Monticelo - part two.

The above pictures represent what I would describe as the best of the day we spent at Monticello. Going clockwise, there is the screenshot of the official banner that was displayed on all the monitors in the various seminar tents, me beside the statue of Thomas Jefferson, the tent where the soil renaissance seminar was held, the various tents on the main grounds where the vendors were set up, a picture of the early morning fog hanging in the valley beside the Jefferson garden and me with Robert Hatch - the man who brought the garden back and who has written several books on Jefferson's revolutionary garden.


As I said in my earlier post, I am quite pleased that I am doing the best I can for my soil.  For, if your soil is good, it solves a lot of issues for your garden.   But more importantly, it was nice to be with people who shared a common interest and but had different perspectives.  Here I am, in the red shirt, sitting with the various people who were attending the soil renaissance seminar.  It was quite satisfying indeed.
I also attended a seminar on winter gardening during the day.  I have toyed with the idea of growing vegetables in winter to be able to extend the growing season.  And, as I listened to the back and forth about the various techniques and structures that could/should be used, I slowly came to realization that maybe this just wasn't what I wanted to be doing after all.
The discussion began about what plants could be grown over the winter.  That list was, to no surprise to me, very limited.  We first established that it was basically root crops and hardy plants like cabbage, kale, broccoli and a few others that could be successfully grown through winter.  They then explained the need for covering the plants with the spun fiber directly over the bed and then the need to build a support structure once the plants began to grow.  So far, not too bad.  But then, we began talking about bigger structures, blankets, and even greenhouse plastic and the need to build heavier duty structures of various types.  This is where I began to think that this was a lot of effort for what they termed as small output crops.  I mean, in all honesty, in my mind it would be much easier to buy my carrots from the grocery store than to put all this effort to get them fresh from my garden once I shoveled them out and uncovered them.  Exaggeration I know but not too far off the point.
So, this seminar was beneficial in that it confirmed what I learned from trial and error here and there over my time as a gardener.  I can understand a commercial or CSA grower doing this - it's their livelihood.  But for the backyard gardener, unless you are in the south and can avoid the structures, I don't see the payoff.
We spent the rest our time at Monticello wandering through the various exhibitors tents and the grounds.  As we were meandering around the Jefferson garden, I recognized Peter Hatch.  He has written several books regarding Jefferson and the revolutionary garden.  I own 'Thomas Jefferson's Garden Book" and will have to buy 'A rich Spot of Earth: Thomas Jefferson's Revolutionary Garden at Monticello'.  I introduced myself and asked him for a picture which he graciously approved.
All in all, the day was fun for me.  My wife, on the other hand, had her moments but was mostly there to spend time with me as we wandered the grounds.  I would recommend Monticello to any one who is fascinated with gardening and also, the history of our country.  There is much to see on a normal tour and it is very beautiful there.

         

Monticello and the Heritage Harvest Festival

My wife and I attended the Festival this past weekend.  We drove down Friday afternoon through the insane traffic that is Washington DC.  We were able to get in to beautiful Charlottesville Virginia, check in to our hotel and then go to the pedestrian mall in the downtown area.  We had been here before but this time was quite different.  It was the home opener for the Univ. of Virginia against Notre Dame.  Guess what color shirt I was wearing - that's right!  Bright green like I was from Notre Dame.  I laid low once I figured that out.
It was a mob scene although it did not seem intense.  I love this little mall as it is quite nice with the blend of eateries and it's quirky stores that populate the mall.  You can eat outside or inside the various restaurants.  There was a nice mix of the students youth from Virginia and the older folks - mostly alumni.  It has an ampitheater on the one end and we listened to the Skip Castro Band for awhile.  We left there just before the UVA pep rally was to start in order to avoid the crush of the people there.
We woke up on Saturday and made our way to Monticello.  When we arrived, it was lightly raining and the mountaintop was covered with clouds and fog.  I had signed up for a Soil Renaissance workshop and a class about winter gardening.  We made our way to the various vendors and perused and purchased a few items from them.  We took in a tomato tasting table from Seed Savers Exchange.  I must say, the chocolate cherry tomato's were delicious.  Only issue I had was that they did not have seed packs for many of the varieties being presented.  Come to find out, they were testing them so they may come available in the future.  I will have to keep an eye out for their catalog to see if any made the cut to packets.
Let me begin the description of what I(we) took in at the festival.  I will begin the same way I tell people to start a garden - with the soil.  Soil renaissance is a group of loosely held organizations that have as their primary goal the education of today's farmer about soil and how to sustain it.  It really was quite interesting to hear the various speakers - one from Soil renaissance, a local farmer, an extension representative from Va., the Monticello chief gardener and a professor from Va. Tech.  All had very interesting points of view and experiences.  While I was sitting listening to each speaker, I was ticking off what I do in my garden as each subject came up.  It was quite gratifying to know that my practices were in line with most of the speakers.  One place I did not mesh with one of the speakers was with the use of herbicides on their crops.  I completely understand that they have a livelihood to protect unlike me.  I garden for the joy of it and not for direct income.  There is a vast difference.
Interestingly, one of the organizations that Soil Renaissance does interact with is the Rodale institute in Kutztown Pa., not far from the Baltimore area. They are pioneers of the organic method and they date back to the early 1950's. According to the SR people, they participate regularly within the SR movement.  Rodale does classes and has tours during the year.  I will have to get up there to see the Institute.  I believe they have over 300 acres of test fields.  They are very cutting edge and I have been reading their website and picking up techniques and such for more than a few years.  If you get the chance and are in the area, it may well be worth the time to go there.
Well, that's all for now.  I will be writing more about this visit but there is so much to tell I feel it needs to be broken down over the next week or so.  I also have pictures which I will also share in the very near future.   If you have any question about this or any other topic, please feel free to leave a comment.  Until next time, Happy Gardening!