The Peach is Sunshine

This peach is sunshine. It is night, the twilight, and the dawn. It is dew and rain. It is noon, and wind, and weather. It is heat and cold. It is the sequence of the seasons, winter and spring, summer and autumn, and winter again, all of which have gone into the tree that gave it birth...and in the years to come, when you and I shall not be here to see, it or its progeny will bear peaches still! — L.H. Bailey, Peach, from The Harvest

• Food Stuff: At Greenmarkets, the Peaches of Summer (nytimes.com)

Improvsational Farmer Stand-Up More Than Just a Routine

Local southwest Michigan farmers Julie Cowley and Will Hart love what they do; plant food, grow food, provide food for their immediate community all within a half hour drive from their farm in Casco township where 2010's growing season is sprouting cabbages, lettuces, spinach, melons, celery, zucchini, scallions, squash, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, sunflowers, zinnias, radicchio, leeks, and even blue popcorn. Their story of launching their first farm, Improvisational Farmer, was shared at the last 2010 Brown Bag series in the Bailey woodshed. Will spoke in how he rediscovered the longer cycle of the land that goes beyond the one year mindset. Julie shared the challenges of operating a private farm. Those challenges are paying off with a public more aware of their food. Even Michigan Governor, Jennifer Granholm recently spoke to the value of locally grown food, “Local food is fresher, tastes better and comes from farmland near you,” Granholm said.  “And because many fruits and vegetables can lose up to 50 percent of their nutrients in just five days’ time, buying locally grown food is a healthier choice.” Julie and Will also offer Fresh-Prep food kits, ready for the grill. The farm is part of the Lakeshore Harvest Country which is sponsoring an upcoming local food dinner on August 22nd (see Lakeshore link for more info). Farm hats off to Will and Julie. Keep growing and we'll keep eating and growing.

CONTACT INFO THE IMPROVISATIONAL FARMER: Email:  Fresh@ImprovFarmer.com, 1-866-254-4633, 269-639-1970, Farm location: 991 62nd Street, Pullman, MI   49450 (about 4 miles east of US 31/196 off Pullman Road, 109th Avenue), Mailing address: 876 1/2 Blue Star Highway, South Haven, MI  49090

The Earth is Divine

Verily, then, the earth is divine, because man did not make it. We are here, part in the creation. We cannot escape. We are under obligation to take part and to do our best, living with each other and with all the creatures. We may not know the full plan, but that does not alter the relation. When once we set ourselves to the pleasure of our dominion, reverently and hopefully, and assume all its responsibilities, we shall have a new hold on life. - L.H. Bailey, The Holy Earth

The Habit of Grumbling at the Weather

The habit of grumbling at the weather is the most senseless and futile of all expenditures of human effort. Day by day we complain and fret at the weather, and when we are done with it we have — the weather. The same amount of energy put into wholesome work would have set civilization far in advance of its present state. Weather is not a human institution, and therefore it cannot be "bad." I have seen bad men, have read bad books, have made bad lectures, have lived two years about Boston,— but I have never seen bad weather! — L.H. Bailey, Outlook to Nature

BROWN BAG BIOLOGY: What Would Bailey Plant?

BROWN BAG BIOLOGY/LUNCH & LECTURE

Wed., July 21th, 12:30-1:30 PM

Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum

903 S. Bailey * South Haven, MI * (269)637-3251

Come to sit under the museum's historic Walnut Tree with your lunch for the free program that started it all! Topic: "What Would Bailey Plant?"

In 1862, a young Liberty Hyde Bailey witnessed his mother's passing from diphtheria in the very room he was born in only five years previously. Sara Bailey, left behind at the Bailey homestead, a collection of cottage of pinks, Dianthus, that she gardened. The young, grief stricken Bailey, continually kept-up the garden, marking a rite of initiation into the world of Horticulture and Botany. He writes in his book, The Garden Pinks, "From earliest boyhood the pinks have been my companions. Mounds and rings of Grass pinks were in the front yard, left there by my mother...to this late day the memory of them lingers." This is his list of his mother's extensive pinks: Dianthus Deltoides, D. graniticus, D. Alpestris, D. Arenarius, D. Petraeus, D. Caesius, D. Plumarius, D. Caryophyllus, D. Gallicus, D. Atrorubens, D. Croaticus, D. Cruentus, D. Barbatus, D. Laciniatus, D. Heddewigii.
 

Find out more at this program at the Bailey Museum!

BLUEBERRY ICE-CREAM FESTIVAL at the BAILEY

BLUEBERRY ICE-CREAM FESTIVAL Saturday, July 17th, 2PM-4PM

Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum, 903 S. Bailey Avenue, South Haven, Michigan
Bring the family and taste the season's best! Locally grown blueberries from the southwest Michigan Fruit Belt adorn locally made Sherman's ice-cream. Being ecological never tasted so good! $5 suggested donation.

BLUEBERRY FACTS

• Only 80 fat-free calories per cup, blueberries are a good source of dietary fiber and vitamin C.

•Blueberries rank high in antioxidants that help protect against cancer, heart disease and other age-related diseases.

• Researchers have found compounds in blueberries that help prevent urinary tract infection.

• A single bush can produce as many as 6,000 blueberries a year.

• There are only three fruits native to North America: blueberries, cranberries and Concord grapes.

• Botanists estimate that blueberries have been around for more than 13,000 years.

Museum Becomes a Certified Wildlife Habitat™

Nature cannot be antagonistic to man, seeing that man is a product of nature. We should find vast joy in the fellowship, something like the joy of Pan. - L.H. Bailey, The Holy Earth

The Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum, a National Historic Site has it all for wildlife now: food, water, cover, place to raise their young and sustainable gardening. These are the criteria set out by the National Wildlife Federation. As they mention, "Whether you have an apartment balcony or a 20-acre farm, you can create a garden that attracts beautiful wildlife and helps restore habitat in commercial and residential areas. By providing food, water, cover and a place for wildlife to raise their young--and by incorporating sustainable gardening practices--you not only help wildlife, but you also qualify to become an official Certified Wildlife Habitat™." Check it out at their webiste, Garden for Wildlife.