Where is Spring?

Still waiting for Spring.
Finally heard peepers last night.
Red Marble and Copra onions, red romaine lettuce (from saved seed), Slobolt cilantro and basils were started on March 9. Peppers were started March 23.

Microgreens started March 25 are ready for harvest.
Ovation Greens and Premium Greens from Johnnys, High Mowing Seeds and Ferry Morse Mesclun Mixes.

Starting seeds

Best info for Maine is here,

http://www.mofga.org/Publications/ArticlesforReprinting/OrderSeeds/tabid/1056/Default.aspx

Of course this year the soil temperature is 41 degrees today in the garden. And the perennial beds still have frozen places. But the seedlings are ready!

March 1	Start indoors: celery, celeriac (3/1 to 3/15), onions and leeks (2/20 to 3/15), kale
March 14	Start indoors: leaf and head lettuce
March 21	Start indoors: peppers
April 1	Start indoors: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, eggplant
April 14	Start indoors: tomatoesStart outdoors: beets, carrots, leaf and head lettuce, peas, parsnips (4/15 to 5/15), radishes, shallots (4/15 to 5/30), spinach, turnips, bunching onions for summer harvest (4/15 to 5/1), onions from seeds or sets Transplant out: leaf and head lettuce, onion seedlings
May 1	Start indoors: melons, squashes, cucumbersStart outdoors: beets, carrots, leaf and head lettuce, peas, radishes, spinach, Swiss chard (5/1 to 5/31), turnips Transplant out: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower (5/1 to 5/15 when 4 to 5 weeks old), leeks (5/1 to 5/15)
May 14	Start indoors: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower for fall cropStart outdoors: beets, leaf and head lettuce, peas, radishes, spinach, turnip
June 1	Start outdoors: bush green beans, pole beans, beets, Chinese cabbage (5/30 to 7/30), carrots, corn, leaf and head lettuce, peas, potatoes, radishes, spinach, turnip Transplant out: celery and celeriac (6/1 to 6/15), tomatoes Transplant or direct seed out: melons, squashes, cucumbers
June 14	Start outdoors: beets, corn, leaf and head lettuce, peas, radishes, rutabaga, spinach, turnip Transplant out: 4/1 sowing of eggplant, 5/15 sowing of broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower
June 21	Start outdoors: bush green beans, carrots
July 1	Start outdoors: beets, corn (short season varieties), kale, leaf and head lettuce, peas, radishes, spinach, turnip
July 14	Start outdoors: bush green beans, beets, carrots, leaf and head lettuce, peas, radishes, spinach, turnip; hardy bunching onions for fall and spring harvest (7/15 to 8/15)
August 1	Start outdoors: beets, leaf and head lettuce, peas, radishes, spinach, turnip
August 14	Start outdoors: leaf and head lettuce, radishes, spinach, turnip
September 1	Start outdoors: leaf lettuce, radishes, shallots for spring green onions, spinach (sow now for fall crop and now until ground freezes for spring crop, well mulched over winter)
October 1	Start outdoors: garlic

For more information about growing your own vegetable garden, contact the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA; 568-4142; www.mofga.org or your county Cooperative Extension Office.

Sclerotia

The MOFGA Spring Growth Conference today was about Garlic. This was the schedule;

10am David Stern, Rose Valley Farm and The Garlic Seed Foundation

1:30pm Grower Panel: Tom Vigue, Kiwihill Farm; Amy LeBlanc, Whitehill Farm; Mark Guzzi, Peacemeal Farm

Eric Sideman organized the event and gave a brief introduction on pests. One that I was not aware of is called white mold which develops from sclerotia. Using Wikipedia as the source here's what I learned

A sclerotium (plural sclerotia, fromGreek skleros - hard) is a compact mass of hardened fungal myceliumcontaining food reserves. One role of sclerotia is to survive environmental extremes. In some higher fungi such as ergot, sclerotia become detached and remain dormant until favorable growth conditions return. Sclerotia initially were mistaken for individual organisms and described as separate species until Louis René Tulasneproved in 1853 that sclerotia are only a stage in the life cycle of some fungi. Further investigation showed that this stage appears in many fungi belonging to many diverse groups. Sclerotia are important in the understanding of the life cycle and reproduction of fungi, as a food source, as medicine and in agricultural blight management.

Sclerotia are often composed of a thick, dense shell with thick and dark cells and a core of thin colorless cells. Sclerotia are rich in hyphae emergency supplies, especially oil. They contain a very small amount of water (5-10%) and can survive in a dry environment for several years without losing the ability to grow. In most cases, the sclerotium consists exclusively of fungal hyphae, whereas some may consist partly of fungal hyphae plexus and partly in between tissues of the substrate (ergot, Sclerotinia). Sclerotia sizes usually range from a few fractions of a millimeter to a few tens of centimeters. In favorable conditions, sclerotia germinate to form fruiting bodies (Basidiomycetes) or mycelium with conidia (in imperfect fungi). Sclerotia sizes can range from a fraction of a millimeter to a few tens of centimeters.

Inonotus obliquus (chaga mushroom) is a sclerotium growing mostly on birchtrees in northern climates. It has been used as a tonic and a remedy for thousands of years in Canada, Russia, Japan, etc. The tree sclerotium develops over the years as the mycelium sucks the energy of the living tree.


Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is a plant pathogenic fungus and can cause a disease called white mold if conditions are correct. S. sclerotiorum can also be known as cottony rot, watery soft rot, stem rot, drop, crown rot and blossom blight. A key characteristic of this pathogen is its ability to produce black resting structures known as sclerotia and white fuzzy growths of mycelium on the plant it infects. These sclerotia give rise to a fruiting body in the spring that produces spores in a sac which is why fungi in this class are called sac fungi (Ascomycetes). This pathogen can occur on many continents and has a wide host range of plants. 


Sclerotium cepivorum is the fungus that affects Alliums and this link explains the problem.

Herb news

#1 For  this cold windy day, I found a website with tons of info and pics about herbs

 http://www.horizonherbs.com/pilot.asp

#2 Deb Soule from Avena Botanicals will be offering some workshops 

The speakers are donating their time, and all proceeds go directly to the Russell Libby Memorial Fund. Classes are by donation only, with suggested donations of $5 to $500 and are held at Avena in Rockport.

February 16, 10 to 11:30 a.m. - Herbs for Easing Stress and Building Resiliency, with herbalist Deb Soule

March 16, 10 to 11:30 a.m. - Seeds, Soil, and Spirit, with CR Lawn from FEDCO Seeds

April 13, 10 to 11:30 a.m. - Herbs and Meditation for Calming the Mind and Easing Despair and Grief, with herbalists Deb Soule and Kahadish Waadabi

April 27, 10 to noon - Cancer Prevention and Treatment with Herbs and Whole Foods, with nurse practitioner and herbalist Kristina King

#3 At the last meeting of the Maine herb Society we shared garden problems and beautiful garden photos.

One topic was early blight. here is an official post about it from Cornell.

EARLY BLIGHT, caused by the fungus Alternaria solani, is one of the most common and damaging diseases of 

tomatoes in the northeastern states in home gardens. It is primarily a leaf spot and foliage blight, but also may cause a 

black spotting around the stem end and shoulders of ripe fruits in late autumn.

Symptoms: The first symptom of early blight is 

the appearance of small dark brown spots on the 

lowest, oldest leaves. These range in size from a 

pinpoint to 1/2 inch in diameter. When weather 

conditions are right (75 to 85 F) with high

humidity, these spots enlarge with a concentricring pattern as a result of daily growth and spore 

production by the organism. This target-board 

symptom aids in diagnosis of early blight (Figure 

1.). There is usually a narrow yellow zone around 

the spots, which fades into the normal green. The 

spots enlarge, become irregular, and make the 

leaflets turn yellow and die. Symptoms generally 

begin to show in midseason after many fruits have 

set, but become severe later when a heavy fruit 

load, high soil temperatures, or dry weather 

stresses the plant. After the lower leaves are 

damaged or even lost, the symptoms move up the 

plant and repeat the process until sometimes all 

leaves on the lower part of the plant are lost. Spots 

may appear on the main stem to cause partial girdling and further 

damage to the plant parts above such areas (Figure 2.). Excessive 

defoliation exposes late fruit to sunscald and encourages the 

"freckles" fruit symptom caused by a related fungus, Alternaria 

tenuis. Ripe fruits may be invaded by the early blight fungus near 

the point of attachment to the stem and may exhibit concentric 

patterns like those on the lower leaves.

Causal Agent: Alternaria solani can live for at least a year in 

diseased vines and also in nightshade. When environmental 

conditions are right and a tomato plant is nearby, spores arise and 

infect leaves as described above. The numerous spores in the new 

leaf spots then splash in rain or irrigation water to other tomato 

plants under stress, until several disease cycles have been completed 

and the weather has turned cool. Inadequate fertility and organic 

matter, minor element deficiency, and lack of soil moisture 

predispose tomatoes to infection and set the stage for an epidemic 

where plants have not been protected by fungicides. The fungus can 

be carried on and under the seed coat. 

Slow Political Food

ESTIA, the International EcoPeace Community’s 9th Annual Conference, titled “Slow Food, A Model for Sustainable & Healthy Living,” took place Friday, Oct. 26 and Saturday, Oct. 27 at UMaine’s Wells Conference Center in 2012. The program included an introduction to “slow food,” and discussions on slow food and its health benefits, how gardens can slow us down, slow food and the culture of the table as a model for the nation, and food policy – incorporating the slow food model into the Maine economy at state and community levels. It was the last time that I saw Russell Libby , Executive Director, Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Assoc. and he spoke as part of the Food Policy Panel.

One of the speakers I was not familiar with  was Fabio Parasecoli, PhD, is Associate Professor and Coordinator of Food Studies at The New School in New York City and cooperating

professor at the University of Gastronomic Sciences, Polenzo, Italy. His topic was

“Slow Food and the Culture of the Table:  a Viable Model for the US?” 

His work explores the intersections among food, media, and politics.

Among his recent publications: Food Culture in Italy (2004), The

Introduction to Culinary Cultures in Europe (The Council of Europe,

2005) and Bite me! Food in Popular Culture (2008). He is general editor

with Peter Scholliers of a six-volume Cultural History of Food (2012).

He spoke about Italian food culture and he presented some issues with the EU food policies. I need to read some of his books.

He has a YT video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFIWVVrUTcA&category=University%2FScience%2FFood%2520Science

Landscape History

Landsccape history is one of my interests and the internet provides a plethora of images. Sitting in Maine on a snowy day and visiting the world is lovely. I can go to Assisi right now. This is from the Garden and Landscape Guide.
Another good site is History at the Table because if you get interested in landscape history then you must get interested in the food.
There are three local places to pursue Maine's agricultural history.

A local place to visit is Leonard's Mills in Bradley that has a garden and food served at their Living History Days.

 The Curran Homestead in Orrington. Which says on their website Located in a bucolic setting on Field's Pond in rural Orrington, Maine, The Curran Homestead is a turn-of-the-twentieth-century living history farm and museum. Its current status as a non-profit entity is the result of the wishes of the late Mary Catherine Curran, whose family operated a subsistence farm with a dairy, poultry flock, vegetable crops, and a large woodlot that provided income to cover necessities.  Alfred Curran, who predeceased his sister by five weeks, had owned the farm with his brothers since the time of their father’s death in 1941; he and his brothers often found employment off the farm. Catherine worked for the Bangor Telephone Company for much of her adult life, and Alfred is known to have been a frequent “jobber,” in addition to running a dairy and firewood business, doing service-in-kind on Orrington roads to meet the farm’s property taxes, and intermittent work on the Maine Central Railroad. Among the five children of the Curran household, Frank was the only one to marry, have children, and seek a life off the farm as the eventual administrative head of Eastern Maine Medical Center. In 1959, a separate modern home adjacent to the western side of the main barn was constructed for Catherine to live in, and this structure still stands but is privately owned.  It would be Alfred and Catherine who would eventually survive their siblings and decide the future fate of the farm together.  When Miss Curran died in 1991, having recently acquired ownership, her will directed a portion of the homestead to be preserved in its original form. 

And Page Farm at the University of Maine in Orono. The mission of the Page Farm & Home Museum is to collect, document, preserve, interpret and disseminate knowledge of Maine history relating to farms and farming communities between 1865 and 1940, providing an educational and cultural experience for the public and a resource for researchers of this period.

2013 New stuff

New year, same life...now on the search for the next phase.
Retirement has begun in the family.
Snow on the ground and sun and wind outside.
Winter has been quite bare till last week.
This was the preChristmas walk in the woods.
Potatoes with onions, duck egg, then snowshoe walk with Tavi, then pumpkin bead pudding.
Bring in some wood for the stove and enjoy the day.