Meet Audra Russell and Follow Her Blog!

Hi Friends of Cheverly Community Market. Meet Audra Russell. Her energy is amazing and she'll be vending at our market this year.

"I am a certified master gardener and have been growing vegetables the all natural way for five years now. It is important to me to feed my family fresh fruits and vegetables that have no pesticides or processed fertilizers. I believe you should be able to walk into a garden and eat right from the vine.
I grew up spending alternate summers with both sets of my grandparents. My paternal grandmother owned a 22 acre farm in Minnesota. My grandmother raised her own cows for butchering, had her own chickens and grew her own fruits and vegetables. My maternal grandparents had a one acre lot across from their house. They grew and canned their own food to feed their family of eleven.
When I began my garden, it was intended to show my children where food comes from. Thatfirst garden awakened my passion for growing my own food, which led to my decision to become a master gardener. I enjoy sharing what I learn--and grow--with others."

What would our world be like if more people did what Audra does? She'd love to hear from you. Post your comments below. She also welcomes new readers to her blog to share her garden experiences and see what's growing. Follow her at http://fatearth.blogspot.com/

Spring is here- Fresh, local asparagus. Perfect!

Spring has finally arrived! The asparagus is jumping out of the ground. This is delicious, all natural, (no chemicals used) asparagus. Eileen Shlagel will be coming to the Cheverly Community Center on Saturday, April 10, from 10-11am with FRESH/LOCAL eggs and FRESH/LOCAL asparagus. The eggs are $4.00/doz and the asparagus will be $4.00 for a large one-pound bundle. When you buy it in the grocery store, it's usually 10 days old already, so you have plenty of time to savor what you buy on Saturday because it will be cut on Friday or Saturday am. E-mail me your orders of eggs or asparagus or both, and as always, I will bring some extra! Buy some for a friend! Nothing says "I love you", like a bunch of asparagus! Eileen Shlagel eshlagel@verizon.net Last Saturday, Ed Terry and MJ Coolin bought Eileen's eggs and rushed home and made themselves a delicious, healthy asparagus omelette breakfast with the farm-fresh eggs, along with Eve's Cheese smoked cheddar cheese grits and fresh rosemary bread. Imagine how great your weekend will be if you follow Ed and MJ's example!

The Fruits of Labor on the Reberts Farm

Matt Rebert gives us insight into the "Off" season on the family Farm: "Our winter was also very snowy. I'll give you a brief idea of what happens on our farm in the "off" season. In October, we begin to mow over the vegetable fields. We seed the fields with a cover crop, either rye or winter wheat. In November (always Thanksgiving weekend), we begin to mulch the strawberries with oat straw. December means time to start trimming apple trees. All the apples get trimmed before we move on to the next fruit. In February and March, we begin to trim the stone fruits. My brother Mark finished up peaches on Friday, March 26, and moved to the cherries the next day -- Saturday. Our dad fertilized the raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries the last week of March. On Friday dad began to mulch the apple brush. In April, as soon as the ground dries, we will begin to plow under the cover crop and get the fields ready for planting vegetables. We also plant our new trees and strawberries in April. We are replacing some old apricots and apples with new trees this spring. The strawberries we plant this spring won't be ready to pick until next year. After the first full moon in May, we remove the straw from our existing strawberry patches, and let the berries go into bloom. We had more snow this winter than we have had in the past few years. Besides keeping us out of the orchards for a long time the snow actually has some benefits. The snow helps to restore the ground water, hopefully meaning it won't be too dry this summer. Snow also acts as a protective barrier to the cover crops, protecting them from the harsh winter temperatures. We had 28 inches of snow on Feb 6th and 42 inches on Feb 10th. Up until last week there was still places you could see snow. I hope this gives an idea as to what we do over late fall and winter." --- MATT REBERT