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Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)
My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Sharon Demers!!!
Sharon Demers (Calicogirl, #5392) has received a certificate of achievement in Garden Gate for earning a Beginner Level Heirlooms Forever Merit Badge!
“~When planning our garden, I shopped both online (localharvest.org) and locally after researching catalogs, specifically for heirloom variety seeds.
~I read Gardening with Heirlooms by Lynn Coulter and thoroughly enjoyed it.
~I love reading the history of the seeds that I planted. It is like opening an historic novel instead of a seed catalog.
~I thoroughly enjoyed Miss Coulter’s book. It is now on my wish list. I love how Lynn calls heirloom seeds “living antiques.” So appropriate! Also an inheritance of flavor and beauty from long ago. It caused me to remember a scene in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers with Howard Keel and Jane Powell. Adam is riding in the wagon with his bride, Milllie. Millie is excited on her journey to her new home, a cabin in the mountains. In her excitement, she tells Adam of her valuables: the Bible, another book, and a packet of seeds that her mother gave her. Oh, how we should be so excited about seeds!
Through the book, I obtained quite a bit of knowledge that I wasn’t aware of. It was nice to see that, due to their genetics, heirlooms are usually resistant to pests, diseases, and extremes of weather.
~I am happy to report that more than 5% of our garden is heirloom plantings.”
My first introduction to heirloom veggies were the tomatoes. Wow, what a difference those plants produce! I am also fascinated with heirloom apples. Recently, I obtained a book from a grower in Maine who has spent his entire work life tracking down and trying to restart the many heirloom varieties of apples that once grew in orchards and backyards in central Maine. Fascinating! Now, to take a trek up to his orchards in the fall and purchase some from his CSA! The problem? It is a bit of a trek in the car all the way up the east coast from Florida and I would need a car to bring home the bounty. That trip is currently on my bucket list of things to do in the near future!
hi Winnie , I wrote to you a while back right before you went on your voyage. It was after the apple photo of the day. Anyway I wanted you to know about a very nice book mostly about Apples ( and heirloom plants and veggies) called:
” Taste Memory- Forgotten Foods, Lost Flavors, and Why They Matter” by David Buchanan. I think you will truly enjoy it.
Also the best book on Heirlooms, in my opinion, is ” Heirloom Vegetable Gardening” by William Woys Weaver. It is out of print but used copies are usually available on half.com or amazon. It is wilely considered the ” bible” on heirloom vegetables. Hope you find these books and get to read them.