissouri.com.

Download Old North flyer here. pdf

1000 Gardens – Make space for berries.

In Missouri The 1,000 Gardens Project gets people to register their vegetable gardens. It’s hoping to sprout 10,000 new gardens in 2011.

Locally it’s relying on the community to get things started. The idea behind the push is sustainability. “I think if you looked at the number that are actually exploring this issue, you’d be very surprised. I think this is a very attainable goal,” said Shelley Vaugine, a volunteer. Organizers say local gardens would make Springfield less dependent on store bought food, and I’m sure it would. People in the Ozarks are known for their resourcefulness and their ability to get things to grow in spite of all the rocks. Back at the turn of the century tomato canneries were commonplace in these hills. Everything seems to be going full circle here as the community as a whole supports not only themselves, but the growers in our area through the multiple farmers markets.

We plant everything from pole beans to tomatoes. In our garden we have set aside an area for blackberries and raspberries. We like to make jelly and sauces and those berries really pay for themselves over the season. If you haven’t tried growing berries here’s a source we use that’s Missouri based and provides the right planets for our area. Stark Bros. out of Louisiana, MO sends us Thornless Boysenberries which are great juicy deep purple berries – just wade in and pick ‘em! Berries grow to a whopping 1½ inches long and as big around as one full inch! You’ll want them for dessert every day during the season, but save a few for the greatest jam you ever tasted. Usually ready late July. We also have Natchez Thornless Blackberries as big as your thumb that are disease-resistant and one that the University of Arkansas has helped produce. The berries we have are much like the monsters you sometimes find at your local farmers market…you know the ones that look like a purple baseball. All kidding aside, it’s a pleasure to have the canes included in our garden space, no thorns and the benefit of the berries, how can you lose?

I think we can all agree sustainability should include a few choice berries. They should be in the mix. Our friends at Stark Bros. have graciously given Hootentown readers their own discounted coupon if you want to plant some berries in your garden.

COUPON Code: HOOTENTOWN
Valid: April 1, 2011 – April 30, 2011
$5 Off all orders over $50 (prior to S/H).
Online (www.starkbros.com) use only
1 use per customer

P.S. Don’t forget the fertilizer!

Blackberry & Bramble Fertilizer

Finally…a fertilizer that is formulated especially for blackberries. Easy to use 12-10-10 formula is developed to give your blackberries and other brambles the perfect nutrients needed for strong growth and high yields of large, healthy berries.

Bee options for all

Making honey – total involvement

Beekeeping is all the rage these days, and my friend Pam is one of the many who’s become “Hooked on bees in suburbia.”  That’s my story of her first year of beekeeping, including the highs, the lows, and the enormous worries that go along with it.  I’m calling this the “total involvement” option because that’s what it seems to demand.  I say, better Pam than me!

Making honey, with help
But for people who don’t have the time or cajones to deal with bees themselves, there are people who’ll come and tend their hive for them, for a modest fee or for just the honey.  But why would you have bees if you don’t get to keep the honey?  To pollinate your garden, and for the fun of having a hive without all the responsibility.

(more)

Ozarks Persimmon Wine

Take a walk through most any Ozarks forest and you will find a persimmon tree. Once you find them what do you do? Make persimmon wine of course. Persimmon trees grow from 25 to 50 feet high and are distinctly male or female in gender. Their fruit is typically globular and small, from 1 to 2 1/2 inches in diameter. Domestic persimmons can reach 4 inches or more. They have 4 woody calyx lobes at the base, are quite astringent until ripening around October, and then are very sweet and juicy. They ripen to an orange to orange-purple (the domestics turn almost red) and persist on the trees until absolutely ripe, which may not occur until early winter or after the first freeze. After ripening, the fruit will drop or can be shaken from the tree.

Persimmons make a fine, slightly fruity wine, but it will be ruined if any unripened fruit are utilized. The large, red domesticated Oriental persimmons make the best wine with a delicate, amber color, but the wild natives also make a good-tasting, although somewhat brown colored wine.

PERSIMMON WINE

 
• 3 lbs ripe persimmons
• 2 1/2 lbs finely granulated sugar
• 1 tblsp acid blend
• 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
• 7 pts water
• 1 crushed Campden tablet
• 1/2 tsp yeast nutrient
• 1 packet Montrachet, Pasteur Red or Champagne yeast

Wash the persimmons, cut into quarters and mash the seeds out with your hands. Mash the pulp well, put into primary, and add half the sugar, the acid blend, yeast nutrient and crushed Campden tablet. Add water to total one gallon. Stir well to dissolve sugar, cover, and set aside. After 12 hours add pectic enzyme and recover. After another 12 hours, add yeast. Ferment 5-7 days, stirring daily. Strain through nylon sieve. Do not be concerned if a lot of fine pulp gets through; it will precipitate out. Add remaining sugar, stir very well, then transfer to secondary while leaving about three inches headroom. Fit air lock and set aside. Rack every 30 days until wine clears and no additional lees are laid down (4-6 months). Stabilize only if you feel the need to sweeten the wine before bottling. This wine should age in the bottle a year.

Persimmon trees are available through Stark Bro’s in Louisiana, MO. if you want to get serious. Mention this article and Stark Bros. will give you a 10% discount for a limited time of course!

Related story:

Dehydrating Persimmons

Persimmon fruit trees are great additions to your backyard garden, and the fruit makes a delicious, healthy snack for the whole family. I love growing fruit trees in my yard, and the persimmon tree is both attractive and easy to maintain in my climate.  In fact, the American Persimmon is native to North America, so it naturally fits right in! [read more]

Have your own garden at Rutledge-Wilson Park

Potential gardeners get have a small garden plot at Rutledge-Wilson Farm Community Park.

The Springfield-Greene County Park Board is currently accepting applications for the Adopt-An-Urban Garden Program at the park located at 3825 W. Farm Road 146.

The program provides area residents with a space in which to grow a garden, along with providing an opportunity to gather with others who have a similar interest in gardening. Garden plot sizes are eight-feet by 16-feet, for $25 per season; 16-feet by 16-feet, for $40 per season. Half of the 60 plots are still available for 2011; first come, first served.

All food grown is the property of each plot’s owner. Each participant is responsible for maintaining weed control, providing all seeds and other equipment required to grow a garden and removing debris at the end of the growing season.

The Park Board provides a raised bed with a compost soil mixture and water access for each plot.

The Earth 2050

According to a report out of Washington, DC, earth will need to produce as much food in the next 40 years as it has in the past 8,000. The director of the Initiative in Population Research at Ohio State University, John Casterline, said the planet’s swelling population will stretch resources well beyond existing abilities.

Specifically, the United Nations predicts that this year the earth’s population will rise to 7 billion. And, by 2050, the population is likely to be about 9 billion, with much of the new population arising in Africa and Southern Asia. Consequently, population experts are calling for more finding for family planning to help control population growth, especially in developing nations.

The swelling population will exacerbate problems, such as resource depletion, said John Casterline, director of the Initiative in Population Research at Ohio State University.

But incomes are also expected to rise over the next 40 years — tripling globally and quintupling in developing nations — and add more strain to global food supplies.

People tend to move up the food chain as their incomes rise, consuming more meat than they might have when they made less money, the experts said.

It takes around seven pounds (3.4 kilograms) of grain to produce a pound of meat, and around three to four pounds of grain to produce a pound of cheese or eggs, experts told AFP.

“More people, more money, more consumption, but the same planet,” Clay told AFP, urging scientists and governments to start making changes now to how food is produced.

Population experts, meanwhile, called for more funding for family planning programs to help control the growth in the number of humans, especially in developing nations.

“For 20 years, there’s been very little investment in family planning, but there’s a return of interest now, partly because of the environmental factors like global warming and food prices,” said Bongaarts.

“We want to minimize population growth, and the only viable way to do that is through more effective family planning,” said Casterline.

Source http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110220/ts_afp/scienceuspopulationfood

In a related story…
The extreme freezing temperatures that hit swept across the country over the last few weeks may cause a huge increase in food prices over the coming months.

Farmers across Northern Mexico and the Southwestern United States have been hit with gigantic crop losses. An estimated 80 to 100% of Northern Mexico’s Food Crops have been destroyed by cold weather.

Mexico supplies a considerable amount of our crop vegetables and this loss will defiantly have an impact on prices. Sysco, one of the largest grocery suppliers in the country, is already having a hard time keeping up with demand and has issued a force majeure telling its buyers that price increases are on the way.

To make matters worse, Florida which is also a major grower of these types of crops had huge losses due to the extreme weather last month. Up until a couple weeks ago Florida was actually importing much of its supply from Mexico.

Watch for a spike in things like tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, squash, asparagus and peppers.

Garden Fever

Ozarks Gardening Feb 16, 2011

By: Jim Long

It may not feel like it with all the deep freeze cold and snow we’ve had, but it’s garden planning time. Mid-February to mid-March is the best time to plant peas, onions and potatoes if you want the best growth and the fewest insect problems. Ozarks tradition dictates peas be planted by Valentine’s Day, but I didn’t accomplish it this year. My garden was still under several inches of snow that day. Next week will be soon enough.

Beetle provided by: Horn Farm Community Gardens York, PA

Potatoes, as I’ve mentioned in this column every winter for almost two decades, will tolerate a lot of cold in the spring. The earlier they are planted, the better you will avoid potato beetles. Onions too, benefit from early planting.

February is also the ultimate month for pruning grapevines and muscadines. Why so early? Because as soon as the daytime temperatures start easing upward, the sap rises in grapevines. If you wait too long to prune, the vines will “bleed” sap, sometimes gallons a day, for a week or more. Early pruning while the weather is still cold will prevent that.

This is also the month to prune back sage and lavender plants. Both herbs should be if cut back by two thirds in early spring before new growth begins to prevent die-out of the center of the plants. Hard pruning also encourages more vigorous growth and blooming. (More)

About The Author: I have been a columnist for The Herb Companion magazine for the past 19 years and have regular columns in The Heirloom Gardener and The Ozarks Mountaineer magazines. My syndicated Ozarks Gardening column runs in newspapers across the Missouri and Arkansas Ozarks and I am the author of 25 books on herbs, gardening and cooking. I travel and lecture for groups and national conferences throughout the year and travel abroad in search of new culinary plants to grow, photograph and write about. Visit my website