After completing the spring garden deliveries, the Transition Town team—Dave, Laura, and Chris—set out to reconnect with the young gardeners to see how their gardens had fared. They were eager to learn about the children’s gardening experiences, including what they grew, how their plants thrived, and whether they enjoyed managing their own gardens. We successfully followed up with 6 of the 9 contest winners, discovering a rich tapestry of gardening stories filled with both triumphs and challenges. These reflections echoed the common ups and downs of gardening that we all experience.

A follow-up discussions covered important seasonal preparations. The team offered advice on how to "put their garden to bed" for the winter, helping the young gardeners plan for the off-season and ensure their gardens are well-prepared for the next growing year. This proactive approach will set the stage for a successful and vibrant gardening season when May arrives in 2025.

Maddie and Wilder -

Maddie and Wilder embarked on a vibrant gardening adventure, cultivating carrots, corn, basil, cucumbers, and potatoes. With so many vegetable ideas, they faced the delightful challenge of deciding what to plant. They found joy in tending to their garden, often taking the opportunity to weed while others were occupied with activities around the house.
Their excitement is building as they eagerly await the harvest of their corn, looking forward to enjoying the fruits of their labor. The garden became a magical place for them, as they delighted in discovering wood frogs, caterpillars, and a colorful array of butterflies, which added an enchanting touch to their gardening experience.

Hatteras and Nash -

Hatteras and Nash cultivated a vibrant garden with an impressive variety of plants, including carrots, marigolds, lettuce, Roma tomatoes, and cucumbers. They specifically planted marigolds to help deter garden pests, making their garden both beautiful and functional. One of their favorite activities was creating fresh lettuce salads from their own harvest.
Laura provided valuable guidance, teaching them how to thin out their carrots and other plants to ensure ample space for growth. Their tomato plants flourished with lush, green foliage, showing signs of excellent health.
Despite their success, they encountered some challenges. Rabbits visited their garden and nibbled on the carrot tops, prompting them to install a fence to protect their crops. Overall, Hatteras and Nash found gardening to be a fun and rewarding experience, particularly enjoying the fresh vegetables they grew.
Looking ahead, they plan to plant garlic in the fall to prepare for a bountiful garden next year.

Elijah -Elijah’s garden included strawberries, radishes, green onions, and both beefsteak and cherry tomatoes. He dedicated almost every day to tending his garden, with his neighbor friend often joining him to help out.

Despite his diligent care, Elijah encountered a few challenges. Slugs and birds became unwelcome visitors, particularly enjoying his strawberries. He tried to use copper strips to deter the slugs, but found it tricky to keep them securely in place.
Elijah is planning to explore the “Three Sisters” planting method next year. This Native American technique involves growing corn, beans, and squash together, with each plant supporting the others in a symbiotic relationship.

Elijah has thoroughly enjoyed the experience of having his own garden, relishing the pleasure of snacking on homegrown vegetables and the satisfaction of nurturing his own plants. For the upcoming season, he’s contemplating adding something new to his garden, such as cucumbers, to further diversify his harvest.

Henry & Will -

Henry and Will grew a diverse garden featuring cucumbers, basil, carrots, and green beans. While their gardening efforts were generally successful, they encountered some challenges with the soil's performance. To address this, they added composted fertilizer, which helped improve the soil quality.

The green beans were a highlight, though they turned out a bit tough to the bite. They also took an educational approach to their cucumber plants, learning about the differences between male and female flowers and the crucial role of pollinators in transferring pollen from male to female flowers to fertilize the fruit.
Henry and Will did an excellent job thinning their carrot plants, ensuring there was enough space for the carrots to grow properly beneath the soil. Their basil plants thrived, and they've enjoyed using the fresh basil to enhance their spaghetti meals.
Overall, having their own garden significantly increased their engagement and enthusiasm for gardening, making the experience rewarding.  They liked that the garden was located close to the house for easy access.

Guy and Evelyn -

Guy and Evelyn’s garden flourished with zucchini squash, watermelon, and sweet peppers. This summer, they have enjoyed a bountiful harvest of zucchini, which grew so vigorously that it took over a significant portion of the garden. All their plants were started from seeds, showcasing their commitment and patience.
They delved into the fascinating world of zucchini pollination, learning about the differences between male and female flowers and how pollinators transfer pollen from male to female flowers to fertilize the fruit. Their garden benefited from an abundance of bees, drawn in by the surrounding flowers that attract these crucial pollinators.
In addition to their current crops, Guy and Evelyn are excited about their plans for next year, considering growing carrots and perhaps potatoes. They also tackled a challenge with powdery mildew affecting their zucchini leaves, learning how to identify and remove the infected leaves to keep their garden healthy and productive.

Merrill  -

Merrill's garden featured a mix of flowers and vegetables of potatoes, dahlias, peppers, radishes, and carrots. Despite her efforts, she faced some challenges with the garden mix soil, which didn’t support optimal growth for her plants.  She was encouraged to enhance her soil in the fall, so next spring it will be set for a new growing year.

Merrill diligently watered her carrots and maintained good spacing for most of them, though some plants still required thinning to achieve the best results. Her tomato plant has shown promising growth, adding a touch of anticipation for the harvest.
Looking ahead to next year, Merrill has decided to skip growing radishes but plans to maintain her current approach with the rest of her garden. She found great joy in tending her garden and appreciated the support of her sister, Amelia, who helped in the garden as well..

Laura here:

The Jericho-Underhill Food Hub hosted a Community Brunch on Sunday August 11 at the Covered Bridge Blueberry Farm in Underhill. This was the first of a series of free seasonal meals featuring local foods and highlighting area farmers and producers.

Twice the number of people showed up as were expected, topping 120 people. Some families were actually at the blueberry farm to pick blueberries; when they found out about the free brunch, they decided to stay adding a lovely component of blue-faced children!

The brunch fare was mostly local food provided by area farmers; besides blueberry pancakes there was sausage, potatoes & onions, salad, blueberry lemonade and iced coffee. With slow griddle action due to the unusual power demands, people in the food line had time to catch up with friends, share stories and make new acquaintances. Four of the farms who donated food were represented at the event as well.

​Over 25 volunteers made this gathering possible; everything from planning the event to hoisting up the tent, setting up tables, food prep, serving and cleanup; thank you citizens of Underhill and Jericho! As Jericho resident Bernie Paquette said after the event, “I will always believe that contribution, sharing and caring equals community.”

Many thanks to the local farms and businesses who donated produce, eggs and drinks to the brunch including the Covered Bridge Blueberry Farm, Jericho Settler’s Farm, The Farm Upstream, 2 Gals Farm Works, Settlement Farm, Chamberlins, and Jericho Ale and Bean.

The next Community Meal will be a winter dinner, sometime in January featuring the delectable possibilities of stored crops and seasonal  fare.

​Laura reporting:

As TTJ and the combined Jericho-Underhill Food Hub tackle issues around local food access, it’s inspirational to see what’s happening in other Vermont towns. Jenevra Wetmore, executive director of Sustainable Woodstock since October of last year, presented a talk June 24 at the JCC on community gardens, Grow Your Own, and other programs in southern Vermont.

There are two community gardens in Woodstock; one at Billings Farm and the other, King Farm, supported by the Vermont Land Trust. The gardens are no till and organic. About thirty families and organizations use them, with participants paying a sliding scale fee and serving two volunteer days per year. These community gardens also provide hundreds of pounds of produce for the Woodstock Food Shelf.

Jenevra touched upon some of the many challenges they’ve faced, including erosion (caused by placement of beds too close to a brook), invasives, and jumping worms. There  is a part time garden coordinator; Jenevra stressed that most important quality of the coordinator is people skills rather than gardening knowledge.

Grow Your Own Garden program, started during Covid, supports people who couldn’t otherwise afford to garden, providing free kits of seedlings, seeds and beginning gardening book. Jenevra said that in the last four years, it has served 700 people in both Woodstock and surrounding towns.

Sustainable Woodstock is proud of their work at Riverside Mobile Home Park, a place that has contaminated soils and periodic flooding. They set up nineteen raised beds there this year, enabling residents to garden in spite of the odds.

Much talked about here, a community kitchen to process food and hold classes, etc. is now being organized in Woodstock; the local high school and Vermont Land Trust are combining forces to get it off the ground with Sustainable Woodstock offering their support.

Jenevra said people show up for big things, “community barn raising events” she called them. For example, Sustainable Woodstock hosts yearly Earth Day events; other activities include workshops (a Gardening for Nature series last year), online film series and monthly Green Drinks events. Weekly columns in the local paper keep people informed.

Organizers here have much to learn from the numerous activities of Sustainable Woodstock; for more details check out: www.sustainablewoodstock.org

Dave here:
​Congratulations from the Transition Town Jericho team to 2024 contest winners!

The purpose of this contest is to contribute to our town's journey toward resiliency and self-sufficiency. We hope that, in a small way, these kids can learn about gardening firsthand, understanding that sowing and growing seeds are fundamental to where food comes from and how it provides for families.

Thanks to the Town of Jericho for funding the project again this year and to Geoff Cole for providing the trailer for transporting the soil and helping make the garden deliveries along with Laura and Dave.  Also a shout out to Lisa Hoare for helping build the raised garden beds and joining for deliveries as well.

This year we had nine winners and are donated the tenth bed to the The Children's Institute at Jericho Inc. held at the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church.

Now I'd like to introduce you to this year's winners; hover your curser over their picture to see what they said they want to grow in their garden.

Several of our competitors drew pictures of their gardens to be, enjoy!

The Transition Town Jericho Team will be out to visit the gardens late July or Early August to see how the gardens are growing.  Stay tuned for that report with some more pictures.

​Laura here:

​On Earth Day (April 22), TTJ held a Soil Health panel discussion for an audience of over thirty folks. The panel consisted of local farmers and homesteaders, sharing wisdom gathered over years of experience. A few highlights are below, and to access the entire event, go to: https://archive.org/details/ttojhealthy-soil-healthy-earth-04222024

Christa Alexander from Jericho Settlers Farm kicked off the discussion, talking about soil health within tunnels, hoop and green houses. She recommended doing  ‘saturated media soil tests’ for soils used year after year. These tests reveal what nutrients are immediately available within soils, as many get depleted over time and salts accumulate. The latter can be thwarted by moving around the tunnels, Christa said. Watering covered plants is also a challenge; you can let rain in or irrigate, among other options. She talked about managing various crops differently, based on their needs; for example, salad greens are light feeders, whereas tomato plants are heavy feeders. 

Tom Baribault, an agricultural biochemist at UVM, talked about managing soil for nutrient rich produce. The history of the lands we grow on determine conditions we start with. Tom’s land for example, had been hayed for years. He gradually got away from heavy tilling, and simply uses a broadfork for aerating the soil. Repeated rototilling makes for more bacteria rather than healthy fungi, and adds to carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Ultimately, no till means less work and fossil fuel inputs, though more weeding and hands-on work may be necessary. Tom introduced new terms like glomalin, humates, and  arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (amfs) in regard to soil health. He said techniques like cover cropping, off season composting, and crop rotation are important both for both soil and plant health.

Tucker Andrews from Bone Mountain Farm talking about soil testing, saying it is a  “a snapshot in time”, just one data point in soil management. He said soil testing is especially important when breaking new ground, for knowing what’s there and advised doing multiple soil tests in order to observe data collected over time. He recommended observing your soil as much as possible; learning its ecology, the living aggregates in the soil, how it pools after rain. Also observing what’s  readily growing there. For example, sedges indicate wet and acidic soil; mullein, recently disturbed soil, possibly lacking in nutrients. Tucker stressed the importance of PH and organic matter in soil as well.

Reed Sims, retired Soil Scientist talked about thinking of soil as an ecosystem; understanding the abundance of activity beneath the surface as well as above. Having access to a wide variety of organic matter is an advantage of home gardening, and doing your own composting is advantageous. Organic matter in soil can serve as a buffer for PH and even raise levels. Loam soil is best, striving for a balance of clay, sand and silt components.

Many thanks to Angelike Contis and her team at MMCTV public access TV, for filming this event!
​

Laura Oliver, of the Jericho Seed Library, gave her third annual TTJ “Starting Seeds with Ease” talk on March 18 at the Jericho Town Library. Twenty-four folks filled the space, getting motivated and informed in the first  gardening step for many!

Whys 
Laura talked about the advantages of starting ones own seeds, saying that if you do a good job, your seedlings will be less stressed and healthier; plus, you’ll probably save money. She emphasized not starting them too early. Read the seed packets for when to start particular seeds indoors as well as a lot of other useful information.

For plants with particularly long growing seasons such as brussel sprouts, starting them indoors provides a headstart. It also makes sense to start head lettuce indoors, whereas baby lettuce does better with direct planting. She named several other plants that simply do better with direct planting in the garden: peas, beans, corn, root veggies, cilantro, melons and squash.

Trays
Wind strip trays have become Laura’s number one choice in seed starting. Since they’re made of hard plastic, they’re economical, environmental and long lasting. They’re also less finicky to work with than soil blockers, Laura’s number two choice. Another option is  up cycled plastic containers such as yogurt, but they’ll need holes drilled in the bottoms. While peat pots and newspaper crafted containers can work, egg cartons should be avoided, as the seedlings run the risk of becoming root bound.

Soil and Prep
Laura recommends using Vermont Compost Company’s Fort Vee mix for starting seedlings and Neptune’s Harvest fish emulsion for applying after three weeks. Laura advised placing two seeds per cell, perhaps more if the seeds are old, to ensure germination. Planting depth should be roughly two times the size of the seed. She was emphatic about growing just one plant per cell, and thinning with scissors rather than pulling.

Water/heat/light
To prevent damping off (a fungus disease seedlings are prone to getting) wait until the top of soil dries out and don’t over water! While heating pads are a great aid to germinating the seeds, Laura recommended not covering them with clear plastic domes. Remove seedlings from the heat and place under lights as soon as possible after the seeds germinate. Six inches is ideal from light source to seedlings. Starting with 18 hours of light per day at first, working ultimately toward 16 hours.

Hardening off 
A necessary step before plants are transplanted to the garden, hardening off prepares seedlings for their placement in the garden.  Place trays/pots outdoors, sheltered from wind and sun; the latter should be partial or filtered. You can start with six hours per day and work up to more, bringing them in at night unless it’s very warm. Once it’s consistently over 50 degrees at night, plants are safe to plant outdoors (they can also be covered for protection).

Transplanting
Make sure seedlings are well watered! If they’re root bound, you should carefully untangle them and spread roots in different directions. Applying fish emulsion when transplanting will give them a nice boost of nutrition.

Soil testing
Laura highly recommended this and...now is the time!
https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/Department-of-Plant-and-Soil-Science/AGTesting/Garden_hort_questionnaire.pdf

More information
Check out Laura’s two previous Seed Starting presentations, reported on this blog in both March 2022 and 2023...good luck!!

Laura reporting:

Folks from Jericho and Underhill came together yesterday for a first meeting of the joint Jericho and Underhill Food Hub. A baker’s dozen from the sister towns discussed combining forces to amplify efforts toward more local food production and access to local food.

While there was talk of what the future may hold, i.e. commercial kitchens, farm to school programs, local food celebrations, etc., some activities are happening already and can be supported and enhanced by this group and town residents.

For example, a communal potato patch is being planned on one of two possible sites in Underhill. There was talk around having open planting and picking days for families to both educate and feed more people. A community dinner takes place during winter months at Underhill’s town hall following the Stone Soup concept. For summer months, a community bake is in the planning stage in Jericho, modeled after an existing event in Johnson. Ongoing in Jericho, there is the kid’s garden contest, extra row harvests as well as the community edible landscape. March kicks off the garden education series at the Jericho Town Library with “Seed Starting with Ease” led by Laura Oliver.

The conversation included bringing back some school gardens that have gone by the wayside, supporting more farmers and local produce at the farmer’s markets, and helping create additional farm stands and farm stores, such as the one planned at Chamberlin’s Farm in Underhill.

The next meeting of this incipient group will happen on March 20. We’ll cover vision and organization of the group, as well as establishing groups to tackle various projects ; hope you can spread the word and join us!

Dave reporting:

​As we approach the 2024 Town Meeting Day, the Jericho Food Hub Task Force (JFHTF) wrapped
up its first year by bringing together towns folks and Jericho/Underhill farmers to gather
and share information. In cooperation with the Underhill Local Agriculture and Local
Foods Initiative, JFHTF invited local farmers to attend the January 20 meeting to discuss
local food issues and how best to cooperate and build our local food hub.

Representatives from The Farm Upstream, Chamberlin's Farm, Settlement Farm, Jericho
Settlers Farm, Keszey Farm, Ash Grove Farm, and Birchhill Sugar Works attended the
meeting as well as residents from both towns.

The conversation largely focused on how to make local foods more available. Areas of
discussion included: how to encourage people to purchase local foods, how to educate
people on the benefits of preparing and eating local foods, and how to assist in the
affordability of local foods while supporting farmers in making a viable living.

From the conversation these thoughts and future objectives were shared:
• A farm to school program was discussed and the need for a coordinator to make it
work.
• Creating a food home delivery program, and/or incorporating local foods in existing
food delivery systems.
• Connecting with UVM’s Extension Service food and nutrition program
• Working with and strengthening supports farmers already have.
• Listing local farms and resources online to help consumers make connections.
• Taking advantage of the Farm to Plate on-line map of farms.
• Helping farms with grant writing to better utilize funding resources.
• Better marketing of existing farm stands.
• Hosting a summer food celebration (at farmer's market) to highlight local farms.
• Sponsoring social events to bring farmers and town residents together for community
building.
• Supporting Chamberlain's Farm’s effort to create a farm store. (Other farmers
mentioned developing on-farm stores and thought that a food hub would help them as
well)

Next Steps:
There was consensus around the importance of community building, celebrating local
food and food education, ie, the importance of access to fresh local food and food
preparation. In addition to ongoing education and promotion of our local farms, these are
all things that could be objectives of the Underhill and Jericho committees in 2024.
Specific projects could include supporting Chamberlin’s farm store and other local farm
stores, organizing a community dinner and promoting a community supported planting
project.

Want to get involved?
If you would like to get involved with the Jericho/Underhill Food Hub project,
please contact us by emailing: [email protected].
Our next committee meeting will be February 28th at 7pm on a zoom call.
The next farmer’s meeting will be in April, at a date and time to be determined

Dave here, Since the town vote in March 2023, The Jericho Food Hub Task Force has been working to identify the best ways to insure that the task force mission has been achieved.  As we head into 2024, we want to illustrate that a Food Hub concept is something that can benefit the Jericho citizens and local farmers.
Since Jericho and Underhill are often partners in providing services, the task force has invited a team from Underhill to join in this mission.  We hope that by broadening the scope that we can better serve both communities and offer more options to its respective citizens.

Some of the highlights from this year include:

On January 20th, 2024, 1-3pm, Jericho and Underhill Farmers will meet to discuss how a Food Hub organization might be able to help them producing and distributing products in Jericho and Underhill.  That meeting will be held at the Deborah Rawson Memorial Library.
Survey as well:  If you are a farmer in Jericho or Underhill, Vermont, we would like to hear from you.  Please go to https://forms.gle/YmN6QvNaq9Wp9Jk9A
In that survey, you can let us know if you'd like to attend that meeting on January 20th.

Laura, here:

“The real pleasure is not just the delicious food one gets to eat, but the abundance of new relationships that are formed, the growing knowledge of where I live — the people and the geography of where I live,” -Bill McKibben (Addison County Independent, 2007)

Our transition town group recently hosted Bill McKibben to talk about his experience eating only local foods from within 100 miles for roughly a year. Though he embarked on this journey nearly two decades ago, it is perhaps even more relevant today. 

A nice turnout for the meeting with 18 folks joining us online and 25 people in person at the Community Center. This meeting can be watched online, thanks to Angelike Contis and the team at Mt. Mansfield Community TV; use this link:
https://archive.org/details/transitiontownjerichomckibben11272023

I’ll include a few tidbits here:

​At the time of McKibben’s 100-mile experiment, the localvore movement was gaining hold, and CSAs and farmer’s markets were increasing in Vermont and beyond. While the commitment to eating local foods took time and effort, McKibben said it had its rewards, including getting to know more farmers in the Champlain Valley. 

He said, “we never ran out of interesting things to eat” including fish (from hydroponic systems), root crops, cheese, maple syrup and honey, among other things. As the main cook in his family, McKibben allowed himself the ‘Marco Polo rule’ using salt and spices from afar. 

He said the hardest part was obtaining grain for bread. Luckily, Ben Gleason of Cornwall, was just bringing back grain growing in Vermont during that time. Gleason was also supplying Otter Creek Beer, adding some libational pleasure to the yearlong experiment.

McKibben touched upon alternative energy and climate change in the talk, saying the latter is a growing danger to our food supply. He sees time running short, saying “the most important thing an individual can do is become less an individual; join together with others in movements large enough to make changes...”

McKibben shared a question he once asked farmer/politician Dave Zuckerman around how long he thought it would it take for Vermont to become food self-sufficient. Zuckerman responded by saying six months (if we really needed to!)

Following the talk, those of us present including one young farmer, seasoned homesteaders, gardeners and activated citizens alike, conversed about the many aspects of trying to localize our food. Going home, I stepped out into the full moon night, dreaming of the possibilities....