Golden Acre Lives On: March 2011

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

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Golden Acre Lives On: Mama's Sweet Pickles

Monday, March 28, 2011

Scrapbooking

Scrapbooking is all the rage, and the elements are cute, so I thought I'd give it a try. First I used an old copy of Farewell to Arms and did some creative things to the pages. Then I went on to trying my hand at traditional scrapping. It's relaxing and keeps my mind occupied in a zen-like way. Below are some of my beginner's pictures. Many still require missing elements.

For more information there are plenty of sites about scrapping, complete with free ideas. To get started, read more about this cute hobby at http://scrapbooking.about.com/.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Make Your Own Granola

With food prices increasing every day, it makes sense to cut corners whenever possible. One way to reduce costs is to make your own granola. You can eat it alone with milk or hot water, on top of other cereals, mixed into yogurt. When you make you own, you are able to control what kind of additives and ingredients go into your food.

Ingredients:

Oatmeal

1 c. Honey

2 TBLS. Margarine

Fruits

2 cups Flax seed

1 cup nuts

2 cups sunflower seed

Gather all your ingredients together.

Mix honey and margarine in a saucepan. Heat until almost boiling.

Mix together sunflower seed...

Add nuts and flax seed...then fill bowl with oats. Pour the honey mixture over the ingredients and gently stir and turn the oat mixture until evenly coated.

Prep pans by lining with foil if desired, and spraying with PAM spray. Very important to spray the pans to keep the granola from sticking.

Spread the oat mixture evenly in two pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Let cool slightly.

Add fruits now, when granola is slightly cool. Gently mix together in pans.

When fully cooled, finished product should be sealed in an airtight container.

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

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