October 2016 Meeting: Amphibians in the Garden - Rebecca Christoffel

Amphibians in the Garden - hooray!

The presenter at our October meeting was Dr Rebecca Christoffel who discussed the amphibians (frogs, toads and salamanders) that you are likely to have living in your garden here in Wisconsin, how these animals are beneficial to your garden, and actions that you can take to encourage them and keep them safe in your garden.

Dr. Rebecca Christoffel is the sole proprietor of Christoffel Conservation, a company dedicated to the conservation and management of unhuggables (i.e. reptiles, amphibians and bats).  Prior to establishing her business, she was a faculty member and Extension Wildlife Biologist at Iowa State University. She earned her doctorate in Fisheries and Wildlife from Michigan State where her research focused on the human dimensions of rare snake conservation in the upper Midwest. In 2012 she founded the Snake Conservation Society.

Thank you to Rebecca for a most informative introduction to our amphibian friends!

September 2016 Meeting: Aronia Berries, a Visit to Barham Gardens

Roberta Barham talks about growing aronia berries

For our September meeting we visited Barham Gardens run by Roberta and Kim Barham, commercial growers of Aronia berries.

Roberta led us on a tour of their Aronia bushes and talked about their experiences growing the berries. We then met inside the fascinating energy efficient cordwood house they are building where we learned more about Aronias, got a chance to sample some recipes made with Aronias, and could even purchase some berries to take home.

Outside the cordwood and masonry house

After moving to the Driftless Region of rural Wisconsin in 2002, Kim and Roberta Barham joined a sustainably grown professional cut flower LLC which marketed flowers to Madison, Milwaukee and surrounding communities.  Additionally, in 2004, they began construction on their energy efficient, alternative building materials cordwood masonry house.  During this period, they commuted to Madison, WI for full time work as well.

In 2008, the Barhams became interested in Aronia after tasting a commercial juice blend with an unusual, pleasant flavor. The discovery of Aronia in the contents caught their attention. Shortly thereafter, they heard through Dale Secher of Carandale Farms (Oregon, WI) of an opportunity to grow Aronia. Already curious, they attended the Carandale Field Day which introduced attendees to Aronia as a healthy, lesser-known fruit adaptable to varied growing conditions as well as pest resistant characteristics.

Inside the cordwood house Roberta talks to our group

Besides the convincing arguments presented at the Field Day, Aronia held some potential as a cut flower to be marketed through their LLC.  The Barhans took the plunge, and put 1,000 plants in the ground in 2009.  They joined the newly-formed Midwest Aronia Association in 2010.  Their first harvest (2012) led them to begin searching for local markets interested in using Aronia.  They approached prestigious Madison restaurants which promote a local produce focus by offering free samples for recipe development.  Additionally, they familiarized our co-workers with the berry’s benefits, offered pick-your-own opportunities and approached other local businesses where Aronia could augment their products. 

Tasting aronia recipes

Public awareness and consumer acceptance of this little-known native berry needs to increase for commercial viability.  Roberta, as Public Relations Director for the Midwest Aronia Association in 2014 and 2015 has worked to educate American consumers on the healthy, tasteful properties of this exciting fruit.  She developed a trifold brochure incorporating basic recipes for Aronia available to MAA members and the public for their personal and professional use as well as a Power Point Presentation to “spread the word” at Farmers’ Markets, Field Days, events, etc.  These items are available for MAA members to download at the Midwest Aronia Association website. There is also a link for Recipe Book purchase there.

Roberta became President of the Midwest Aronia Association late 2015.  She encourages anyone wanting to grow or learn more about Aronia to become a member.  Signup information is on the website.

August 2016 Meeting: Garden Visit, Home of Sharon Stauffer and Ben Russell, and Potluck Picnic

This year we combined our annual Potluck Picnic with a home garden visit. The picnic was held at Soldiers Memorial Park in Mineral Point. Sharon Stauffer and Ben Russell, who live across the street from the park, hosted the garden club for a tour of their home gardens prior to the picnic. 

Here are some images from our visit.

July 2016 Meeting: Visit to The Cider Farm

Dierdre Birmingham talks
about The Cider Farm

As our club president Judy Campbell remarked, the word cider will never have the same connotation after our amazing trip to The Cider Farm in rural Mineral Point. What an incredible operation!



Deirdre Birmingham, who with her husband John Biondi, founded the organically managed orchard, gave a presentation on their operation then led a tour of the orchards followed by a cider-tasting!

Deirdre and John spent 10 years on their 166 acres, turning an old dairy farm into their apple orchard, before they produced their first cider in 2013. Because the varieties they grow are not commercially available (they are English), Birmingham and Biondi painstakingly hand-graft their trees.

Dierdre leads a tour of the orchard

We were able to view the expanse of acreage that the two have cleared, see small trees in stages of grafting, the cider press set-up, and of course, the orchards themselves.

The post-tour cider tasting - a special treat! 

Special Note:

The Cider Farm has been featured on two Wisconsin Public Television programs:

Around the Farm Table
(http://video.wpt.org/video/2365336544/)

and Wisconsin Life
(http://video.wpt.org/video/2365353220)


And be sure to visit their website at theciderfarm.com.

Thank you to Dierdre for a wonderful visit. 

June 2016 Meeting: Garden Design - Scott Moore

The June meeting of the Uplands Garden Club featured a presentation on garden design by Scott Moore of Sandstone Nursery in Mineral Point followed by a tour of Shake Rag Alley’s gardens including the Lind Pavilion landscaping designed by Scott and Shake Rag Alley garden projects funded by Uplands Garden Club grants.

Shake Rag Alley's Lind Pavilion

The meeting took place at Shake Rag Alley's newly renovated Lind Pavilion at five point corners, the old Quonset Hut that previously housed an auto parts shop. Now updated, the building serves as classroom space and is available to rent for meetings and other functions.

Scott talked about design considerations in planning the large sweeping garden area in front of the building, which is in its infancy having just been planted in the fall of 2015. Over 300 grasses and perennials were planted in drifts mimicking a natural prairie setting.

Sharon Stauffer then led a tour of five garden beds on the Shake Rag Alley main campus which from 2007 through 2015 have been redesigned and replanted utilizing Uplands Garden Club grant funding - the Coach House Front Gardens, the Ellery House Side Garden, the Log Cabin Circle Garden, the Potters House Walkway Garden, and the Ellery Patio Hill Garden.

Ellery House Side Garden

Coach House Front Garden

May 2016 Meeting: Our Place in the Cosmos - John Wunderlin

John Wunderlin, who has been an active amateur astronomer for more than a decade, spoke on "Our Place in the Cosmos" at the Uplands Garden Club May meeting.

His talk included commentary on our planet's place in the universe, celestial objects, constellations, and featured "astro-photos" of the sky over Mineral Point that he made himself.

John ended his presentation with a delightful French horn performance set to an astrophotography slideshow. This was only the second performance of the piece entitled Universal Sketches written by Nick Fife. The premier was his master’s degree final at UW/Madison.

John moved to Madison from Mineral Point to study French Horn performance because it was on his Bucket List. Now that he’s graduating, he will give lessons, and look for a position in the musical field. (Of course, while maintaining All-Pro Software, his software development business.)
He is currently Principal Horn in the Beloit/Janesville Symphony Orchestra. His lovely French Horn was handmade in Europe.

For a special treat John very graciously set up a telescope outside the Stonefield Apartments for viewing of the night sky after our meeting. And luckily, Mother Nature cooperated with a perfect clear night for star gazing! About 15 people took advantage of the viewing and were able to see 4 different celestial bodies, including Jupiter and 4 moons.

John has given his popular astronomy presentations at schools, parks, churches, and for civic organizations throughout the area.  Until recently, he lived in Mineral Point, where he built a home observatory and imaged hundreds of celestial objects; several of them have won imaging contests on CloudyNights.

In 2006, John and David Oesper founded the Iowa County Astronomers Club, which now boasts more than 100 members on their email list and which meets monthly to discuss astronomical news and to observe the night sky. In addition to Iowa County Astronomers, John is also a member of Wyalusing StarSplitters and the Madison Astronomical Society.  John operates an All Sky camera as part of the Sandia National Laboratories SkySentinel program, which collects meteor data for scientists to help understand and categorize meteor showers.   He estimates that more than 10,000 people have looked through his telescopes at public events.  John also runs a small business selling astrophotography equipment on his website, spike-a.com.

Thank you John for a very special program at our May meeting!

April 2016 Meeting: Slow Flowers - Carol Larsen of Sunborn Flower Farm

The April Uplands Garden Club program was Slow Flowers, presented by Carol Larsen of Suborn Flower Farm outside of Mt Horeb. 

Carol Larsen has been a cut flower grower since 1975 selling at the Dane County Farmers Market and doing weddings and events. In 2003 Carol founded Fair Field Flowers, a cut flower partnership of local growers in order to sell their flowers in Southern Wisconsin. Recently Carol’s son, Hans along with his wife, Lisa, have joined Sunborn. With this infusion of young energy Sunborn is growing into more weddings and wholesale flowers than ever before.

Since the mid 1950’s commercial flower growing in the US has declined unmercifully. Off shore flowers are shipped to the US creating a huge carbon footprint. Upwards or 85% and as high as 98% of the most common fresh cut flowers are imported, mostly from South America: roses, carnations, chrysanthemums. Domestic fresh flower production focuses on less common "specialty" flowers. Top five are lilies, tulips, gerberas, gladioli, Dutch iris. 

Carol told us about how the recent Buy Local movement that has captured the public’s imagination now extends to fresh flowers. The Slow Flower movement is catching on. Once again locally grown fresh flowers are blooming with the public’s penchant for fresh local and sustainable American products.