Our Italian Feast and Cooking with Herbs



 October 2014

The Merry Weather Garden Club met on Thursday, October 30, 2014 at the home of Carla Snider in Imlac. Guests and members were treated to hors d’oeuvres with an Italian twist like bruschetta, garlic bread, and antipasto.

Carla was assisted in her “Italian Feast” by friends Mary Beth Tsoukalis who did the antipasto, Italian leafy salad, chicken Florentine, penne salad, and limoncello; Carla added an entrée of lasagna; Phyllis Daniel made the decorations, rum cake, lemon ricotta cookies and garlic bread; and Patti Acheson brought the cannoli. Each place setting had a card with a map of Italy and the luncheon menu that Carla’s daughter Anne created. The table decorations were carved loaves of bread that held flowers.

Guests of honor, Walter and Chris Citterio, praised the delicious meal and enjoyed the club’s camaraderie. Walter, who grew up in Northern Italy, is a chef renowned for his simple, healthy, and incredibly delicious recipes. His program on cooking with herbs was filled with tips by a true connoisseur who both grows his produce, cooks, and enjoys fine food.

Citterio began by explaining how important a garden is to Italian families. There are always flowers for the house and for the cemetery. Italian cemeteries are colorful and blooming with fresh flowers year around.

Citterio explained there are eighteen regions of Italy and every region differs so that favored herbs in Rome are not the favored ones in his boyhood home of Como. Italy’s history is one of invasion and the Mediterranean cuisine was influenced by invaders with the southern portion having Arab influences and the northern areas more French flavors.

The basic six herbs used most often are parsley, basil, bay leaves, rosemary, sage, and thyme. Citterio uses rosemary to flavor the oil.  When he roasts meat, he puts the stripped rosemary leaves in the oil and then takes them out after they have flavored the oil. He cooks the meat and then adds rosemary again at the end. Too browned or overcooked herbs can ruin flavor instead of enhance it.

He recommends bay leaves for stews, a good chicken broth, and cooking venison.  Bay is strong and can easily overpower food and you want its delicate flavor. Citterio recommends a marinade of sage, bay, and thyme for a good venison loin.

The two thymes, the common and lemon varieties, add flavor to foods. Citterio recommends using lemon thyme in seafood recipes. Parsley is also a favorite with seafood. He roasts a large fish with garlic and parsley and uses the two ingredients with shrimp and clam sauces.

Citterio explained that shrimp scampi is an American invention.  “Shrimp is shrimp, and scampi is scampi,” he said. Scampi is a baby lobster-important to know if ordering a meal in Europe.

Small basil leaves he uses for pesto. He processes and freezes them in ice cube trays then pops them in freezer bags to have when the growing season precludes fresh leaves.

Citterio uses tarragon in béarnaise sauces, as a dry rub for chicken, and chopped fresh into salads. Dill is stripped with the fingers because cutting it with a knife makes the herb dark. Citterio displayed beautiful, fresh, healthy herbs from his garden as he discussed how he uses them in his meals. Chives he uses in fish and soup stock, potato salad, and chopped to finish a dish. He reminded cooks never to use oregano in the cooking process-it is always added at the end or sprinkled on salads and bruschetta.

Many Italian dishes begin with a basic tomato sauce and Citterio shared his: crushed garlic is added to olive oil, then basil is added and then Citterio puts the lid on and lets the ingredients sizzle.  He adds the tomatoes and salt and pepper and simmers it.

Nutritious leafy vegetables he highly recommends are dandelions which he boils or steams and adds oil and lemon juice before serving; spinach, endive, kale and broccoli rabe. He often steams the broccoli rabe with pine nuts, raisins, and serves with pasta. His goal is to always maintain the natural flavor and keep dishes simple.

Garden club members inquired how he grew such green, perfect, and leafy herbs, and he explained he had no extraordinary tips.  He made his garden in what was his bocce field because he had no one to play bocce with. To fend off insects he uses soapy water.

The delicious meal served at Carla’s Italian Feast plus Citterio’s inspiring talk on cooking with herbs made for a perfectly delightful club meeting.

 

Fall Plantings of Pansies

The Merry Weather Garden Club met on Thursday, September 11, 2014 in the Fellowship Hall of the Greenville United Methodist Church on Court Square. Toots Hobson and Jane Morrison hosted the meeting and greeted members and guests with a delicious afternoon tea featuring fresh fruit, tea sandwiches, cookies and chocolates.

 

While members enjoyed the refreshments and chatting, several interesting announcements and news items were related. The club’s October and November meetings have been confirmed: the Thursday, October 30th meeting will be at 11:30 at Carla Snider’s and will be an Italian feast with the emphasis on cooking with herbs. Walter Citterio will be the speaker. Monday, November 3^rd, 5:30-6:30, the club will join the Elms and Roses Council of Garden Clubs on the rooftop at Del'Avant for wine and cheese then the lecture at 6:30 by Staci Catron, Director of the Cherokee Garden Club Library in Atlanta and expert in landscape and garden history. Catron will present a program on important Georgia gardens which are rarely open to the public.  Tickets are $10.

 

Gail Coffee reported to the club that she had adopted out fourteen cats this past summer from the animal shelter but that recently fourteen more had been admitted. Back to square one, she said. She also reminded everyone that the Chamber’s Business after Hours will meet on November 5^th at the shelter from 5:30 to 7, and she requested any garden club members attending to please help with refreshments.

 

Three garden club members (Carla Snider, Helen Claussen, and Gail Coffee) attended the Keep America Beautiful workshop and training.  They learned how to assess the litter problem, work with the schools, teach awareness of the litter problem, and make behavioral changes.

 

Meriwether is one of the state’s largest counties and our state has the most KAM affiliates (77) in the nation. The garden club had donated $100 to keep the America Beautiful program whose training session cost approximately $3,000 to hold in our county. The group learned the best methods of positive reinforcement that will make the changes and learned ways to raise the public’s awareness and conscience of the problem.

 

Trey Gafnea, our full time extension agent in Meriwether, introduced himself noting that his animal science degree from Berry and experience on ranches and with beef cattle did not make him the perfect flower expert, but he researched fall flowers and presented a delightful program on pansies.

 

Beginning with our new classification as 7b, Gafnea and the club heartily discussed climate change or as Gafnea called it “the variable patterns” that research is showing clearly are happening.

 

Pansies are best planted when the soil temperatures are 45-65 degrees which is usually October 1-15. Buy pansy flats with plants that have good dark green leaves, not leggy, and abundant white fibrous roots. The best performing beds are raised six to ten inches above ground level. Gafnea warned against using old mulch as it uses up nitrogen in the decomposing process.

 

Pansies love organic material but not more than 25% of the bed should be organic. He recommended adding three inches of soil above the twelve inch raised bed. Soil samples were recommended as pansies like slightly acidic soil-5.4 to 5.8. Pre emergences are encouraged if the bed has a history of weeds.15-2-20 fertilizer is recommended every two weeks through the winter with no fertilizer spread during September, April or May when it is warm.  

 

Pansies are hearty through cold weather down to 25 degrees, and if the cold spell lasts a long time, a two to four inch topping of pine straw helps. Remove frost damaged flowers and any diseased plants through the winter.

 

With Gafnea’s expertise there, the club members discussed a myriad of problems from armadillos to army worms. He explained the invasion by army worms and how they migrate from Florida in moth swarms and usually get to us in July. They are green and brown 1 ½ inch caterpillars that eat grass leaving only a stem. Sevin dust will take care of the currently invading black oak worm that is part of the tent caterpillars in hardwoods. Coral snakes have been spotted in southeast Meriwether County.

 

The knee slapping story of the meeting was told by Helen Claussen who, like most gardeners, has been at war with armadillos.  She thought she had killed one and bagged it up to dispose of it.  As she was driving, the bag started moving and as she drove keeping one eye on the bag in the floorboard, the bag opens and the armadillo climbs out and up onto her lap! She stopped her car, opened the door and released the pest.

 

 

 

Pine Needle Baskets and Drying Hydrangeas

The Merry Weather Garden Club met on Tuesday the 19^th of August, 2014 at the home of Patti Acheson in Woodbury.  Ellen McEwen cohosted with Patti. Neighbors or the “Imlac Crew” made up of Phyllis Daniel, Mary Beth Tsoukalis, and Carla Snider, all contributed to the delicious brunch served with shrimp and grits, egg and vegetable casserole, coffee cake, zucchini, squares, fresh fruit garnished with mint and feta, orange yeast rolls, and much more.

Club members enjoyed touring the Acheson home because Patti and her husband A.J. have made much of the furniture and décor themselves. Both have a professionals’ eye and touch. Patti has recently turned her talents to creating a stunning garden which surrounds the new swimming pool and also she has refitted an old camper.  Acheson is part of a group that goes “glamping.” Glamourous camping as the ladies and their campers, eighty plus meet this weekend at Stone Mountain and will enjoy shopping, wine and cheese tasting, and chatting-definitely not the rugged outdoor experience.  The camper has been painted, refitted and upholstered in delightful fabrics.  A miniature crystal chandelier hangs over the bed! The fifth wheel is encased in a box that has been painted to look like an earlier period trunk.  Creative and clever touches in every nook made the Acheson home, garden, and camper a fun and inspiring adventure for the garden club.

In club business Marylyn Carter told the club about entering the flower show last May that was a fundraiser for the art museum in LaGrange. The Downton Abbey theme was furthered by member Jane Morrison who was asked to bring her ancestor’s crocheted handbag, hats, and umbrellas.

Linda Wilburn reported to the club on the state of the Streetscapes in the county seat noting that it took four years to do Phase 1 and she thought this phase would go faster-but no.  The bids are due in September and will be awarded in October and construction will begin immediately.

Helen Claussen reported on the 34 lots that are covenant recorded properties around the airport that she hopes will be developed.  The county owns the land and the lots would make a good fly in community.

Carla Snider reported on the Keep Meriwether Beautiful workshop coming up September 9^th from 1-5 at the Commissioners’ Building.  This is training for those who want to see something done about the litter problem in our county.  Many club members plan to be part of this and take the program into the schools and communities to implement.

Linda Wilburn also passed out flyers with information about purchasing a poster or posters of our seven cities. The poster collages currently are on display at the Court Square Café and have received rave reviews. The café and art gallery in Greenville, café in Woodbury, and Refreshingly Country shop in Warm Springs are all part of the Southern Loop now which goes from Fairburn to Warm Springs, LaGrange to Tyrone in its appeal to tourists who want to see the towns that Sherman missed!

Ellen McEwen introduced her dear friend and Cotton Pickin’ Fair exhibitor of approximately thirty five years Patricia Hendricks of Woodland. Patricia, McEwen said, has a beautiful home and garden, was married to the late Dr. Hendricks, a state veterinarian. Hendricks explained she began her hobby of making pine needle baskets when “the empty nest” occurred in her home. She praised her mentor and teacher Mrs. Corley and she has taken classes in North Carolina and Charleston to further educate herself and see how others make the baskets.

Hendricks praised Johnny Walker of Gay who has a long leaf pine and saves her the needles shed every year. Hendricks begins by washing the needles with warm soapy water and drying them. She uses RIT dye to color them saying she had tried natural dyes but they don’t last as well. She uses loblolly needles for smaller baskets and the miniature pieces.

Hendricks does not work from a pattern but visualizes her creation much like a potter with clay. She uses very strong waxed linen thread to sew the needles together.  Club members were amazed at her precise stitches that themselves make a pretty pattern in each piece both on the outside and inside of the work. She starts every piece with six needle leaves sometimes attached to a walnut and builds out from there. She displayed a variety of baskets, a lovely hat, and trays she had made. The baskets each take numerous hours to create.

A second hobby is drying hydrangeas. Club members appreciated that she grew such beautiful large blossoms! Limelight and Snowflake hydrangeas are two especially good varieties for this. She mulches with chipped composted limbs and fertilizes with 10-10-10 in the spring. She adds aluminum sulfate to keep the flowers blue and purple.

Picking at the correct time is the key to drying hydrangeas and she does this in late July and August as the color starts fading from the blossom. She has a log house where she hangs the blooms from the rafters, and they are dry in a few days. She colors some with RIT dye and boiling water.  She dips until she gets the desired color and them dries them by simply hanging them on a clothesline. Fabric softener in water is sometimes sprayed on the bloom to soften it for arranging.

The garden club will next meet in September at Greenville United Methodist Church to hear our Extension Agent Trey Gafnea discuss gardening problems and the checklist to do in the fall and to prepare for winter.

 

 

 

Daylilies in Woodland

The Merry Weather Garden Club met in Woodland on Thursday, July 10^th, 2014. Hosting the meeting were Marilyn Austen Carter and Lynda Woodall.

The ladies met at Larkspur Antiques and were disappointed to find the antique store inaccessible for shopping but toured the garden behind the store that was cultivated by Baker Hendricks who won several awards for his daylilies which he propagated and named.  Today the store and property are owned by Larry Lees and greatly appreciated by local plant enthusiasts.

The program was on daylilies or hemerocallis, plants not native to Georgia (from Asia) but perfect for our climate and soil. Named in the top ten of the one hundred best plants, lilies thrive in our Georgia clay. The name means beauty and day as the blooms last just one day. Easy to grow, daylilies reproduce and make clumps that need dividing every three or four years.

The program, given by former Merry Weather Garden Club President Mary Anne Rasmussen, covered digging and dividing the fans, planting, and cultivating. July or just after the lily blooms is the best time to dig and divide the fans, separate each, and replant. Most growers complain that this time of year lilies look awful as the greenery dies.  Frequent grooming of the yellowed and brown leaves rids that neglected look. Rasmussen says she plants her lilies with other plants like black eyed Susan, shrub roses, penstamen, and thyme so there is plenty of interest in the flower bed.

Lilies like full sun, lots of water, fertilizer the first week of March and October, and thrive when they are cut back in winter. The goals of lily growers are, depending on the variety, produce plants that have four to six blooms, double blooms, and blooms with unique colors or details like frothy lace edges.

Most lilies are diploids with a double set of chromosomes (22), but the prized tetraploid lilies or tets have more genetic material (44 chromosomes) which gives daylily breeders or hybridizers more chances for dramatic advances.

After the program at Larkspur, the garden club members retired to tour the home and garden of Marilyn Austen Carter. Marilyn had decorated the tables with centerpieces containing twenty two plants from her garden. Club members were asked to identify them and prizes, a bouquet of sunflowers, were awarded to Mary Anne Harman and Joan Allen who correctly recognized the most.

In upcoming garden club events: the next meeting in August will be hosted by Ellen McEwen and Patti Acheson. The Meriwether club has been invited attend the Elms and Roses fundraising event in October on the rooftop at Del’Avant.

Summer Salad Soiree

 

The Merry Weather Garden Club met on Thursday, June 12th, 2014 at the home of Sallie Mabon.  Co-hosting with Mabon were Helen Claussen, Diana Norris, and Mary Anne Harman.

Members met on the Mabon’s deck overlooking their garden water feature and enjoyed chatting during a social hour and getting to meet guests Ute Whatley, of German background and who is Toots Hobson’s new neighbor; Brenda Fernander, guest of Linda Wilburn, who is the new resident in Greenville in the house beside the Methodist Church; and also Shae Rossetti, the eldest granddaughter of Sherry Carothers.

Because Greenville has enjoyed four very special weddings this summer that have involved many garden club members, Sallie Mabon presented a program about the historical use of flowers in weddings plus some fun wedding trivia.

Most garden club members married in the time period when a wedding was a simple church affair and the reception meant a cake, mints, nuts, and punch in the church fellowship hall. Today, Mabon said the average wedding costs $29,700 and annually $72 billion is spent on the event. Encouraging to note, forty percent of married couples paid for their weddings themselves.

 The amount spent on flowers, corsages, and bouquets run minimally at $700. Flower prices vary according to the varieties chosen, the time of year, and if they are locally grown. The most requested flower is the rose followed by tulips, calla lilies, lily of the valley, hydrangea, peonies, ranunculus, stephanotis, sweet pea, and gardenia. Overall, the most expensive flower is the orchid.

Wedding trivia questions were fun with members learning that wedding dress costs at the low end run $200 and high end $2-5000. In Eastern cultures, white is the color for mourning so wedding dresses are never white but usually colorful. The veil, symbolizing youth and virginity, hid the bride from the “evil eye” and in centuries past was red, blue, or yellow with white becoming popular in the Victorian period for those wealthy enough to have a veil. The veil was also handy in arranged marriages so the groom did not see the face of his betrothed until it was too late!

The club learned there is no law requiring a woman to take her husband’s name. The wedding vow “til death do us part” was not part of a slaves’ wedding vow because ownership allowed the couples to be split apart and sold. Mabon explained the tradition of “jumping the broom” which was like the earlier Roman groom carrying the bride across the threshold to signify they were married. In the 1500s, the Council of Trent proclaimed marriage a sacrament of the church.

In club news and business, Carla Snider reported on the Keep America Beautiful meetings.  The club voted to donate $100 to our local county litter campaign led by Jane Fryer.

Linda Wilburn gave a report on the status of the streetscapes and the process of getting the design approved which has taken much longer than anticipated. Wilburn also arranges for the landscaper to cut, maintain, and pick up the litter on the islands around court square and the club contributed $250 to that effort. Yearly costs total $700 so more donations are needed to keep our county seat beautiful.

Gail Coffee reported on the Animal Shelter as needing a good weeding and trimming as well as more shade for the dog runs. Trustee help is not available like it used to be so members of the club volunteered their help and to purchase shade trees for the site

The next garden club meeting will be July 10^th with Marilyn Austin and Lynda Woodall hosting.  The club will meet at Larkspur Antiques in Woodland and tour the day lilies there.

The club members enjoyed a delicious salad luncheon with each bringing a different type of salad with the menu varying from fresh greens to congealed salads to stuffed shells.

 

 

Blumenpfluckenzeit-Turnipseed Farm

The Merry Weather Garden Club enjoyed a real treat touring Turnipseed Farm in Fayetteville on Wednesday, May 14, 2014.  Gail Coffee hosted the program and was delightful as she shared memories of when she was younger and slipped into Turnipseed and enjoyed the garden oasis that is located alongside one of the state busiest thoroughfares.

The garden club was met by Steve Stinchcomb, owner and artist, whose grandfather, named Turnipseed, acquired the land and farmed it after World War II. Many club members remembered when there was nothing but a dirt road leading out of Fayetteville and Turnipseed farm produced vegetables for the local stores. Many remembered the acres of day lilies as the farm later changed produce directions.

Ten acres are left of the original farm and in 1979 the farm changed to flowers from garden produce. Stinchcomb pointed out the first tree he planted, a gingko, which provides shade around the lake. He planted Japanese maples but early on was remembered as the first to have irrigation with people stopping by to view the sprinklers.

Today the lake is surrounded by trees, bald cypress, dogwoods plus shrubs because now Stinchcomb says his goal is to “work in the shade!”

As Fayetteville traffic worsened his next project was to build a four foot berm along the highway that he topped with a wooden fence and climbing greenery.  Secret doors to the highway have a secondary purpose.  High school graduates line up to have photographs taken in the scenic garden and Stinchcomb had placed a 2014 on the doorway for that year’s graduates’ photographs.

Stinchcomb pointed out the three tenets of garden design: start with the structure-buildings and paths; then plan the foliage-trees and shrubs; and last, add the flowers. Club members wandered the gardens enjoying arbors, paths, trellises, birdhouses, bat house, pigeon house before arriving at the potting shed, art studio, and greenhouses. Two swans were nesting on a four foot pine needle mound that was scenically surrounded by blooming oak leaf hydrangeas.

Down footed paths were beds of false indigo, or baptesia, silver bells, spirea, bottle brush buckeye, mountain laurel, iron weed, Joe Pie weed, euphorbia, yellowwood trees, all interspersed with thousands of played out spring bulbs.   Peonies, salvia, native azaleas, zinnias, and cosmos added color to the beds of New Dawn, Zephyr, and WC  or Van Fleet roses.

One area at his property edge contained invasive bamboo which he pointed out is two of the five varieties of the over 500 varieties of bamboo the pandas can eat.  He sells the bamboo to the zoo.

The club thoroughly enjoyed seeing his paintings in the studio.  He does many portraits-never working from a photograph but with the live model. He also paints birddogs in action and attends trials for their owners. His scenic garden is used by many for photography with maternity pictures the current top popular choice followed by graduation and family pictures.

The ladies adjourned to the nearby Broadway Diner for lunch and a special Mother’s Day game where they brought pictures of their mothers and members matched them to their daughters.  A fun game that brought back nice reflected memories.

In club business, the club will again donate several hundred dollars for maintenance of the islands around court square. Coffee asked that the club to be on the lookout for a quick growing shade tree(s) for the animal shelter as the myrtles planted there were mowed down and the summer sun and heat preclude the dogs having time outside without some shade. The June meeting will be hosted by Sallie Mabon, Helen Claussen, Diana Norris, and Mary Anne Harman.

 

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Concord's Lunch and Learn

The Merry Weather Garden Club joined the crowd at the Concord Garden Club’s Lunch and Learn on Thursday, April 17^th. Always a popular event, the program draws a crowd that grows larger every year.  

The old Strickland General Store is a perfect venue accommodating the many tables for the attendees and their sack lunches or purchases from the Concord Café, and the store has space for the vendors ranging from garden artists to jewelers to plant growers.

The “learn” segment of the meeting featured Sharon McGukin, florist, who was named by Floral Management Magazine as one of the Top Ten Floral Rock Stars. She is the past-President of the American Institute of Floral Designers and is a member of the prestigious Smithers-Oasis Design Directors Team. Her forty years as a floral designer has taken her to almost every state in the US and abroad many times.

After her presentation where she designed over a dozen arrangements in about as many minutes, she was available to sign her new book: Flowers of the Heart which features decorating with flowers for weddings. Flowers set the mood and tone of an event and her book covers weddings in each of the four seasons along with tips for planning a wedding and of course incorporating flowers.

McGukin’s programs are called ‘edu-tainment’ and by demonstrating fast, easy, design tips and techniques she “takes the fear out of flowers.” The Concord club provided her buckets and baskets of flowers from members’ gardens and a variety of container types. She emphasized expanding your space as she used traditional containers and seasonal flowers. New trends and techniques, like adding wool to an arrangement, to design shortcuts and ways to budget the floral necessities for an event were part of her presentation.

McGukin videos and tips can be seen on her Facebook page and she has many UTube videos available that demonstrate working with difficult flower varieties and unusual containers. Her fresh modern innovative approach to design made for a delightful day for Merry Weather Garden Club members who secured the front row tables at the program.

The garden club has many activities going on this April after the Concord event: the Atlanta flower show is April 25-27 in Buckhead, Antiques in the Garden will be at Petals from the Past in Jemison, Alabama April 26^th, and Art in Bloom is in LaGrange May 1^st.

 

Talisman and Merry Weather Tour Bisham Manor

On Thursday, March 13^th the Merry Weather Garden Club joined the Talisman Garden Club in LaGrange to tour Bisham Manor.  The Talisman club had joined the Meriwether club last fall and found the camaraderie of the tandem meeting lots of fun.

 The clubs toured Bisham Manor, the home of Neil and Trish Liechty that they purchased at auction last fall.  The home was built by Peck Brumby on property that had been in the Young family since 1868. In 1974, the US Army Corps of Engineers took the property for West Point Dam’s resulting development.

 Peck Brumby, whose family has manufactured Brumby rockers since the Civil War, acquired the available land in the 1990s and with it the Tudor home where Mrs. Young had lived. Brumby began building a larger Tudor that doubled the size of the earlier home. Ben Parham of LaGrange did the construction of what became known as “Brumby Castle” which includes magnificent brickwork and details, groined arched ceilings, and unique details such as the original roof tiles from the historic Grove Park Inn.

 Owned jointly with Keith and Jessie Crozier, the Liechtys renamed “Brumby Castle” in honor of Trish Liechty’s great (x 14) grandmother, Margaret Pole, the Countess of Salisbury, and her estate in England. 

The Talisman ladies welcomed the Meriwether club with coffee and brunch nibbles plus handmade floral nametags.  The guide through the gardens was Patricia Striplin of Blue Meadows Farm near Pine Mountain. She explained some of the Liechty’s goals for the estate which are to share them with the community such as the upcoming Art in Bloom fundraiser for the art museum. Striplin explained that she hopes through garden club use, the gardens and estate will be part of the registered listing of national horticultural sites in the U.S. and regularly used by plant enthusiasts.

Liechty explained he bought the estate for a bargain, $2 million, compared to its approximate cost to build and develop, $17 million, but the estate costs him about $600 a day to maintain. The Liechtys have booked a number of weddings and parties, and they hope the manor as an event venue will continue to increase.

The garden tour was impressive.  Descending the steps into a sunken garden area where stones mark off a parterre wheel design, the path leads to a unique swimming pool and fountain area. One currently undeveloped area of forest leads to West Point Lake with great potential for the family and for outdoor entertainment. Another garden path leads through a secret hidden gate and onto Old Young’s Mill Road and the river, mill, waterfall, and shop that was in use until the mid-1900s.

Striplin was a delightful guide pointing out the carefully chosen arbor and shrubbery that because of our long and lingering winter were identifiable only by shape, bark and buds. The delightful touch of spring was the brilliant green winter rye lawn that made those touring note that warmer days were imminent.

The Tudor home interior was a delight as well.  Brumby had duplicated the living room of his mother, who owned a classic Neel Reid home in Atlanta. The wood paneling through most of the rooms and on the stair railings adds to the castle’s grandeur and has a beautiful patina.  Most impressive is the basement’s series of groined arches that create a monastic feel to the area.  Liechty plans to use this lower level-that is complete with hot steam and dry saunas, Jacuzzi, tiled bathrooms and weight room-as a spa facility with masseuse and hair and manicure facilities for the bridal parties and guests’ enjoyment.  The downstairs “man cave” is complete with large screen TV and masculine accoutrements. Outside of this area is a vine draped covered porch with a number of scattered outdoor tables and chairs for al fresco dining.

The upstairs main dining area of the Tudor home echoes the castle feel with a long dining table, high backed chairs, wall sconces, and wooden accents. The kitchen area can accommodate several chefs and the kitchen storage facilities superb with extras like drawers for linens and oversized cabinets for silver.

From the time the club entered the manor’s iron gates and followed the curving drive to the home to their departure, the ladies felt transported to a centuries old European estate.  All agreed it would be a delight to enjoy regular access to the property for special events and for its planned future as a spa.

The Talisman club members then hosted the Merry Weather Garden Club for lunch at Re/Max Realty, formerly the restaurant In Clover.  The ladies found it delightful to again be in what was one of LaGrange’s most beautiful dining venues.  The downstairs was just as all had remembered it and many stories were told of events and special occasions that had taken place there.

 

 

 

 

"Laissez les bon temp rouler"

Carnival and Mardi Gras

 

An intrepid and brave group of members of the Merry Weather Garden Club braved the melting ice and snow and met on Thursday, February 13^th, 2014, in the Fellowship Hall of the Greenville United Methodist Church. “Laissez les bon temp rouler” or “Let the good times roll” was more than just the “joie de vivre” of the moment because the ladies were released from the housebound bondage of three days of ice and snow, but because the club learned and celebrated Jeudi Gras (Fat Thursday) as a homage to the Carnival season and the upcoming Mardi Gras, March 4th.

Hosting the meeting were two with Louisiana roots: Ros Gabriel, from the Rayne, Louisiana, the Frog Capital of the World and Babs Gordon,  who grew up in New Orleans. Ros and Dan Gabriel’s presentation began with the history of Mardi Gras going back to Rome and Venice to France and the Bourbons. In the US, Carnival was celebrated in the early 1700s, but it was not until 1856 when the first Krewe, or Mardi Gras paraders, began.

Dozens of Carnival parades are held from January 6^th Twelfth Night’s Feast of the Epiphany which marks the end of the Christmas Season to Ash Wednesday which marks the beginning of Lent. The parades peak during the weeks prior to Mardi Gras with different parade routes running throughout the day. With the beginning of the Lenten season, frivolities like chocolate, alcohol, and “fat” foods are often given up until Easter so hence the great feasting finale on Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday.

 Ros Gabriel explained that the different krewes throw different items.  While many think of beads, food, candy, and doubloons as common even coconuts and shoes are thrown by certain krewes.

The colorful beaded and feathered costumes are worn by the native Mardi Gras participants with their krewes while some krewes are specifically for celebrities and others feature very techie floats. Some krewe names are Krewe of Bacchus, Rex, Endymion, there is even a Krewe of Barkus, featuring man’s best friend!

In 1872, the Grand Duke of Russia, a Romanoff, was visiting and was allowed to choose the official Mardi Gras colors: green, gold, and purple. Purple represents justice; green represents faith; gold represents power-colors you may see in LSU and Tulane colors! Babs Gordon brought two King Cakes to the club meeting that were colorfully decorated with the three colors.  Explaining the legend, Babs told the group that a baby Jesus was baked in the cake and the lucky one to have it in their slice of cake hosted the next Carnival party.

Babs explained when she was growing up in the forties, they enjoyed King Cake parties every Friday night and they used a bean not a baby in the cakes. They attended the lovely parades not known for the bawdy drunkenness you often see now in New Orleans. The floats then were pulled by horses that were draped in white attended by grooms dressed in white carrying flambeaux torches that made for a magical experience and a beacon for parade attendees and party goers.

The fleur de lis is the official emblem of Mardi Gras and Ros Gabriel explained its lily originals. Club members shared their Carnival experiences with stories about being in Venice’s during its elaborate Carnival season, Rio’s rowdy parades and simple Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Tuesday dinners in the United States.

The club enjoyed nonalcoholic Bloody Marys and Hurricanes, classic New Orleans beverages along with Ros Gabriel’s delicious pot of gumbo, Babs’ King Cakes, and Dan Gabriel’s beignets hot out of the grease!

The next meeting will be in March when the club joins the Talisman Club with Patricia Stribling of Blue Meadow Farm as guide and tours the gardens and home of Bisham Manor in LaGrange.

Getting the vegetable garden ready for spring

The Merry Weather Garden Club met on Thursday 9^th of January, 2014 at the home of Laura Underwood and in her garden, Country Road Farm, in Greenville. Members mingled and enjoyed host Jane Morrison’s “Redneck Caviar,” a recipe using black eyed peas she chose in keeping with the farming theme.  Sausages of wild boar, elk, and antelope were served with smoked Gouda and stilton cheeses and sandwiches. Host Toot Hobson brought an international flavor to the refreshments with stollen from Germany, shortbread cookies from Scotland, Italian cookies, and delicious fruity Glogg beverage from Sweden. Underwood contributed some of her delicious Greenville grown and pickled beets to the table.

A short business meeting informed members of the upcoming tourism tour to the county, and members signed up to host programs for the 2014 year. Sally Neal reported on meeting Neil Liechty who recently bought “The Castle” in LaGrange, renamed Bisham Manor, and its gardens will be available for the garden club to tour in February.

Neal introduced Laura Underwood and her friend Bobby Hamby who operate Country Road Farm and raise natural produce and flowers on the half acre property Underwood inherited from the property from her great aunt Louise Herring. Laura was born in Meriwether but grew up in Winder then attended UGA. Her work in Florida with trees and park services soon made her realize her love and talent for growing plants.

In Greenville, she has had three full growing seasons to perfect the produce business. Currently she sells at the LaGrange and Columbus Farmers Markets. The LaGrange Market operates May to October but Columbus is open on Saturdays year around. Underwood’s garden starts producing heavily in March at which time she begins to sell at market and also locally to citizens who contact her.  She washes, bags, and has the fresh produce ready on Fridays for purchase.

Currently much of her garden has a cover crop of rape, rye, and clover but there is evidence of kale, onions, and garlic.  Left over or cold weather damaged produce feeds the chickens, ducks, and geese on the property.

Hamby and Underwood are not certified organic but clearly grow that way using natural remedies for problems.  She has lady bugs to solve any aphid problem; she plants yarrow, marigolds and feverfew plus sunflowers to keep the natural predators away.

Their time is spent doing a lot of weeding. When asked if she uses straw or hay for mulch she said no because almost all hay today has Graze On sprayed on it and the residue kills the vegetable plants. Without mulch she has the nuisance of nut grass though.  She does not use pine straw which makes the soil acidic and in need of lime.  She does use it on strawberries but admits to not growing strawberries well.

Everything they grow, the remains get composted unless there is disease or bugs. The potatoes especially like mulch and she grows red, white, and gold varieties that she plants in March. She uses Johnny’s Seeds some but reminded the club that Johnny’s is in the far northwest so not entirely suitable for our area. Southern Exposure Seed Catalogue plus the farmer supply store in Imlac are her prominent seed sources for Southern seeds.

Country Road Farm grows heirloom varieties of produce and everything comes from seed.  She creates plugs and blocks of germinated plants.  She refrains from using plastic pots because of the cost and instead uses plug trays or makes her own soil blocks with a neat tool that can be purchased. The soil blocks leave the root exposed somewhat but then the plant undergoes no transplant shock.

Plugs are used for small herb seeds like dill, basil, parsley, and lettuce.  She uses a heat mat for germination and then they go in the ground around 6-7 weeks. She uses an innovative tool to get the small plugs out of the trays-the broken end of a plastic spoon!

Some of her favorite lettuces are mini-Romaine with its pretty head and tendency not to bolt, red and green butter lettuce, and the popular oak leaf salad variety. Heirloom tomatoes she likes are Cherokee Purple and Georgia Streak but she grows the common beef steak and Big and Better Boys too.

The club toured the greenhouse she and Hamby made from discarded windows. The greenhouse allows them to start seeds earlier and get plants in the ground earlier than most gardeners.  She starts the seeds three ways: plugs, blocks, or in a large pan and then separates the plants. She uses Fafard Promix, peat moss, and cow manure for her soil and she enriches it with worm castings and liquid fish emulsion. She fertilizes with Organic Plant-tone 3-3-3.

Underwood told her bad luck stories with one being about pumpkins that were developing beautifully when she discovered mice holes in them.  Her dogs are trained to stay out of the beds, but she cheerfully turned them loose in the pumpkin area.

The month of January is time off for Underwood who enjoys curling up on the couch with a good book as the cold and wet preclude much gardening chores. Members happily left their email addresses with her for communication when the growing season produced harvests available for purchase.