Sunday October 21 was a beautiful Fall day . . . perfect for our tour of a few of the gardens, root cellars and greenhouses of Hartland, Vermont.

Our first stop was Cobb Hill Co-Housing Community and Cedar Mountain Farm. Our host was Deb Jones who gave the group a tour of the her new hoop greenhouse, the Cedar Mountain Farm greenhouse and the Cobb Hill Community Root Cellar.

* Deb’s hoop greenhouse is 14 x 20 foot; she and her husband built it
for approx $600… in retrospect, it might have been better to use a pre-fab
kit as it req’d many hours to assemble. It’s on wooden skids so it can be
slid to different areas of the garden….plan is to grow cold-hardy greens.

* Two good resources: Four Season Harvest (by Eliot Coleman) for growing cold-hardy veggies and Root Cellar (by Nancy Bubel) for winter storage.

* Root cellar: recommend min/max thermometer; goal is temp in hi 30’s.

* Root Cellar has 2 sections, one for dry produce, the other for food preferring a damper environment. Dry = onions, garlic, squash; damp and dark = apples, potatoes, carrots, beets, leeks, brussel sprouts. They don’t wash the veggies, just brush off dirt.

* Beets, carrots and leek stalks buried in sand or damp wood shavings
in a plastic bag set in a box. Midway through winter, boxes should be emptied, overripe veggies discarded, sand or shavings remixed and box reassembled. (Moisture tends to sink to the bottom leaving top layers too dry and bottom layers too moist.)

* They ripen green tomatoes under newspaper.

* Their best keeper apples: Northern Spy, Hampshires, and Honey Crisp.
It was interesting to note that the apples were stored in a separate cupboard in the community root cellar with a separate ventilation system. Deb explained that apples give off a gas (ethylene?) that hastens the ripening of other produce; not what you want if the goal is season-extending preservation.

* A caution: Deb noted that Cobb Hill residents who have stored produce often forget to check in on their goods; spring cleaning involves clearing out a lot of rotten veggies. Out of sight, out of mind.
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Next stop was the garden, hoop house and root cellar of Jeffrey Hamelman and Chiho Kaneko; their beehives (and honey) and beehive oven were an added attraction.

* Chiho talked about the challenge of timing in relation to hoop house and root cellar. Who would have guessed that we would have such an extension of warm weather?! She and Jeffrey planted greens in the hoop house anticipating cold weather; they were having trouble keeping up with the profusion of greens and some had bolted in the warm conditions. They also found that produce harvested and stored in the root cellar would have done better if left in the ground - the root cellar was too warm for the harvested goods. Every year is a different situation - a hard call!

* Their root cellar has a very simple air exchange system - one pipe for intake, one for outgo, with ends stuffed with insulation depending on temperatures.

* Jars of canned tomatoes stored on shelves outside the root cellar were a reminder of other produce from their garden and the commitment they have to becoming more self-sufficient.

Our last stop was the garden, greenhouse and root cellar of Sylvia Davatz. Sylvia is a seed saver and does considerable trial testing of vegetables, looking for the best season-extenders and the varieties that do best in her climate. She experiments with wheat varieties, grows sweet potatoes and peanuts and many varieties of greens, tomatoes, giant rutabagas, etc.

* As a seed-saver, Sylvia values open-pollinated varieties from local seed companies when possible. (She mentioned FEDCO, Pinetree and High Mowing as sources for seeds. See http://www.seedalliance.org/index.php?page=SeminisMonsanto for some interesting background reading.) Sylvia encourages support for Seed Savers Exchange in Chocorua, NH.

*Sylvia’s garden is put to bed in the Fall with a layer of compost covered with layer of hay til Spring.

* Her favorite Sweet Potatoes: Amish Bush, LaceLeaf, and Maryland 810* Dig them carefully. Need HOT soil! She uses landscape fabric for heat retention plus remay when first planted.

* Be sure to cure onions and garlic: keep their stems and hang them in the garage…Then tumble between fingers to remove excess dirt (no water!!) and cut off stems.

* We were all impressed with Sylvia’s harvest of peanuts which were drying in the sun in her greenhouse. She grew two varieties: Tennessee Red and a black-skinned variety. (Imagine being able to make your own Localvore peanut butter!)

Many thanks to Deb, Jeffrey, Chiho and Sylvia for opening their homes and gardens to us, and for providing so much useful information!

This post is the collective memory of Shiela Swett, Mary Bender and Pat McGovern