Pruning Tomatoes

Starting to see some terrific growth in the tomato plants, and some questions have come up. Here's a bit from my class on tackling tomatoes --

For some of you, it's time to prune. Why prune?

• Prune to create one to four strong stems.
• Prune each stem to about the same length.
• Prune to keep the plant at a manageable size.
• Prune to keep leaves and stems off the ground by removing the leaves and stems below the first set of fruit.
• Prune so that leaves do not shade other leaves. (Sunshine must hit leaves for photosynthesis to occur. Photosynthesis is necessary for the production of plant sugars which are required for plant and fruit growth.)
• Avoid pruning away leaves above fruit clusters; these leaves protect fruit and stems below from sunburn.
• Prune to allow air circulation to the center of the plant. Air circulation helps deter diseases and insects.

Tomato plants are solar-powered sugar factories. Leaves produce sugar through photosynthesis. During the first month, growth is directed to new leaves. More leaves produce more sugar. When the amount of sugar produced is more than growing tip can use, then (1) new branches develop (with their own growing tips), (2) the more stems, the smaller the fruit, (3) flowers begin growing (will develop into fruit), (4) early pruning encourages stronger stem, and (5) the more branches, the more competition for sugar produced by leaves.

So how to do it?

Start when plant is 12-18” tall. There are different levels of pruning.

1. Prune any leaves that touch the ground. This is a must.
2. #1 plus suckers. 
3. Everything below the first cluster of flowers plus #1, #2.
4. #1, 2 and 3 above, plus all side stems to encourage one stem.

As the growing season proceeds it is normal for some of the
leaves to yellow and die. Snap or prune these from your plants,
as well. This will increase air circulation and sunlight to the rest
of the plant, and reduce the incidence of disease.

As you near the end the tomato season, your plants need to stop producing new fruit and leaves, and concentrate on ripening the fruit already on the vine. Help the plant to focus by topping or pinching out all of the growth tips. “Top” the plant 30 days before the first frost date (our earliest frost date is around the middle of October).

Pruning Hygiene

• Wash hands or wipe with rubbing alcohol or wipes to reduce chance of spreading disease when pruning infected plants.
• Wipe tools with rubbing alcohol between pruning for same reason.

Leek humor

If You Can't Beat 'Em, Eat 'Em

Found this great article posted on The Chicago Botanical Garden's blog about edible weeds in the garden.

I have seen all but one of the weeds listed in the blog post, and have snacked on them a few times. My personal favorite has to be purslane, both for its taste and nutritional value.

But the list doesn't stop with these 5. Both at home and in the garden, there are many other "weeds" which can be eaten:

1) Red Clover (Trifolium pratense)

 Blossom of Trifolium pratense

 





The blossoms of this clover can be eaten fresh, tossed in a salad, or made into a tea. The leaves can also be used in salads.

2) Broadleaf Plantain (Plantago major)

Plantago major shown with flowers

The younger leaves of plantain can be eaten raw, and the older leaves can be picked and cooked like other tough greens such as kale or collard greens. The leaves are also high in calcium and vitamins A, C, and K. 

3) Sorrel (Rumex acetosella)

 

The maroon blooms of a a female Rumex acetosella

Sorrel has a tart, lemony flavor which can add some zing to fresh salads. The older leaves can also be cooked down and used in stir-frys and omelets. The leaves are arrow head shaped, and can be commonly found in acidic soils. 

4) Chickweed (Stellaria media)

A small cluster of rapidly-spreading Stellaria media

Chickweed, as its name references, is a favorite among chickens; and for good reason! The  leaves are both delicious and nutritous, and commonly used in salads. The leaves are also very popular in Japan, used in a traditional dish which is consumed during the spring-time festival, Nanakusa-no-sekku.

***WORDS OF CAUTION*** 

Please be sure to properly identify a plant before consumption. 
Please be sure no pesticides or herbicides have been used in the area (wind causes drift).

Stephanie Stiglmeier

Community Garden Intern

June rainshowers bring... WEEDS

* UPDATE: I will be sending out another UNOFFICIAL weed warning today. I know it's been wet and hard to get into the garden, so this email will just be a heads-up.

Everyone,

We've had more rain than usual this June -- almost 2" more -- , which means a few things:

1. Our veg have been growing nicely without much need for irrigation,
2. Our weeds are also growing really, really nicely, too, and
3. It's been harder to get into the garden without losing a shoe in the mud.

The weeds part is what concerns me. Of course, our garden attracts a lot of visitors and so we want it to look nice, but really, to you and me, the main concern with weeds is that they're competing with our veg for nutrients and space.

The easiest way to keep your weeds to a minimum is to cover your soil. There's a hold on straw at the moment, but there are tons of other things to use to cover your soil -- newspaper (sheets or shredded), cardboard boxes, cardboard paper, compost (thick -- 2-4" deep), grass clippings (great source of nitrogen), dried leaves, aged manure, and leafmold, to name a few. No shredded hardwood or wood chips still. But all of these other options will tame the weedjungle in your plot and reduce the need for you to bother the soil by cultivating (which incidentally brings more weed seeds to the surface).

I've heard some grumblings about the compost bins being full. Yep, I know it, and we're working on it. I've had two groups of volunteers come out and clean out the tops of the bins -- you've probably seen the results of their work in the clumps of decomposing weeds along the fenceline. We're experimenting to keep the weeds along the fenceline suppressed. I'm also going to clean out the bins further this week when I have a chance to use the Kubota.

But here's the thing -- if you cover your soil, you have fewer weeds. Those weeds that do make it through the newspaper will be small and few and easily weeded when they're small. The smaller the weeds when they get put in the compost bins, the slower the bins will be to fill up.

Some other thoughts:

1. Please don't leave clumps of weeds in the walkways -- or in another person's plot, as has been happening. Be responsible for your own weeds. 
2. I'll be honest with you -- when I find a clump of weeds in the walkway, I put them back in the plot out of which they came. 
3. Consider using some space in your plot as your own small compost area. You don't need a bin or chickenwire, even. Just start a little pile and let the sun's heat break them down. 
4. You don't even have to go that far -- toss your weeds in your walkways. Once the roots are out of the ground, most weeds aren't coming back to life, they'll decompose nicely, and you're no longer having to overflow the compost bins.

About the weeds in the walkways -- Stephanie is in the process of removing the straw from the walkways, and Andres will be mowing the walkways from here on in.

Finally -- check out Stephanie's blog post on edible weeds. I love purslane, which grows in abundance in my backyard.

Thanks!

Food Classes at the Farm

Some cool classes coming up here at Wagner Farm -- register online here or sign up at Park Center.

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409309 - DIY Food Preservation & Photography - July 22, 6-7:30 ($30 for resident, $37 for non-res)

Participants will work with Jill Houk, cookbook author, and a Glenview-based chef in this fun cooking class! Chef Houk will teach easy food preservation techniques for all your seasonal vegetables. Next, take your culinary skills to a whole new level with Chicago-based photographer, Angie Garbot. Angie will teach you all about food photography and how to make beautiful food labels-a great way to impress your friends and make special gifts! Ages 16-Senior




409409 - Jars, Jams & Jellies - August 5, 6-8pm ($30 for residents, $37 for non-residents)

How would you like to enjoy seasonal fruits and vegetables all year long? Chef Toni Salazar Camphouse will teach participants how to make jellies, jams, and other canning delights. Price includes all food and canning supplies. Ages Adult-Senior

~~~

I've signed up for the Food Preservation class for July. I bought Jill's book because I wanted to learn more ways to preserve the food I grow in the garden. It's a really cool book, and I look forward to learning more from Jill in the class.

I've taken the canning class with Chef Toni before -- she's terrific, and I had a blast in this hands-on class. I've done a little canning at home but hope to do more this fall.

The weather in our fair town

 I follow a lot of blogs, but one of my favorites belongs to our state climatologist, Jim Angel. Jim writes in detail about our weather, taking into account the varying needs of our state and the wider meteorological picture.

The picture above is from his blog, and I think it explains a lot about our trend of weird and heavy storms, sometimes short in duration, which have been hitting our area -- and which may continue to bother us (the above map is a forecast for July). We seem to be caught between an above average temperature system to the south and a below average temperature system to the north. I don't remember much from 7th grade science class, but I do remember that when two different weather systems bump, they also grind, which can result in storms like we've been seeing this spring.

So what about our area? The EC for our area means that we have an equal chance of having average temperatures for the next month, above average or below average. That may not seem very specific, but... well, ok, it doesn't seem very specific. I guess it's better than being told definitively that we're going to be hotter or cooler than usual.

As for precipitation, we've had a wetter June than usual, but our July looks like it might not continue that way. Here's the precipitation map for July:

We're EC again -- equal chance of average precip, above average or below average. But since we're actually close to a below average area -- southern Illinois -- we may tend in that direction, too.

From weather.com, I found out that our average precipitation so far in the month of June is 3.67", but we're already at 4.43", with more rain to come this week. Our precip so far is actually close to the average precip for August, our wettest month in the year. It will be interesting to see if July does tend more dry.

Only time will tell, of course, and I would remind you that I am not a meteorologist -- far from it! Still, check out Jim's blog if you like talking weather.

Corn, as described in The Drunken Botanist

I will admit -- I will buy almost any book about gardening. This is occasionally a waste of money (I often buy duplicates by mistake), but I hit gardening gold with The Drunken Botanist by Amy Stewart.

It's a delicious book about the plant life that makes up our alcoholic beverages, true, but it also includes fascinating tidbits about the plants we grow for reasons other than drinking.

For instance, CORN.

• I always thought "Indian corn" referred to the multi-colored corn popular in autumn displays. Nope. Apparently, when Columbus introduced corn to Europeans, the word 'corn' was used to describe all grains, so "Indian corn" was a distinguisher for what we know as corn today.
• A team of archaeologists believe that early corn might have been selected and domesticated for its juice, not its grain. They've found evidence that people used to suck on pieces of cornstalk and then spit the pieces out. Eventually, sugarcane beat out cornstalks as a ready source of sugar. 
• There are seven main types of corn:
• Dent (field corn, which we plant at Wagner Farm for animal feed)
• Flint 
• Flour (usually ground into flour)
• Pod (an old variety)
• Pop (kernels with large endosperm that, when heated, explodes and turns the kernel inside out)
• Sweet (what we eat), and
• Waxy (a variety that is used as an adhesive, or in food as a thickener or a stabilizer)

There's a lot more in the book about corn, bourbon, and other alcohols made from corn, of course. But I'm reading it for the veg history.

I'll be sharing more with you as I read through the book. 

Rain Rain, Go Away!

We've gotten over 2 inches of rain in the past couple of days, and it doesn't seem to be stopping any time soon! Jen and I have been checking the rain gauge every day, and we record it on the calendar out on the garden bulletin board, as well as every time Jen waters. If ya'll are ever curious if you need to water, go ahead and look it over.

Stephanie Stiglmeier
Community Garden Intern

No mowing today, Wednesday, June 25

It's soaked in the garden, and the walkways aren't in bad shape, so I've cancelled mowing for today. The garden will be open -- and muddy -- from 10-11:30.

A Gardener's visit to Monticello by John Brossard

I had a great conversation with one of our gardeners about his recent visit to Monticello and the book Founding Gardeners, so I asked him to write a bit about it for us. 

~~~

Monticello (Photo by John Brossard)

In her book Founding Gardeners, Andrea Wulf, an Englishwoman, discusses how the founding fathers were also our founding gardeners. She specifically focuses on four gardeners:  George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, but she refers to others as well.

Ben Franklin is quoted in Founding Gardeners stating three ways by which a nation might acquire wealth and gave his opinion on each. “The first is by war” Franklin says, “This is robbery. The second is by Commerce which is generally cheating. The third is by agriculture the only honest way.” So many of the colonists saw America as a place of abundant opportunity when it came to growing their own gardens. In colonial America, the colonists were required to purchase all of their tools and material goods from England. The only thing they did not need to buy from the Crown was what they could grow in their garden for their own consumption. Their garden was their source of independence and they carefully cultivated their gardens into a country of their own!

In 1776 when Thomas Jefferson was thirty-three years old, he wrote the Declaration of Independence. By the time he was forty-three he owned the land that would become Monticello. While all of our founding fathers were very much our founding gardeners, I would like to shed a bit of light on the things Thomas Jefferson accomplished at Monticello before his death in 1826 at the age of 83.

Gardening in the late eighteenth century included much more than vegetable gardens. At Monticello this was no different. It would include flowers and trees as well. I do however want to focus on the vegetable garden located on the southeast slope of “his mountain.” At this laboratory called Monticello, Jefferson  grew 330 varieties of vegetables and herbs from around the world.

As the quintessential American horticultural gardener, Jefferson documented everything he did in his garden: the number of seeds planted, the dates planted, the germination rate, the days until germination, the harvest date, the number of vegetables produced by each plant etc. Jefferson collected seeds from all over the world and was so sure they would do well in American soil that whenever he traveled abroad he always returned with new seeds. One time on a trip to Italy he was shown a rice plant that he was so certain would do well in South Carolina he stitched the seeds into his clothing to be sure they made it home with him.  He traded seeds with his friends from all over the world by mail.

  

The greatest legacy his garden has to offer us today is that it still exists! The very same vegetables he grew at Monticello are still being grown at Monticello today. Thomas Jefferson saved the seeds of all the heirloom vegetables he grew. (Hybrid seeds didn’t exist back then and you cannot save them and expect the same plant next year.) By doing so he could plant them again the following year, catalog them or save them. He then could start his process over by determining how many of the saved seeds germinated the next year, when they were planted and so on.

My wife Amy and I visited Monticello one very rainy day this past April. While we were there, we picked up a number of packages of Jefferson’s heirloom vegetable seeds. We will be growing his Long Green Improved Cucumber, Cherokee Purple Tomato, Yellow Pear Tomato, Bull Nose Pepper, White Eggplant, Long Red Cayenne Pepper and Early Curled Siberian Kale.  If you stop by our community garden plot (SC-8) a bit later this summer we will be dedicating the eastern half of our garden to Jefferson’s actual plants. And, we will be saving seeds!

Monticello is an independent privately owned non-profit 501(C) (3) corporation and is not operated by any royal, federal, state or local government agency. Visit Monticello at www.monticello.org or at Facebook at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello.

Jefferson and John (Photo by Amy Brossard)

~~~

Thanks, John, for some great information about Monticello! And as always, can't wait to see how your plot grows! 

John has been gardening in the WFCG for all three years and also participated in our Heirloom Garden program before the WFCG was built.

Plant Nutrient Deficiencies

Here is a handy publication by The Mississippi State University Extension Service about identifying plant nutrient deficiencies in ornamental plants (which includes garden vegetables). To view the flow chart better, right click on the page and select "rotate clockwise".

Also, an additional chart for identifying deficiencies:

Stephanie Stiglmeier
Community Garden Intern

Handling the Cucumber Beetle Organically

Walking through the garden the past two weeks, I've noticed damage to some of the leafy greens in the garden.

  

The likely culprits? Diabrotica undecimpunctata (The Spotted Cucumber beetle) and Acalymma vittatum (The Striped Cucumber Beetle); Two beetles that belong to the same family (Chrysomelidae). 

Diabrotica undecimpunctata (Spotted Cucumber Beetle)

Acalymma vittatum (Stripped Cucumber Beetle)

Both are commonly referred to as the Cucumber Beetle and both cause similar damage to vegetable leaves. The striped cucumber beetle is about 1/5 inch long with black head and wings striped with yellow and black. The spotted cucumber beetle is about 1/4 inch long and has a black head and black legs with a yellowish-green body and wing covers with 12 distinct black spots. The larva stage of both species live in the soil and feed on the underground parts of plants.

Larvae of the Cucumber Beetle

The Stripped Cucumber Beetle over-winters in Illinois, while the Spotted Cucumber Beetle migrates from the south. In the spring, the beetles start to feed on leafy vegetable greens. While feeding on a plant, the adults will lay eggs at the base of the plant. The larva of the Spotted Cucumber Beetle is also called Southern Corn Rootworm, but both larva will feed on the base and the roots of plants. Besides the damage cause to the leaves by the adults, and the damage to the roots by the larvae, the adults also spread the bacterial wilt disease Erwinia tracheiphila.

Damage to cucumber from Erwinia tracheiphila

So how can these little monsters be stopped? Organically, there are two common ways:

Polyester Row Covers

Polyester row covers protecting salad greens

These row covers protect the plants from insects, while still allowing in air, light, and water.

Castille-Soap Spray Solution

To make this solution for use in the community garden, it is VERY important for ya'll to use an organic soap (this does not include Dawn, sorry!). The one that will most likely be easiest to find would be Dr. Bronner's Castile Liquid Soap. The closest place in Glenview to find it would be at Whole Foods or Target in the Beauty Products aisle. 

Dr. Bronner's Castile Liquid Soap

To make the solution, simple add a few drops of soap to a spray bottle (preferably a new spray bottle, or one that hasn't been used with pesticides or herbicides) full of water. Spray directly on the bugs, on the leaves, flowers, stems, and around the roots of the plants. Try not to over-saturate the soil.

If you cannot find Dr. Bronner's Castile Liquid Soap, any other kind of organic, Castile soap will work for this solution. The spray can also be used on other insect pests, such as the Japanese Beetle (Popillia japonica)

Related Links:

Spotted and Striped Cucumber Beetle by The University of Illinois Extension Service

Striped Cucumber Beetle by Wikipedia

Cucumber Beetle Article by Gold Harvest Organics

Stephanie Stiglmeier
Community Garden Intern

Soil: a Gardener's Greatest Asset

Soil is a living organism; it grows, it moves, it "breathes," it hosts life both above and below its surface. It is home to countless species of insects, and hosts billions of microorganisms in each square foot. Society depends on soil not only for the cultivation of food, but also for the clothes we wear and the houses we sleep in at night. There are hundreds of thousands of soil types globally, and each has its own unique characteristics, making them suitable or unsuitable for crops, building, mining, sewage, and other needs.
In order to effectively use land, one must first identify the soil series that are present. To do this, you can go online to the Web Soil Survey (hosted by the USDA) and enter your address to find out the soil series, land descriptions, and suitable land uses.

According to the Web Soil Survey, Wagner Farm, and particularly the Community Garden, consists of the soil series "Wesley fine sandy loam". It is described as a soil that is " very deep, somewhat poorly drained soils formed in coarse textured outwash material and in the underlying moderately fine textured lakebed sediments or till. They are on low ridges in former glacial lakes and on till plains". These soils, along with the rest of Glenview, were covered in glaciers millions of years ago, and as these glaciers began to melt, lakes were formed (this is were The Great Lakes came from). Along the edge of these lakes, deposits of sand and silt gathered. The water eventually receded or dried up in these glacier lakes, but the sand and silt remained.

Glacial Deposits and Landforms in the Continental United States

It is also because of this glacier movement across Glenview that the soils within our town differ so much. I live over by the forest preserve on West Lake, and the two predominant soils on our property are "Drummer silty clay loam" and a "Wauconda silt loam". These are soils that are formed in the out-wash plains around lakes, rivers, and streams. Although this is only a 5.5 mile difference, the soils on the two properties vary. The glacier movement across the upper midwest causes for a vast variety of soil series within a small range. 

The soil series in the Wagner Farm Community Garden is also described as "somewhat poorly drained" and having "An intermittent perched seasonal high water table is at a depth of 30 to 61 cm (1 to 2 feet) below the surface at some time during the spring in normal years". Although the soil is fine and sandy (which usually means fast drainage of water), because of the perched water table in the spring, you will find that the garden is more prone to becoming soggy, muddy, and wet long after a good rain. Because of this, it is important to provide adequate drainage for crops that prefer good drainage and hate "wet feet." The accumulation of excess water around plants roots can also promote disease and root rot in plants. 

Root rot in Pea plants

An easy way to help alleviate the pooling of water around the plants is by adding sand to the soil where you are planting. Sand creates large pore spaces in the soil where water can move quickly through.

Another way to help with drainage is to create a furrow, or trench, in between your rows of plants. This will help water to drain away from your plants and further avoid root rot.

Furrows created in between rows of vegetables

Watering in the early mornings is also another way to help avoid rot or fungal disease. By watering in the early morning, the plant can uptake the water, and any excess water will evaporate during the heat of the day. If you water in the evenings, the water will sit around the plants all night and will start to cause issues.

So if you've had problems in the past with root rot or drowning plants, try these methods to help with drainage.

Other Helpful Links:

How to use the Web Soil Survey by the NRCS

Soil Basics by Cornell University

Publications about Soil by the NRCS

Root Rot symptoms and causes by the Penn State Extension Service

Stephanie Stiglmeier

Community Garden Intern

Ah, the sweet potato

Can anyone tell me the garden plant most closely related to the sweet potato?

Nope, not the potato. The similar naming is actually a misnomer -- they're in different botanical families.

The potato, a plant with funky edible growths off the roots, family Nightshade (with tomatoes and eggplant)

The sweet potato, the root of a climbing vine, family to be revealed...

No, not the yam either. The yam is a starchy root grown in Africa. According to Amy Stewart's The Drunken Botanist, although we may call any soft, orange sweet potatoes yams, yams are "almost never sold in the United States." The yam is actually more closely related to grains and grasses (monocots) than either potatoes or sweet potatoes (dicots).

The yam, a tuberous root from the tropics which can weight 30lbs, family Yam

So the relative of the sweet potato-which-isn't-a-potato-or-a-yam? The morning glory.

Yep, sweet potatoes are in family Morning Glory. I guess this makes sense, since sweet potato vines, sold as decorative annuals in local nurseries, have leaves that look similar. Still, I find it hard to see sweet potatoes, which I adore eating, and morning glories, lovely vines which can kill a small evergreen if left unchecked, in the same grouping. (Not a fan of morning glories.)

Ok, so you've read this far, and you might be wondering why I'm nattering on about sweet potatoes. Well, for one, I just learned something new (the yam is not a sweet potato fact), and I like to share horticultural tidbits. 

And for two, we're growing sweet potatoes at Wagner Farm this year -- in the field closest to the sidewalk. I've only remembered seeing corn and hay in the fields, so seeing sweet potato slips* out there is a hoot. Our farmers planted them using a transplanter -- a very cool piece of equipment which creates a furrow, grabs a slip by the roots, plants it, covers the furrow and waters it all in the space of a minute. 

* Yep, another difference between potatoes and sweet potatoes. Potatoes are grown from seed potatoes --potatoes that have started to sprout from their "eyes" and which are then buried in several inches of soil. Sweet potatoes are grown from slips. Check out this site for more on sweet potato slips.

Parking for Saturday, June 14th

Hey Gardeners!

The Dairy Breakfast at Wagner Farm is THIS Saturday, so there will be almost no parking due to the large amount of people expected to show up. Just wanted to give ya'll a head's up that parking will be VERY limited.

Thanks!
Stephanie Stiglmeier
Community Garden Intern

CHANGE of Mowing time for Wednesday, June 11

Mowing on Wednesday, June 11 will take place between 1-2:30 pm, so the garden will be closed during that entire block. The garden is OPEN at the usual Wednesday mowing time of 10-11:30 for Wednesday, June 11 only.

Thanks!

Goings-on in the area

Some cool stuff happening around town --

Regular Season for Flick and Roosevelt Pools begins June 7
Flick Hours: Mon-Sunday: 11:30 a.m.-9:00 p.m.
Roosevelt Hours: Mon-Thursday: 11:30 a.m.-9:00 p.m.
Fri & Sunday: 11:30 a.m.-8:00 p.m.
Saturday: 10:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m.
Pool Information Hotline: (847) 724-3337

Annual Glenview Summer Fest and Street Sale
The Glenview Chamber of Commerce will host this event on Saturday, June 28, from 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Glenview Summer Fest and Street Sale gives merchants a chance to showcase their wares, artists/crafters to show off their talents with hand-made jewelry, pottery, etc., and local restaurants to sell their mouth-watering creations. This year’s Summer Fest will again be held on Lehigh Road between Glenview Road and Washington St.

Bat Festival at The Grove
Discover the truth about these flying mammals, essential for pollination, seed dispersal, insect control and so much more! Lots of fun for the whole family on Saturday/Sunday, June 7-8 from Glenview Park District 3 6-2-2014 Keeping You Informed
12:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. There will be crafts, storytelling, and bat encounters with expert Scott Heinrichs, Director of the "Flying Fox International." Free Admission. Contact: 847-299-6096.

Bearfoot in the Park
Enjoy free outdoor concerts at the Jackman Park gazebo at Lehigh Avenue and Prairie Street from 7 to 8:30 p.m. every Wednesday beginning June 11 with the Glenview Concert Band. Bring your dinner, folding chair and lawn blankets. The schedule of bands is available online at: glenviewparks.org/event/bearfoot-concert-series/2014-06-11/

And of course, our very own...

12th Annual Dairy Breakfast
Come to Wagner Farm on Saturday, June 14, (8:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.) and enjoy a delicious farmstyle breakfast complete with a variety of dairy items. Live music, dairy demonstrations, wagon rides and plenty of hands-on activities throughout the morning. Tickets can be purchased at the door. $10 for adults and children over 10; $5 for children 2-10 years and children under 2 are free.
Sponsored by Egg Harbor of Glenview. Contact: 847-657-1506.

Wagner Farm Sweets & Treats
Wagner Farm’s old-fashioned soda fountain located inside the Heritage Center is now open on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Step back in time and cool off with sweet treats all summer long! Hand-dipped cones, sundaes, floats and shakes made with Homer’s Ice Cream. Open weekends only until June 15.

~~ My oldest daughter Abby has gotten her first job working at Sweets & Treats, stop in and say hi!

Calling all volunteers

We have a few volunteer opportunities coming up at the farm -- check them out!

~~~~~

Help Needed at the Annual Dairy Breakfast
The Dairy Breakfast is almost here and we REALLY need your help to make the day a success.  We’re especially looking for volunteers to help with admissions, take tickets, and help with kids games and activities.  There are two shifts, 7:30-10:30AM and 10:30AM-1:30PM.   If you are able to give a little time to the best breakfast event in town, please contact Christine Shiel at Christine.Shiel@glenviewparks.org for more information.


Become a Historic Farmhouse Docent
Wagner Farm is actively seeking Historic Farmhouse Docent Volunteers for the 2014 season.  Docents dress in period costume and give tours of the farmhouse to visitors.  If you love history, and enjoy working with kids and families, this is the volunteer experience for you!  Docents work two weekend shifts a month during June, July and August. Please contact Christine for more information. 

On Wednesday June 11th, at 6 p.m., we will be having a training session for volunteers interested in working as docents in our historic farm house. No special knowledge required…just a love of sharing history with others! 

Garden Interpreter Training
We will be having a training session for all those interested in volunteering in the community garden.  No special gardening knowledge is needed…just some enthusiasm for learning and sharing more about gardening! Contact Christine for more information.

~~~~~

The last opportunity is in our own garden -- I held a training on June 1 to be a Garden Interpreter, and one of our gardeners joined us, so keep a look-out for Steve Crews, SC2, manning the Demo Plot on occasional afternoons. I'm holding a second training, time TBD, for some volunteers who couldn't make it on Sunday.