This is a very exciting season for us here at the Countryside Conservancy. We are celebrating our 10^th Anniversary as an organization that supports community-based food systems.  We celebrate our work over the past ten years, both within Cuyahoga Valley National Park with our nationally recognized Countryside Initiative program, and outside of the park boundaries with our FarmLink program (the only one in the state), farmland policy advocacy and technical assistance for communities, and educational opportunities for farmers both beginning and experienced.  All of these programs are gaining popularity with the rise in awareness of the importance of food and how it is produced.

We are also celebrating our 6^th year of managing farmers’ markets, and the continued growth of our markets over the years has led us to a new location for 2009.  We see this as further evidence of the nationwide trend towards reconnecting with those that are responsible for growing, raising, or otherwise producing the food we eat. 

Our new market location at Howe Meadow in Cuyahoga Valley National Park (4040 Riverview Road, Peninsula) allows us to extend our season until October 31^st, expand and diversify the number of vendors (40+ this year!), and provide electricity to expand the services available to our customers.  We remain the only farmers’ market within a National Park in the country!

Opening day at Countryside Farmers’ Market at Howe Meadow will include numerous local farmers and food producers.  We are excited to have pea shoots, plant starts, jams & jellies, artisan breads and baked goods, award-winning cheese, locally roasted coffee, custom blended teas and much more.  A few happenings for the day include:

• Live music by Lisa and Heather Malyuk
• A book signing from 10-noon with Laura Taxel, local food writer and author of Cleveland Ethnic Eats
• Chef Michael Fiala of LeFever’s River Grille in Cuyahoga Falls will be joining us for cooking demonstrations
• Knife sharpening by Pat Hartmann of Chef Sharp
• And, to celebrate our 10^th Anniversary as well as our new location we are offering $2 in “Market Money” to the first 150 customers of the day- good at every vendor booth.

We are looking forward to a great farmers’ market season, and to another 10 years of supporting the good people in our community-based food systems throughout Northeast Ohio! 

Beth Knorr, Market Manager

Let’s take a look at our proud nursery heritage in Northeastern Ohio.  It all began in 1858 when two entrepreneurs, drawn by climate, variable soils and access to shipping, decided there wasn’t room in Lake County for two nurseries and shook hands to form a partnership.  Within forty years this enterprise became Storrs & Harrison Nursery, the largest in the world.   Today there are over seventy growers in Lake County.  Plus, the nurseries have spread out over all of Northeastern Ohio.  Nursery Growers of Lake County Ohio, an association formed in 1927, today represent eight counties with 135 members, both growers and suppliers. 

      After Storrs & Harrison, many nurseries followed, both large and small, including Cole Nurseries, Kohankies, Champions, Hortons, Wayside Gardens, Bosleys and many more.  Oftentimes, a propagator was recruited from Holland, where the nursery tradition goes back centuries, and some of these growers, or their disciples, remain today, growing in the ‘Dutch Tradition’, such as Gied Stroombeek, owner of Roemer Nursery in Madison.      

     Lake County was the ‘Nursery Capitol of the World’ for many years.  Eventually, during the 1960s, research by The Ohio State University demonstrated that plants could be grown on top of the ground in ‘containers’ and harvested year-round.  As a result, growth shifted to warmer climates, the southern states and West Coast, where container-plants could be produced year-round without over-wintering structures.  Still, Northeastern Ohio remains a hot-bed of nursery activity in terms of industry leadership, innovation and production.  Local growers routinely lead state and national nursery organizations.  Brotzman’s Nursery (Madison), Lake County Nursery (Perry) and others regularly select or develop new varieties with improved characteristics.  In terms of production, two thirds of the U.S. population lives within 500 miles of Northeastern Ohio and local nurseries take advantage by shipping high-quality trees, shrubs and perennials throughout the Eastern Seaboard… west to Chicago-land and beyond.

Lavender Twist Weeping Redbud (Cercis canadensis ‘Covey’) recently introduced by Brotzman’s Nursery (Madison, OH)

Big yards, barbecue and baseball are proud American traditions…but so is gardening!  Visit Jefferson’s Monticello, Washington’s Mount Vernon or, closer to home, Garfield’s Lawnfield (in Mentor!) and you’ll see how important gardening…both flower and food…was to our early leaders!  Some think Americans have lost their connection with the soil.  Your landscape and back-yard garden are simple, productive ways to reconnect with the wonder and heritage of growing things!  Mark Gilson

      Good things can come from bad times and one of the positive trends arising from our ‘Great Recession’ is the discovery of gardening by so many newcomers.  They’ll start with some tomatoes and peppers in containers, maybe a few zucchinis in the corner of their yard, but if we do a good job providing the information and resources they need, they’ll discover the enchantment of growing things…the simple joys of ‘having a garden’…and they’ll be back year after year!  Along the way, they’ll plant a few marigolds to ward off insects, nasturtium for salads, they’ll discover that their rhubarb has bold distinctive foliage year-round, and before you know it, the vegetable patch is expanding to accommodate sunflowers, perennials, a cutting garden with yarrow and cone-flower, shrubs for fragrance and butterflies and wildlife habitat, trees for reducing household utility costs and alleviating storm-water runoff, as well as providing shade and tangible aesthetics…  

     They’re hooked! 

Larger sizes offer gardeners a jump on the season.                                                                           

          Presently, only one in ten households in America is serious about gardening.  Contrast that with our friends ‘across the pond’…England is a nation of gardeners!  What if one-in-ten became two-in-ten?  What if twice as many people discovered the quiet satisfaction, the therapy, the transcendentalism of raising plants?  Our nursery and greenhouse industries…which go back 150 years in Northeastern Ohio…our seed and mail-order companies, our researchers, breeders and garden educators would be happily struggling to keep up!

     First, let’s take a look at some of the new trends and opportunities available to gardeners this Spring.  Most important of all are all the better-performing plants!   Whether it’s Proven Winners(PW), Plants-That-Work, Garden Leaders or the Step-ables line of under-foot ground covers, there are brands out there searching and finding the best varieties and cultivars available.   Surfinia Petunias(from Suntory), Superbells Calibrachoa (PW)and Rockapulco double impatiens (PW) are just a few of the flowering ‘annual’ series that are light-years ahead of their predecessors. (Keep in mind that ‘annual’ flowers only last one year in our climate but they bloom all season long!  ‘Perennial’ flowers come back year after year but may only bloom for a few weeks!)  

Calibrachoa Superbells Plum from Proven Winners, A Country Living Editor’s Choice

Coleus is king of the annual foliage plants: hot colors, cool colors, pinks and burgundies and oranges, sun or shade.  Our favorites this year are Coleus Fishnet Stockings and C. Sun Jade.   Perilla The Thrillah, a coleus look-alike from Grimes Seed in Concord, Ohio, offers great red/green variegation on uniform plants.  If Coleus or Perilla begin to take over your combination planter after a few weeks…and they will…just give them a ‘hard pinch’ (cut back to the level of the other plants) and they will behave for a while.  For an alternative, check out Alternanthera Party Time(from Itsaul Plants PP 14789)…or any of the other great alternanthera…which offer colorful foliage for shady spots. 

     Dracaena ‘spikes’ used to be the only game in town for that vertical element in your combination planter.  We still love them, and we use them in our Mom & Apple Pie planters.   But check out Cyperus King Tut, a Proven Winners selection, or any of the red grasses, Pennisetum rubrum, for something new and different. 

      Hanging baskets are the staple of springtime front porches and summertime back decks.  Fuchsias are longtime favorites with us.  Gather a handful of blossoms and float them in a bowl for a centerpiece or meditation focus.  Or just enjoy their color and the hummingbirds that follow.  Fuchsias are thirsty so make sure they’re planted in a ‘heavy mix’ that holds moisture.  The new ‘gel’ products and watering balls are helpful to keep them perky.  They’re very forgiving, so if you miss a watering or two, make it up to them by providing a ‘hard pinch’ and keeping them on the ground next to the hose for a while.  In a week or two they’ll be restored to their former glory.   

      Dragon Wing Begonias are popping up in window boxes, hanging baskets and flower beds everywhere.  They perform superbly in partial shade with season-long displays of red or pink flowers amidst glossy dark green pointed leaves. 

 Dragon Wing Red Begonia will grow up to 2’ tall and round in sun or partial shade.  Great for baskets, boxes and beds.                                                                                                              

      Among design trends, we’re told that ‘square is the new round’.  Even so, we still like many of our standard shapes and sizes!  In some areas, traditional combination planters and baskets are giving way to single-element pots, often featuring a foliage plant or hardy shrub.  However, we still like mixing it up with vertical elements, colorful accents and lively sprawlers.  

     Back-to-nature is a growing trend in perennials and shrubs, focusing on ‘native plants’ indigenous to our state or region prior to the arrival of Europeans.  While the nursery industry has been slow to embrace this movement, since it turns the clock back on several hundred years of dramatic horticultural development, there are many zealots who believe the ‘natives’ are better-adapted to our environment and require less maintenance.  We suggest a balance between native and ‘exotic’.  Find the right plant for the right spot and enjoy each plant for what it is.  Many natives or native-cultivars (close cousins) are already available in the nursery trade and put on quite a show, such as Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), Creeping phlox (Phlox subulata) and Butterfly weed (Asclepius tuberosa).

     This mixed-sedum planter contains white-flowering Sedum ternatum, which is native to Northeastern Ohio.                                                                                                           

     Editor’s note: This essay with accompanying photos was submitted by Mark Gilson of Gilson’s Gardens in Perry, Ohio.  His next post gives a short history of the nursery business in Lake County.  Whether you are starting out with a container garden or landscaping acres, remember that plants that have been selected and raised for our region will be the hardiest and heathiest.  Our local nurserymen/women are a true asset for all of us who love beautiful gardens. -Mary

I love the unique flavor of rhubarb, which I associate with the coming of spring.  I make rhubarb sauce for a tangy breakfast treat.  For every cup of cubed rhubard I use about 1/4 cup of sugar and enough water to cover.  Simmer until the rhubarb is soft and add more sugar if needed to suit your taste.

I discovered that when rhubarb is baked, it turns a deep, lucious red color.  I use rhubarb instead of apples in my favorite apple crisp recipe and double the sugar (using brown sugar).  Take four cups of diced rhubarb and add 1/2 cup of white sugar and 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1/4 t ground cloves, 1/2 t cinnamon and mix.

Butter a 11/2 quart casserole and add the rhubarb mixture.  Create a topping of 1/2 cup white sugar, 3/4 cup flour, pinch of salt, and 6 tablespoons of butter using a pastry knife to mix until crumbly.  Cover the top of the rhubarb with the topping.  You may add nuts if you like.  Bake at 350 degrees until the fruit is soft when pierced with a fork and the topping is brown.  The rhubarb will bake to a beautiful deep red color.  Serve with vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt.  Awesome!

Do you know rhubarb? Rhubarb used to be a very popular vegetable used in jams and pies. Its popularity has fallen somewhat and this is too bad because it has a wonderful, unique flavor.

Rhubarb is an early season crop in Ohio and will be one of the very first vegetables to make an appearance in local farm markets. The stalks range from green to red and are somewhat sour so need to be mixed with sweeter ingredients or sugar. Do be aware the leaves of rhubarb are mildly toxic. While you would have to consume several pounds to reach a dangerous level, it’s best to only eat the stalks and simply discard the leaves of the plant.

Perhaps the most “common” use of rhubarb is in strawberry rhubarb pie. This works out well as fresh Ohio strawberries make an appearance at about the same time! When making strawberry rhubarb pie simply mix 6 cups of chopped rhubarb, 4 cups of chopped strawberries with a cup of sugar (seasoned with 1/2 t of ground cloves, 1 t cinnamon and 1/3 cup of sifted flour for thickening). Let this mixture stand for 30 minutes, tossing occasionally and fill your favorite pie shell. Bake at 425 degrees for 40 minutes. You can leave the pie open or cover with a weave of shell dough. Yummy!

For jams, you can use any sweetened fruit such as peaches, strawberries or apples to sweeten the rhubarb and use it in your favorite jam recipe.

Look for rhubarb to appear in local markets in May and ENJOY!

Ken

Do you like asparagus? When we were first married, my wife KNEW she did not care for asparagus. Digging a little deeper, I came to understand why. What she thought of as asparagus were the slimy (admit it, they are SLIMY) things that you find in the canned food section of your local grocery. It’s how most of us first experienced this magnificent vegetable.

The first time I prepared FRESH asparagus for her was a revelation. I don’t recall exactly how I prepared it that first time but most likely it was broiled in the oven with a drizzle of olive oil and a bit of fresh ground pepper. That’s one of the best and simplest ways and it’s delicious. She loved it!

Asparagus is a vegetable that is actually a member of the Lily family! Asparagus is very nutritious. It contains Large amounts of vitamins A, C and B6 as well as potassium, phosphorus and even some calcium. Adding fresh, whole foods to your diet is a great way to get both nutrition and flavor. Asparagus is often one of our most over looked vegetables and one which, if you try it fresh is so completely different from that canned slime we were fed as kids, you won’t even recognize it.

Asparagus spears can be harvested in Northeast Ohio from mid April through June, making it one of our earliest crops and a harbinger of fresh fruits and vegetables to come. While you can find asparagus in the fresh produce section of your grocery year round, nothing beats the flavor and nutritional quality of locally grown produce that has been allowed to ripen naturally and not subjected to damage from shipping. Quality matters and being trucked thousands of miles is the natural enemy of quality where fruits and vegetables are concerned.

Asparagus can be made many ways but my two favorites are both very simple. The first I listed above. The second is even easier. Place the asparagus, some olive oil, salt and pepper into plastic bag and shake it a couple times. Scatter it over a medium hot grill and cook (turning once mid way through) for 5-8 minutes until the edges are just beginning to brown. The smoky, moist and still slightly crisp spears are a great addition to whatever you are grilling.

I hope you’ll add local asparagus to your menu this spring and taste the difference. You’ll be glad you did.

Ken

Editor’s note: freshly harvested aspargus is juicy and has up to 4% sugar content which rapidly declines after it is cut which partly explains why local aspargus is so much better than the California version.