Garden intern's last day



Gideon Dollarhide, White Violet Center intern,
plants peas in the garden earlier this spring.

Today, we say "see you later" to a spring intern, Gideon Dollarhide, of Strasburg, Ill.

Gideon has spent more than a month working and learning in the organically grown gardens at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Ind.

"I love harvesting the vegetables," he said. "That feeds something deep."

During a going away lunch this week with the staff and volunteers of White Violet Center, Gideon shared a few favorite experiences during his short time at the farm.

"I learned how to work with a team and adjust to a different experience. I got to work in a greenhouse and high tunnel."

Now he's off to graduate from Lake Land College at Mattoon, Ill., with a horticulture and landscape production degree.

He's looking forward to an educational experience at the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis this summer.

He plans to attend Southern Illinois University (SIU) Carbondale to study plant and soil sciences.

Thank you, Gideon, for all your hard work! Best wishes for a sustainable future!


For information about being a White Violet Center for Eco-Justice intern, see the organic gardening and alpaca internships web page, check out our online application, or contact Robyn Morton at 812-535-2932 or rmorton@spsmw.org.

The Seasons of the Year

We were all taught the seasons of the year when we were kids—winter, spring, summer, and fall. And we were taught these seasons regardless of where we lived, or if we really experienced those seasons. Whether you lived in Missouri, Alaska, Nevada, or Florida, everyone cut out tulips in May (even if there is still snow on the ground), and drew pictures of snowmen in December (even if your orange tree is still producing).

Most of the time, we don't think much about this, except as a joke. When I lived in northeastern Ohio, we joked that we had four yearly seasons—"not yet winter, winter, still winter, and road repair." Personally, I found that this captured the movement of the year far more accurately, while also reminding you that it didn't matter what time of year it was, you were still going to have problems on the roads.

Gardeners in particular operate on a very different set of seasons. We understand that non-gardeners don't really get this—it's more like a secret gardener-language. We invoke completely different seasons that the Standard Four, like "last frost date," "as soon as ground can be worked," "midsummer," and "mulching". In the Midwest, at least, we have as many different gardening seasons as the Inuit have words for snow.

I've been working on cataloging (as best I can) the various seasons we experience here at WVC, and I thought I'd share my observations with you. I think, when I started this list, I really meant for it to be helpful; I'm no longer sure that's the case, but I do hope it's still entertaining. Enjoy!

The Seasons (starting in calendar month January)

• "Seed catalog" season: technically this season opens in mid-December, for the particularly astute seed purveyors who realize that gardeners are now seriously garden-deprived and increasingly irrational, making the Christmas gift-giving season a potential goldmine for them
• "What do you mean you haven't gotten your first shipment of potting mix in yet?" season: roughly late-January to mid-February in our area. Later in the year we realize that, in general, this is really saving us from ourselves since it is still way to early to start those tomatoes
• "No, really, it's still frozen" season: what the gardener's spouse/significant other says to us when they see us out there, jumping up and down on the spading fork in some desperate attempt to turn the soil. Or, February.
• "Favorite nursery reopens for the season!" season: better than Christmas. The smarter of the gardeners open savings accounts in October to offset the damage done this weekend. Mid-March.
• "*Gasp* It's so beautiful!" season: when you finally do manage to turn that first spading fork of soil. 5-seconds in late March.
• "*Sigh* It's so wet" season: immediately follows "It's beautiful!"
• "Planting" season: runs roughly from late-March until June, and depends on a couple of variables, like rain, dryness, late frosts, rain, swampiness, work interference, rain, slow seedlings, rain, and rain.
• "Weeding" season: from mid-June until the day you die.
• "Canning & preserving" season: runs concurrently with "weeding"
• Midsummer, or "Fall seedling starts"
• "You threw away those old windows?! Those were for the coldframes I was finally going to build!" season: self-explanatory
• "No, I don't rake leaves, they're mulch for the garden" season: October
• "Next year I'll do everything right" season: November.
• "Early seed catalog" season: December.

And then we begin the cycle again....

Farmers' market

The June 5 opening day of the Terre Haute Downtown Farmers' Market at Ninth and Cherry streets was a big success. We sold out of strawberries by about 10:30 a.m. and pretty well sold out of everything else by noon.

We certainly enjoyed meeting new people and answering questions about growing this and that.
Our participation in this farmers' market is very important to us. We’ve been a part of it since its inception in 2005 and we’re proud of what it has become.

Last year we were only able to have a presence once a month. But this year we’re back in FULL SWING and LOVIN’ IT! We’ll be there 8 a.m. to noon every Saturday through October sharing our pesticide- and herbicide-free vegetables and fruit and value-added products.

With such a small staff we always welcome volunteers who can help us out on Saturday mornings. Even an hour or two is appreciated. Interested? Contact Candace Minster at cminster@spsmw.org or 812-535-2935.

Hope to see you often this season!

What a busy time for this organic farm and eco-justice education center! We've had so much rain it has been crazy trying to get our more than 300 acres of certified organic crops in the ground this year. Now the hay needs cut and the vegetables are being harvested for the market today and the Sisters of Providence dining halls.

In the alpaca pastures ...
Four alpaca crias were born this spring and two more are on the way. Of our about 65 alpacas many of them are for sale ... about 18 or so. Click on Alpacas at www.whiteviolet.org to see our sales list.

In the gardens ...
Our Weekly Wednesday Farmers' Market at the Woods (3-6 p.m.) is in full swing. The tasty organic vegetables offered this week are turnips, lettuce, radishes, and green tomatoes. We'll also have herbs and cut flowers. (We might have some carrots, green beans and potatoes.) In addition to the vegetables, we always have homemade lip balm made from our own beeswax; Royer Family Farm beef, lamb and pork; Swiss Connection cheese and ice cream; and fair trade coffees, teas and chocolate bars.

In the orchards ...
We've been dealing with some fire blight and such this year. The garden manager applied a clay spray this week.

In the Classified Forest ...
We now have an 18 year plan for the 320 acres of Classified Forest at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods owned by the Sisters of Providence. Read more about our recent DNR statistical survey under Agriculture at www.whiteviolet.org.

This is one of our busiest times of year! We couldn't do it without our fabulous volunteers and intern. A big thank you to you all!