Golden Acre Lives On: December 2008

Zone 7

With lower elevations and longer days, a variety of vegetables will thrive in a Zone 7 garden. Lettuce, cabbage, broccoli and Brussels sprouts can be planted before the last frost. Carrots, beets, radishes, and parsnips will also do well. Onions, potatoes, peas, radishes, salad greens, and a variety of herbs can also be planted during this time frame. Most areas in zone 7 get moderate to high rainfall and many areas have little snowcover in winter. This makes zone 7 gardening an ideal gardening environment. Fall-grown vegetables, in particular, are usually of very high quality.

Read more at Suite101: Zone 7 Gardening: Growing Vegetables in the "Middle Ground" Suite101.com http://vegetablegardens.suite101.com/article.cfm/zone_7_gardening#ixzz0aQUvPuRG

Sunday, December 21, 2008

It's A Wonderful Life

Happy Holidays to one and all. I don't care if you decide to shop or not. Give gifts or not. Buy a real tree or a fake tree or no tree at all. Celebrate or not. Just be safe out there.

Hats off to football's Hall of Famer Sammy Baugh, who died today.

Excerpt from A Country Rag (http://www.acountryrag.org/mainfram.html): "I first met Logan when I lived in Arizona, at a poetry gathering on the Arizona/Mexico border. Since then I’ve had the pleasure of seeing him perform on several occasions. Logan is a passionate, intelligent, and well-educated man who graduated Northern Arizona University where he majored in Spanglish Linguistics. After college he lived in LA where he competed in the slam poetry movement. Recently he toured the world with his three-man group, Verbobala. More recently he spent the last few months in Costa Rico where he ran a youth hostel for the season. Prior to his hostel work he taught 4th graders in Mexico City, MX. An interesting guy."

What does a country girl living in the 'burbs do in the winter?
1. Stare longingly at the garden.
2. Play with the cats more.
3. Begin sewing projects.
4. Decant tinctures made this past summer.
5. Makes soaps, candles and potpourri from stored summer herbs.
6. Ride the stationary bike.
7. Read more.
8. Work on the annual taxes.
9. Paint.
10. Scrapbook.

With Christmas roaring up toward me, I've realized I still have work to do. A ham to buy. We have fireworks to set off on Christmas Eve. The kids and their kids will be here. We'll sing and dance to Holiday music we hear Sirrius Radio.

With the year closing out, I start thinking about what I want to accomplish next year...and what I've managed to accomplish this past year. I'm always surprised at how much I did in one year. So next year I'm setting my sights higher. Whatever I did this year that made me feel good about myself ~ that's what I'm going to do more of. More work to help other people, more work to increase my knowledge base, more painting and design, more writing, more encouragement to other artists. More.

And what do I want back out of 2009?

More.

Lessons from Golden Acre:

My first husband was a country boy. He taught me a lot about gardening. We had a ½ acre garden, four apple trees, a peach tree, a plum tree, a cherry tree, a grape arbor, a chicken coop without chickens…
· One crazy thing we did was use metal in gardening. The country folk couldn’t explain why it made a huge difference to use metal tomato stakes, to bury cans & can lids in the dirt, to use copper wire in gardening. Nowadays, modern science tells us that plants thrive on the negative ions produced by static electricity. [Personally I’m glad there’s some God-given use for static electricity other than making my pants stick to my legs.] So, according to the country folk, you place cans about every foot in your garden. Cut out the tops and bottoms of the cans and bury about ½ the can in the ground.
· Always use metal stakes for tomatoes.
· Use chicken wire to provide support for vertical growth, or roll it up and place under the growth of vine plants, like cukes, melons, pumpkins. Place a stick or metal rod under bush beans…for some reason plants go crazy for being off the ground. That helps you, the farmer, prevent fungus and disease.
· Use copper wire in your garden.

The Former Golden Acre

I once lived in a place called Golden Acre.

During WWII, the U.S. government encouraged citizens to grow food in home gardens called "Victory Gardens." Patriotism ran high, and a good Victory Garden was something to boast about. So much so that prizes were awarded for the finest gardens.

Jim Brown and his wife moved to Nashville in 1938, and by the war years their garden was lush and verdant. One section of the land, called The Elysian Gardens, was choked with flowers. Vegetable sections sported such treats as “Victory” spelled out in green-bean plants. Golden Acre was so fruitful that it supplied food for the Browns and their daughter Sue, extended family members, neighbors up and down the street, and a local restaurant, The Belle Meade Buffet. As recognition of his famous generosity, the buffet awarded Mr. Brown a lifetime of free dinners. Each evening of the subsequent 40 years would find Mr. Brown dressed to the nines in suit, topcoat and fedora, strolling his way to the restaurant.

Years passed and Mr. Brown’s jaunty walk slowed. And as Mr. Brown slowed, Golden Acre reverted to its natural state and became a refuge for wildlife. More than 30 species of birds and wildlife lived on Golden Acre’s magical land. What made this so remarkable was that Golden Acre was located one block off West End Avenue, a part of “downtown” Nashville that is incredibly congested and area clogged with cars and busy citizens, noise and pollution. In the midst of that madness stood Golden Acre, a paradise of wildlife.

Golden Acre responded to the city’s growth by becoming a veritable fortress of woods—a warren of meandering paths, hidden grottos with ancient stone benches and altars; the noise of the city disguised by the coos of happy birds, the gentle clucking of hens in the hen yard; the chittering, tweeping, trilling songs of birds; and the gentle song of wind in the trees.
Now Golden Acre is a parking lot.

Golden Acre Lives On

Rainbow Swiss Chard

Companion Planting Poster

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Corn Silks

Corn Tassles

Start NOW to work the soil for Spring.

Survival Seeds.com

Get Busy!

Zone 7

Yes You Can

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Mother and Son

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Sunday, December 21, 2008

It's A Wonderful Life

Brillante Weblog Award

Lessons from Golden Acre:

The Former Golden Acre