Friends, It's community garden catalogue reading time - Here's a sweet article by a Philly writer who, writes of, "Tatum Kaiser of Wyndmoor will be planting ...pinkeye purplehulls plant in a community garden operated by the Chestnut Hill Community Association at Morris Arboretum. They'll almost certainly be the only pinkeye purplehulls growing there...."
Everbest, Adam Honigman Volunteer, Clinton Community Garden "My Backyard | Catalogs can sow all sorts of seeds By Denise Cowie Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Writer When a catalog from the Vermont Bean Seed Co. arrived in her mailbox recently, Melinda Tatum Kaiser didn't even wait to sit down before she started flipping through it. Not that she expected to find what she was looking for, as she'd leafed through many a catalog in the past without success. But this time, there it was - Cowpea Pinkeye Purplehull. She ordered some, of course. Come spring, Tatum Kaiser of Wyndmoor will plant the seeds in a community garden operated by the Chestnut Hill Community Association at Morris Arboretum. They'll almost certainly be the only pinkeye purplehulls growing there. The thrill of finding something different or unexpected in a gardening catalog helps to make January bearable for many a winter-weary gardener; it's around this time of year that mountains of plant and seed catalogs begin arriving in the mail. (January isn't "National Mailorder Gardening Month" for nothing.) Almost every cover flaunts something "New!" or "Exclusive!" - whether it's a fat red tomato from Burpee specially designed for sandwiches, or a coneflower of a different color (this year, some brilliant new orange and yellow hues have been added to the usual pinks) from Wayside Gardens. For some restive, housebound gardeners, the glossy publications are curl-up-by-the-fire wishbooks that offer a comforting promise of spring. "The winter is so dreary, and it's fun to say 'Oh, next season I want to grow this and try that,' " says Pam Davidson of Flourtown. Every winter, as the catalogs come pouring in, Davidson throws them into a basket to peruse at her leisure. "I have one whole bookcase that is dedicated to gardening books and gardening catalogs," she says. For others, the publications are an educational tool. "I love looking at them, but not just for entertainment," says Diane Mattis of Havertown. "I use them as resources... . I have White Flower Farm catalogs that go back at least five years. They give you the botanical names and the pronunciations, and they also give you ideas." And occasionally, gardening catalogs offer something more. For Tatum Kaiser, the pinkeye purplehull cowpeas aren't just the main ingredient in a favorite side dish; they're a link to her past. For decades, her grandfather, Harrison Scott, grew this same variety on the family farm in Marietta, on the outskirts of Atlanta, not far from where Tatum Kaiser grew up. And at the age of 94 (he celebrated a birthday this month), he's still growing them. "When I was a kid, we just called them Scott peas, because we didn't know anyone else who grew them or ate them," says Tatum Kaiser, who lives in Wyndmoor with her husband, Jay, and their 8-year-old son, Harrison. Her grandfather grew the cowpeas from seeds he'd found on the farm, saving enough from each year's harvest for the following year's planting. "When I was in college, they cross-pollinated with a crowder pea that he was also growing," Tatum Kaiser recalls, "so the peas the next year were hybrids, and not as tasty. "That's when I started to look for the seeds in catalogs, and realized how hard it was to find them." Now, whenever she finds a source for the cowpeas, she orders some to mix in with the seeds she, too, saves from year to year, to add genetic diversity. For Tatum Kaiser, who grew up to be a choreographer and is now cosponsor of the Drama Club at Upper Dublin High School in Fort Washington, that pinkeye purplehull seed she found in the Vermont Bean Seed catalog brought back memories of childhood days in Georgia; trailing along in the garden with her grandfather, she inherited his urge to grow. Although, as an adult, Harrison Scott took a job in a machine shop in Atlanta to support his family, he went back evenings and weekends to work on the farm where he was born, and he returned to the property for good when he retired 23 years ago. Back when he was a boy, says Tatum Kaiser, the farm was in the country, but it has long since been enveloped by the city's sprawl. "He tells me stories about taking the wagon with the mules into market on Saturday mornings to sell their produce," she says. "They would leave way before dawn, and get to the Atlanta farmers' market at 9 or 10 a.m. Now, it's about a 45-minute drive." Scott still gardens on several acres that were once part of the farm, tending wild muscadine and scupadine grapes, and watermelons he sells by the roadside. A couple of summers ago, he made enough money to pay for any food he had to buy that winter. "He mostly eats what he grows," says Tatum Kaiser. "He sort of amazes me." Her grandparents were her baby-sitters when she was a child, she adds, and as a result, "I think gardening seeped into my pores somehow. "As a teenager I tried to deny that," she admits. "I didn't want anything to do with gardening at that age. But as an adult, it became something I had to do. It's not like you have to garden these days - you can buy everything you want to eat in the grocery store. But I find that I need to do it." At the Morris Arboretum plot, she says, "We grow lettuce, tomatoes, spinach and peppers, but also peas and corn and pumpkins and watermelons." Big plants make gardening more appealing for her son, Harrison, his great-grandfather's namesake. "One year we decided to grow our own pumpkins for Halloween, and it was perfect. We carved three of them, and made pumpkin pies out of the other two. It was really fun." o It's that kind of delight in growing things that makes Megan Gerritsen's work a pleasure. Gerritsen and her husband, Jim, are on the other end of the catalog business. They operate Wood Prairie Farm, an organic family farm in Maine that specializes in unusual potatoes for cooks and seed potatoes for gardeners; they send out thousands of copies of the Maine Potato Catalog each year. Jim Gerritsen moved to Maine to start farming in 1976, selling produce at farmers' markets and natural food stores, and through community-supported agriculture. The couple started their mail-order business in the late '80s, adding seed potatoes for gardeners to the line. "We fell in love with that because it entails marketing to gardeners, and I love gardeners," says Megan Gerritsen, who has four children ranging in age from 14 to nearly 2. "They are just so enthusiastic... . Mail-order is direct marketing, so we get to talk to our customers, and that is my favorite part of the job - solving people's problems, figuring out what bug it was that chewed the leaves, you know." The customers are very much on their minds when they plan the catalog, too. "Our catalog is aimed at people who want good food," she says, and laughs. "You know, flavor... . One of our business goals is to allow people to get back to simple food, family ties, the whole slow-food-movement thing. "People ask me what is my favorite way to cook potatoes, expecting some nine-step recipe, and I say, 'Oh, bake them.' [Add a little] real butter, real sour cream, and people will be fighting their way to the table." Contact gardening writer Denise Cowie at 215-848-4810 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] Read her recent work at http://go.philly.com/denisecowie. For information on Vermont Bean Seed Co., visit www.vermontbean. com; for the Maine Potato Catalog, visit www.woodprairie.com; details on other gardening catalogs are at www.mailordergardening.com." ______________________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: https://secure.mallorn.com/mailman/listinfo/community_garden
