It's almost time.....

...to start gardening! YAY! The countdown is on! Right now, if you are anything like the rest of us Mavens you are nose deep in those beautiful seed catalogs. I've been droolingover melons. M0on & Stars, or Jenny Lind? Should I try an exotic like a Jelly melon or a White Wonder? And then I am perplexed by cucumbers. I just want the long skinny burpless ones, like the English variety that I used to get at the grocery..... and lets not even start talking tomato's here.... pink, purple, yellow, black, white.... oh yeah, and red. What's a Maven to do?
My mouth is watering at the explosion of flavors that are bound to come this summer. Beans, carrots, squash, potatos, oh my!
I am so glad that I've decided to become an heirloom gardener. I am so excited to be part of something so big and yet so simple. I simply cannot wait for the outcome! How about you?

Iron On.....Maven Style

I am having so much fun doing mavenly things, I should designate the whole gift section of my market to Maven Style...

Here's my rendition of an iron on..... need comments. Good, Bad and Ugly. Not personally crazy about the graphics, but its all I had!

This may be small..... so feel free to enlarge it or whatever!

The top part would be on the front of the tee.... well, on mine at least... and the bottom part would be on the back. The great thing about this is that you can get that iron on paper at any office supply store and play around until your hearts content!

RE-Use, REcyle, REnew!

REgarding my topic title I thought I'd shaRE some fun REdo's, and neat cREations for next years garden fun!
Garden cloches.
A garden cloche is a glass or ceramic object that is placed over the plant during cold snaps to pREvent it from gettin' zapped by old man winter. It gREatly REsembles the hats of fashion from the 1920's. They aRE pREtty easy to make~ all you need is:
8" terra cotta pots
2" wooden knobs (with the flat end)
scraps of fabric
fabric stiffener or wateRed down glue
Hot glue
Paint (optional)
Throughly soak your fabric in the stiffener mixture and wring out excess. Take the fabric and smooth on the outside of the pot tucking the ends under the lip. Pot should look like it has a wrinkley wrap around it. Let it dry completely. While its drying you can paint your wooden knob a matching color to the fabric.
Once the fabric has "set" onto the clay pot, turn it upside down and glue the wooden knob to the bottom of the pot. It should look like a bell at this point. Once all is completely dry, place cloche over desiREd plant to be protected from the elements...

Seed Starter Cells
Newspaper (black & white sections only)
Masking tape
Tear the newspaper into 3" strips. Doesn't REally matter what length. Wrap around a soda can and secuRE with masking tape. Slide newspaper down til about 1/2 inch of newspaper is hanging over the edge of the soda can. Fold ends in to form bottom and secuRE again with tape. Slide the make shift cell off the soda can and...TADA! Biodegradable planting cells!!

Tin Can Flower Show
6, 15 oz cans and ONE 64 oz can
Cordless Drill
7/8 drill bit
Waterproof glue
Lots of yarn.... any color
Green yarn
Clothespins
Various flowers and soil
Rocks
Take 5 cans and drill about 3-4 holes in the bottom. This is for drainage. Wrap all 6 cans with one color of yarn, covering all of the silver-these are your "petals". Wrap the 64 oz in green-this is your "stem".
Arrange cans in this fashion on a table: One can in the middle ( flower center), surrounded by the other five cans, "petals". All of the openings should be facing up (these are your planting cells". It should REsemble a flower. Using waterproof glue, secuRE cans together clamping with clothespins. Fill the 64oz can with a handful of rocks for weight. Glue the 64oz. can) to the bottom of "center" as a stem. Once the glue has set (usually 24 hours) plant the "flower" in a large pot or in your garden. Fill the openings with planting soil and your flowers of choice.
Happy gardening!

Toad House
A REally big terracotta pot (maybe 12-14" in diameter)
2, 6" terra cotta pots
Paints:
*dark gREen
*light gREen
*pink
*white
Waterproof glue
Sealer
Paint the outside of all thREe pots dark gREen. Paint the inside of the 6" pot walls light gREen with white on the flat bottom(eyes). Using the light gREen paint, paint spots on the dark green big pot. Let dry. On the inside of the big pot paint it all pink. Let paint dry, spray with sealer and allow to dry overnight.
Using waterproof glue, place the two 6" pots on the side rim of the big gREen pot. It should look like a giant frog with big eyes. Glue and clamp to secuRE. Allow to dry 24 hours. Place your frog in your garden with mouth half buried in soil to allow little toadies a place to REst!

Knowing my Food

Thank goodness! We are finally seeing a renaissance of food in America. I just heard on my Sirius radio today that statistics show that less and less people in America are dieting. Why do I think that's great you ask? Well, for one thing, during my stint as a fitness instructor, I have seen diet after diet set someone up for failure. One decreases so many calories in order to lose weight, and the minute they hit their goal and start "eating" again, the weight piles right back on. Another thing is, too much regulation is a BAD thing. Yup. You heard me. Everyone's genetic make up is different. If one person cuts carbs then their body goes into "carb crave mode". If another person omits meat, they go into "protein crave mode". The truth is, our bodies need, carbs, protein and yes....a little fat. So the greatest thing about Americans not dieting anymore? Instead of following a standard meal regime, people have chosen to eat....wait for it....healthier. So simple. So easy to do.
A good part of that healthy eating lifestyle has had a lot to do with a resurge in interest in farm market food. So many people are sick (literally sick) of, and from the foods they have eaten for years. Our response to fast food, bad food, mass produced food and factory farming have led to an alarming rise in obesity in this country, and people are "sick" of it.
Now-a-days we want to know; where did our food come from? Was it genetically modified? Who produced it and how much fossil fuel did they burn up getting it to our grocer? These are questions that were rarely asked 10 years ago.
Speaking of 10 years (or even 30 years) ago. I betcha didn't know that eating better comes with a great lesson in history. Gardening didn't happen over night as some youngsters make think. Our fore-father, and great-great-grandmothers worked this land, cultivating delicious varieties of tomato's, squash, corn and many others. They saved seed from the biggest and most bountiful plants and replanted them to reproduce food for their families again and again. So what happened? How could something so simple and make so much sense go wrong? Well, we (Americans) got greedy. "Grow it bigger! Faster! Stronger! More tolerant!" Not thinking once that the chemicals they infused into the seeds would also take away taste, texture, nutrients, and quality. Have you noticed that today's young ladies are extremely...ahem...matured? I don't remember looking like the 13 year old I see today. Think about it. You infuse a seed with a chemical to make it grow fast, and your children eat it, and all the sudden we have 10 year old's having menstrual cycles. Or older women growing more facial hair. I dunno, in my farmgirl opinion, if you stick hormones in a seed to make it mature faster and you eat the seed, are'nt you gonna...mature faster?
Another thing that's happening with modified foods is pollination-or lack there of. All of this modifying is eliminating the need for open pollination. Because large (and small) scale farmers are opting for hybrids that are resistant to disease, yield larger crops, and have longer shelve lives, we have just about exterminated our need for open pollinated or heirloom food. the old varieties have vanished from our gardens just as animals and rainforest's are disappearing from our earth.
So what can we do? For starters, lets shop local. So many of us have local gardeners/farmers that still embrace the old ways. You can support your local community by purchasing local. Or better yet, start a garden of your own. In your backyard, on your porch, in a spare bedroom, or a closet with a grow light. Any corner will do really....
As for little ol' me.... I want to know my food so I grow my own. I like knowing that there's nothing in it but wholesome taste and valuable nutrients. I like the fact that it only traveled about 20 feet to get to my plate. And I love the fact that it's good for me too! Since I have come to "know"my food, I've been blessed with better skin texture, more energy, a nice disposition... and a 12 lb. weight loss to boot!

Wish lists and walking the right paths

I think it is empowering to be able to stand with my sister Mavens and make a stand against the destruction of heirlooms that have served us, sometimes for centuries. There is power in the written word. A peaceful movement starts with one person and an idea. And that is what we have going. A movement away from the GMO foods and before that, seeds that make up the most of what we eat. Each one of us has the power to change that, change what we think, what we grow, what we feed our selves and our families. We have the basic right to clean, pure food and that is why we are here and what we are doing. Saving seeds of precious heirlooms, that belong to the people, NOT to the corporations. Growing food that we are not afraid to put in our bodies. Saving seed now so that tomorrows children will still have it to carry on with.

I am here as the information and link person, so I guess I had better get busy and hop off my soap box for the moment

The other thing that I want to bring up to the Mavens is the making of personal wish and planting lists so that we know what we have got going and perhaps a list of endangered plants that we can work towards saving .I will start looking for endangered heirlooms
These are things that we can all work on, and we have some months of the autumn and winter to get it together

Annika

What exactly is an MJ Heirloom Maven?

An MJ Heirloom Maven is a farmgirl chapter dedicated to the preservation of our food-mainly heirloom varieties. Most of you know that there are lists of endangered animals, but did you know that there is also a list of foods nearing extinction as well? Its true. And its frightening. Major seed conglomerates are genetically modifying YOUR garden vegetable seed in ways only Dr. Frankenstein could dream of. As Mavens, we are here to educate, and share our knowledge heirloom seed. We will be posting information on how to find heirloom seed, preserve it and start an heirloom garden of your own. This blog will be a headquarters of sorts with links, book titles, articles and bits of information about the food you put in your mouth everyday. Or your childrens mouth. Or your grandchildrens mouth. Feel free to post questions, comments, or information you have garnered from your hometowns.

Got seed? As always, we are interested in barter, trade or sale.

Welcome to MJ's Heirloom Mavens

I've never considered myself an activist before. I've never tied myself to a tree, or picketed an animal shelter. I've never stopped eating for a cause (duh, look at me) or endured anguishing pain for a greater cause. I've never done it simply because I've never had a good enough reason... that is, until now.
Lately I've become involved in a sisterhood of sorts. A worldwide movement of farmgirls - devoted to preserving a way of life that many deem "forgettable". We, as Farmgirls, CHOOSE to not forget how our forefathers (and mothers) worked the land, made cozy homes and clothing for the family, and created healthful, delicious meals from foods grown in their own backyard. We choose to go back to our "roots" so to speak. We are MJ's Heirloom Mavens-Keepers of the Seed.