March 2017 Meeting - Let's Talk Soil with Nina Carns

Uplands Garden Club member Nina Carns has a background in Agronomy-Soil Science from the University of WI at Platteville. She has worked for many years with troubleshooting fertility issues and working to get clients on a better program to correct soil deficiencies and problems with their crops. Obtaining higher yields and minimizing disease issues have been a key part of Nina’s work. She is a Certified Crop Advisor and has her own company, NC Nutrient Management located in Dodgeville.

The Garden Club March March meeting, held at Stonefield Apartments in Dodgeville, started with Nina explaining the basic nutrients covered in soil tests and why these nutrient levels are important. This part of the talk was then linked to the specific fertilizer and amounts needed to improve the soil. Nina walked us through a basic soil test from the immediate area, and discussed the different nutrients tested, what they mean and how to improve the deficiencies.

Then Nina gave us collection bags and invited us all to gather a sample from our garden areas to bring to our April meeting for testing. Once the results are known, Nina will write up a brief statement in very basic terms for what is needed to improve or correct problems with the samples submitted. These results will be available at the May meeting.

What a gift! We will all be eager to get our results. 

A huge thank you to Nina for sharing her expertise.

February 2017 Meeting: Mushrooms, Mosses and Lichens - David Kopitzke

The presentation at our February meeting, the first of 2017, was a very valuable talk on Mushrooms, Mosses and Lichens by David Kopitzke. In addition to general background on this interested group of organisms, we learned to tell the difference between some common edible mushrooms and lookalikes that are not so edible. Valuable knowledge indeed!

David Kopitzke’s interest in the natural world began early, with childhood family outings to state parks and with many Boy Scout camping trips. His education furthered these interests with a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and a Master’s degree in Plant Ecology. Thereafter his career included work as Curator of Botany at the Milwaukee Public Museum, operating a native plant nursery, protecting rare plant species with the Wisconsin Bureau of Endangered Resources and teaching at the University of Wisconsin-Richland.

In addition, he has been an active member of The Nature Conservancy, The Toyama Prefectural Friends of Plants and a founding board member of the Driftless Area Land Conservancy, a land trust protecting natural, agricultural and historic sites in southwestern Wisconsin. At home he keeps busy with a huge vegetable garden, botanical illustrations and language studies. His interest in plants is not limited to the large (trees) and the colorful (flowers), but also includes the more obscure, but no less fascinating, world of mushrooms, mosses and lichens.

December 2016 Meeting - Annual Holiday Season Party

As per usual, the December meeting was reserved for the annual Holiday Season Party. It's always the best potluck ever with the club providing two meat dishes (ham and turkey) and club members bringing a side dish, appetizer or dessert.

The committee, led once again by Glen Ridnour, prepared the meat dishes, decorated the tables and provided the popper party favors...imported from England no less. And this year we had gold paper crowns too. A lucky person at each table got to take home the table centerpiece, a lovely Christmas cactus plant.

As always, scrumptious food and delightful company made for a great evening.

A big thank you to the committee!

November 2016 Meeting: Wildflowers and the Insects That Visit Them - a video presentation by Richard Pearce

At the Uplands Garden Club November meeting Richard Pearce amazed us with his close-up videos of Wildflowers and The Insects That Visit Them.

For the past 15 years Richard Pearce, a retired medical researcher, has spent much of his spare time trekking through woods, prairies, and along waterways throughout Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin obtaining high resolution images of plants for his Flora of the Driftless Region website (posted at arrasimages.com) and, more recently, getting close up, slo-motion video of the insects that visit them.

Uniquely, for the stills, Pearce uses an office scanner instead of a camera. For rare or listed species he takes the scanner into the field along with a power pack, computer, and extra lights to get extremely high resolution still images. If the flower is common or in fact a weed he can collect its flower and some leaves and scan them back in the studio under more controlled conditions. The method provides optimal detail with an extremely wide field of view, and it reproduces color—especially blues and purples—more faithfully than does a camera. It’s perfect for documenting the minute floral and leaf structures that distinguish one species from another.

For the video, Pearce turns to a smart phone. When fitted with a macro lens and set to capture 240 frames a second, the handheld phone is perfect for capturing spur-of-the-moment events like a bee fly pitching her eggs into a miner bee’s nest, or a leaf cutter snipping out a bit of rose petal, tucking it under her legs and flying it home.

“The slo-motion video allows the viewer enter the world of the insect,” Pearce notes. “Not needing a heavy tripod, massive lenses, or special lighting frees one to capture insects as they naturally behave.”

Pearce’s photoscans have appeared on the cover of Julien’s Journal several times and the technique has been featured in the Dubuque Telegraph Herald and Big River Magazine. His videos can be seen on his Youtube channel, “Richard Pearce.” Links and other information are available at arrasimages.com. Pearce has a permanent show at the Stonehouse Gallery in Galena and is currently featured at the Longbranch Gallery in Mineral Point.

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.