First and foremost…for those of you who don’t know, today is the 40th anniversary of what is perhaps the Grateful Dead’s most famous show, played on this date in 1977 at Barton Hall at Cornell University.  If you’re a Deadhead, you know it.  If you’re not, you might like it.  Either way, I feel compelled to honor this hugely influential music and share a track from this show.   This tune is what many consider to be the highlight of the show: the Dead’s version of a tune about the aftermath of a potential nuclear apocalypse.  It’s heartfelt, sensitive, and gut-wrenching, not to mention blistering and scorching enough to ignite a fire in your soul you may not have known you had.  If you have fourteen minutes to kill, check it out…

Well, another spring is at our door and once again I’ve got my running shoes on, sprinting around to get plant seeded, potted and properly loved.  And once again, I walk in the greenhouse and am just tickled by what I see…I love it!  Then again, everything is healthy and happy right now.  We’re in the middle of a pretty long stretch of cool(and even cold), rainy weather, so we’ll see how healthy and happy things are if we don’t see some sunshine sometime soon.  Last year I ran into some downy mildew on the cucurbits(squashes and cucumbers to the lay folk out there) which I was able to combat with a simple baking soda spray to keep it from spreading.  This year I have added two extra circulating fans to keep the air moving and hopefully avoid any such issues.

But enough about that, I’m here to talk about FARMAGANZA!!!  I decided to team up with my neighbor, Laurie Colgan, and her farm, Knob Hill Farm, and throw a party celebrating agriculture, community, music and food.  Good stuff, right?

When?  Saturday May 20th.

Where?  Knob Hill Farm 338 Johnson Rd in Marshfield(next road up from ours)

Who? Knob Hill will be selling their grass fed beef and grilling up burgers.  We’ve been buying beef from our neighbor, Laurie, for years now and love it!  We usually split a half of a side with someone else, which gives us a fine amount of various cuts to last us almost a whole year for our family of four.  She’ll be taking orders and selling frozen packages.  Here’s a link to her Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/KnobHillFarm/

I’ll be selling my veggie starts and hanging flower baskets.  Man, this picture would look so much better in the sun.  Does anyone know where it is?  As usual we have everything from herbs, all kinds of vegetables including some heirloom tomato varieties, and a smattering of flowers.  The hanging flower baskets are grown from non-organic plugs, but raised like good little organic plants since we received them.  Every year they fill out beautifully once summer really hits!

Ed Smith will be there dishing out gardening advice and signing books from 10am to 2pm. For those of you who don’t know of Ed, he’s a local legend who lives a couple roads over and authored the book, The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible.  Here’s the link if you want to buy the book and support Ed: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-vegetable-gardeners-bible-edward-c-smith/1114305951 

We’ll also have another local farm, Flywheel Farm, in Woodbury, Vermont.  Word is they’ll have some dried herbs, veggies and beans, and possibly some fiddleheads…yum.  Here’s a link to their classy website: https://flywheelfarmvt.wordpress.com.  Great folks!!

Add to this a couple inspiring women giving chair massages, maple syrup, some kid’s activities, face painting, and most likely some bonafide farm animals for the kids to check out.  We’re also still gathering potential vendors, so who knows who else will show up!

There will also be music from two local Montpelier-based bands: The Parakeets and Pistol Fist.  For those of you unfamiliar with either of these bands, The Parakeets: https://www.facebook.com/parakeetsband/ )do a fabulous job of putting their own spin on your favorite doo-wop tunes of the 50’s and 60’s.  Tons of fun!  And Pistol Fist: https://www.facebook.com/PistolFist/ )will be performing their original music tailored to the country atmosphere of the authentic Vermont dairy barn they’ll be playing in.  We can’t wait to enjoy both of these groups!!

Feel free to bring the beverage of your choice and stay for a while to enjoy the company and the music!  There’s a Facebook page with information for FARMAGANZA: https://www.facebook.com/Celebrate.Local.Agriculture/,  or feel free to send me a message or email.  Hope to see you there!!!