NAUSET GARDEN CLUB’S Winter 2011-2012, VOL XXVII, No. 2, Issue 123 Bev Singleton, Editor

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE – Mary Ellen Sussman

Well, the autumn was really, really nice this year. You can tell because even the usual complainers aren't complaining. I finally got my tulips planted, and as much organic material piled on my beds as I had time for. When the tree guys come around after Thanksgiving to prune the "green screen" in my backyard, I'll be ready for whatever winter brings us. Meanwhile, our club's year seems to be off to a rollicking start. There are so many plans being made, emails flying back and forth and meetings being held for the June flower show and for Crosby Mansion, my head spins sometimes. The extraordinary level of competence and dedication in our club is evident to me every day.

I am excited to see our new educational mini-grant program get off the ground in record time, thanks to Mary Ellen Bower, Bev Singleton and Debby Saliba. Stay tuned. I think we're going to see good things happen there. This coming year my New Year's resolution will be to shorten up our meetings a bit. Both the September and November meetings were very long. Perhaps trimming the speakers' time might be the answer. If you have a suggestion about the order in which we conduct the meetings, or anything else for that matter, please let me hear from you. I'd really be interested in your thoughts. All my best for safe and happy holidays.

RECEPTION FLOWERS for CCMNH – Debby Saliba Each week one of our members supplies a plant or flower arrangement to be displayed on the reception desk of the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History. Assignments are made alphabetically. The arrangements are to be delivered on Thursday in a disposable container, if possible. If the container is not disposable put your name on the bottom and the member delivering flowers the following week can pick it up and return it to you at the next meeting. A card with the names of the plants should be tucked under the container. No artificial plant material may be used. A quarterly schedule of museum flower assignments is published in the Grapevine and on the web site. If you are unable to fulfill your assignment, please find someone to replace you and notify the chairman, Debby Saliba, at 508-255-8652.

DECEMBER 1 – Sieglinde Hughes JANUARY 5– Janet Lascher FEBRUARY 2 – Fran McClennen 8 – Gloria Jaccarino 12 – Ella Leavitt 9 – Sue McFarlane 15 – Judy Johnson 19 – Joy Long 16 – Kate McNulty

22 – Joan Karter 26 – Sandra Marshall 23 – Elizabeth Mead 29 – Deborah Kimball

The club is looking for someone to replace Bev Singleton as editor of the Grapevine and Yearbook. If you have editing and publishing skills, experience with graphic design, page layout, and mailing lists, maybe you’re the one for this job. The time commitment is two tor three days during the third week of August, November, February, and May for the Grapevine, and several days at the end of August for the Yearbook. Bev will walk you through the process as she prepares the Grapevine in February and again with the summer issue in May. If you’re

interested in volunteering for this job, please contact Sharon Davis by email at sharon@.gardengatedesign.net or by phone at 508-255-9820.

CALENDAR

DECEMBER

7 BOARD MEETING: 9:30 AM* – Hostess: Peg Sheehan *Refreshments at 9:00 AM All Board meetings will be at Cape Cod Five (CCF), 20 West Road, Orleans 14 REGULAR MEETING: 11:45 AM – Church of the Holy Spirit (CHS), Orleans

(Horticulture and Design entries due at 11:30 AM)

Program: “Santa’s Workshop: Four Holiday Design Workshops by Members for Members” presented by Irene Mitchell and Carol Newsome.

Design: No design entries this month.

Horticulture: No horticulture entries this month.

Member’s Choice Exhibit No member’s choice entries this month.

JANUARY

4 BOARD MEETING: 9:30 AM* –at Cape Cod Five, Hostess: Debby Saliba * Refreshments at 9:00 AM

6 WORKSHOP: 9:00 AM - CCMNH “Oriental Design” – presented by Mary Finan, Past President, 2006-2008 Please bring your workshop toolbox and a low sided container and pin holder; flowers and branches will be provided; fee $15.

11 REGULAR MEETING: 11:45 AM – CHS, Orleans (Horticulture and Design entries due at 11:30)

Program: “Beautiful Ornamental Trees of Cape Cod” by Dave Chalker, Bartlett Tree.

Design: “Winter’s Wonder” – a miniature design, not to exceed 5” in height, width, and depth. Dried and fresh plant material may be used.

(Handbook pages 203-204, 1-16)

Horticulture: “Beautiful Begonias” – a houseplant, container grown. Two categories, one entry. (Handbook pages 82-84 and 125)

5” Miniature Design Member’s Choice Exhibit: “Something Special to Show or Tell” – not to be

judged; describe on a 3x5 card with your name on the front.

FEBRUARY

1 BOARD MEETING: 9:30 AM* –at Cape Cod Five, Hostess: Mary Ellen Bower *Refreshments at 9:00 AM

8 REGULAR MEETING: 11:45 AM - CHS (Horticulture and design entries due at 11:30)

Program: “Shopper’s Guide to Plant Greed” by Carol Stocker, Garden Writer, Boston Globe

Design: “Art Interpretations” – in coordination with Nauset Middle School Art Club.

Horticulture: “Tantalizing Terrariums” – create a miniature landscape in a covered transparent container; may include one or more accessories. (Handbook pages 112-114)

Interpretive Design Member’s Choice Exhibit: “Something Special to Show or Tell” – not to be Based on Artwork judged; describe on a 3x5 card with your name on the front. 8 GRAPEVINE DEADLINE

 HOSPITALITY – Carolyn Dowd

Hospitality assignments are being made alphabetically, so that everyone participates in making sandwiches, cookies, a fruit platter, or a centerpiece. Members will be called in advance of the meeting as a reminder of your upcoming assignment. Please list the ingredients on a 3x5 card and bring your contribution on a serving plate to the hospitality area by 11:30 AM. Members bringing sandwiches are expected to set up the luncheon table and serve beverages. Those bringing cookies are responsible for cleanup. If you are unable to fulfill your assignment, it is your responsibility to find a substitute. In that case, please call the chairman, Carolyn Dowd at 508-240-0071 with the name of the person who will be taking your place

SANDWICHES (4 dozen) DESSERTS (2 dozen)

DECEMBER Lynn Farber Carrie Guiliano Mary Finan Susanne Hamilton Devon Foley Sally Herbst Janet Gagliano Nora Hersey Jane Geiger Barbara Hoadley Dinny Goodwin Beth Holden Bev Singleton Sieglinde Hughes

JANUARY Gloria Jaccarino Fran McClennen Judy Johnson Sue McFarlane Joan Karter Kate McNulty Janet Lascher Elizabeth Mead Joy Long Phyllis Mead Carol Marsh Sherry Metz Sandra Marshall Nancy Miller

FEBRUARY Irene Mitchell Diane Pavelchak Judy Mitchell Nancy Phelps Paula Moran Heidi Quill Stacey Morgano Kathy Ridell Carol Newsome Janet Roberts Gretel Norgeot Barbara Roessner Carolyn Otis Pam Russell

MARCH Debby Saliba Stephanie Gray Judy Saulnier Diane Smith Karen Schwalm Anne Stawiarski Peggy Sheehan Elizabeth Suraci Helene Simon Mary Ellen Sussman Ann Sinclair Sally Taylor

APRIL Edith Ward Ellen Bernstein Marty Williams Carolyn Dranginis Tina Williamson Karen Halliwell Janie Wilson Deborah Kimball Joyce Wood Ella Leavitt Kay Nagle Martine Admundson Barbara Blanchard Janet Brink

MAY Abby Summersgill Virginia Barker Holly Trevisan Marcia Bechtold Marilyn Bornemeier Wendy Bellevance Sally Dewing Connie Bender Mary Ellen Bower Jeanne Berdik Beth Bradanini Janet Chappel Eunice Burley Susan Christie

MEMBERSHIP – Sue McFarlane/Jan Crabtree Please make the following changes to the Membership Roster in your yearbook: Conrad-Cooke, Melinda: mailing address should be South Dennis 02660 (not East Dennis) Moran, Paula: new email address is paulamoran@comcast.net

TEACHER MINI-GRANTS “GO GREEN” – Mary Ellen Bower/Debby Saliba/Bev Singleton

The goal of our new Teacher Mini-Grant Program, “Go Green,” is to connect classroom learning with environmental issues. Teachers in the public schools on the Lower Cape can apply for grants of up to $500 each, or up to $1000 for teacher teams. Our committee found great enthusiasm when we presented the guidelines to the schools in November. We expect to receive many quality applications by the January 20, 2012 deadline. Please go to our club web site (nausetgadenclub.com) and click on the heading “Teacher Mini-Grant Program” to see all the details of this brand new and exciting community outreach program.

“HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS,” CELEBRATE THE SEASONS AT CROSBY MANSION – Heidi Quill Celebrate the Seasons at Crosby Mansion 2012 is off to a good start. The Steering Committee has met and laid the groundwork for our work at Crosby Mansion. In the next few months we will be completing the room assignments and filling out the boutique, hospitality and preview party committees. Our theme this year is “Home for the Holidays” with Celebrate the Seasons at Crosby Mansion replacing Christmas at Crosby as the title for the event. Steering Committee: Chair: Heidi Quill Boutique: Sue Christie, Lynn Farber, Oonie Burley Hospitality: Janet Chappel, Kim von Thaden Preview Party: Martine Amundson, Wendy Bellavance, Mary Beth Kelligrew, Anne Stawiarski Publicity: Mary Ellen Sussman, Janet Lascher, Holly Trevisan Room Chairs: Kay Nagle, Kate McNulty Scheduling: Sue McFarlane, Debby Saliba Tickets: Phyllis Mead, Gretel Norgeot  

”I h eard i t t h r ough t h e Grap e v in e…”

Editor’s  Note:  As  time  and  space  permit,  we  will   include  items  of  personal  interest  in  this  column.  If  you  have  a  special  gardening  story,  recipe,  poem,  photograph,  helpful  hint,  or  special  event  in  your  life  that  you  would  like  to  share  with  our  members,  please  mail  it  to  me  at  6  Viking  Road,  Orleans,  MA  02653-­‐4624,  or  email  it  to  seafarms@gmail.com.  

MODERN LIBRARY GARDENER SERIES, Michael Pollan, Series Editor

Suggested reading from Jan Roberts

Famous for his book and TV presentation The Botany of Desire, this Editor has chosen the books with an eye to providing insight, information, revelation and humor. And more: From his introduction: “Gardening …engages us with the natural world, as actors rather than passive spectators.” “…I read to garden, and garden to read…”

By the time the introductions have been read, readers know that the authors are rather more than gardeners and that’s what makes the books unique. No pedantic instructions here. In our somewhat enforced leisure in winter, these books might just see you safely through from January through March.

The List: We Made A Garden, by Margery Fish The Gardener’s Year, by Karel Capek

The American Gardener, by William Cobbett In the Land of the Blue Poppies, by Frank Kingdon Ward

Green Thoughts, by Eleanor Perenyi My Summer in a Garden, by Charles Dudley Warner The Gardener’s Bed-Book, by Richardson Wright*

Old Herbaceous, by Reginald Arkell

*Editor’s Note: I have read The Gardener’s Bed-Book many times and have given it to shut-in friends. It is a well-written, very folksy commentary on gardening, with an entry for every day of the year. If every book in the series is as much fun to read as this one, they will indeed “…see you safely through from January to March.”

Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed our Most Alluring Fruit

by Barry Estabrook

A book review by Mary Ellen Sussman

We have all picked up a rock-hard shiny red tomato at the supermarket, knowing for a fact that it would have no flavor, but decided to buy it anyway. The need to have something resembling a tomato in a sandwich in January is sometimes too hard to resist. But after reading Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed our Most Alluring Fruit, by Barry Estabrook, Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC, 2011, you might think twice. In fact, I might never buy another Florida tomato again. From October to June, virtually all of the fresh tomatoes sold in the U.S. come from Florida, and specifically from the area south of Naples, around Immokalee. This has everything to do with marketing and transportation costs, not because Florida is ideal for growing tomatoes. In fact, it might be one of the worst places in the country since its sandy soil is devoid of nutrients and the wilting humidity causes rampant fungal diseases. Florida growers must pump the soil full of chemical fertilizers and blast the plants with more than 100 different pesticides and herbicides, including some of the most toxic known to agribusiness. The USDA has found residues of 35 pesticides on tomatoes destined for our supermarkets. That’s reason enough to forego Florida tomatoes, but only part of the sad story. The book is largely devoted to documenting the appalling treatment of the migrant workers who labor in the fields around Immokalee. They suffer from eye and respiratory ailments and many of their children are born with horrible birth defects. Because they are paid on a “piece” basis for every bushel basket they gather, they are not paid for days when it rains, or when the fruit ripens too slowly, or when the trucks don’t arrive to take them to the fields.

IN CASE YOU DIDN’T SEE IT ON THE FRONT PAGE… The club is looking for someone to replace Bev Singleton as editor of the Grapevine and Yearbook. If you have editing and publishing skills, experience with graphic design, page layout, and mailing lists, maybe you’re the one for this job. The time commitment is two tor three days during the third week of August, November, February, and May for the Grapevine, and several days at the end of August for the Yearbook. Bev will walk you through the process as she prepares the spring issue of the Grapevine in February and again with the summer issue in May. If you’re interested in volunteering for this job, please contact Sharon Davis by email at sharon@.gardengatedesign.net, or by phone at 508-255-9820.

Win t e r

   

NAUSET GARDEN CLUB P.O. Box 103 South Orleans, MA 02662