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.