In The Garden and in the Kitchen - Happy Thanksgiving!

The month of November took us to the Westminster Woods Community Garden, courtesy of St. Johns County Master Gardener, Jerrel Powell.  Jerrel has done something pretty special to take the sweat out of gardening.  He has installed a vertical hydroponic garden system.  After explaining the science behind the hydroponic garden, we enjoyed a visit to the garden where residents were growing anything from flower, to herbs, to some really amazing vegetables.  See the photos at the end of this article.

During our business meeting Arlene shared her latest visit to Julington Creek Elementary in her Junior Gardening report.  Sarah discussed the Florida Water and Land Legacy and the need to keep the pressure on our legislators to honor that commitment.  Mickey updated the club on the Monarch Butterfly Committee's accomplishments; see Year End Report from Butterfly-Monarch Conservation Committee.

November's bounty inevitably leads us to the kitchen, and our president, Claire Fioriti, gave us some inspiration when she served up her roasted kale chips at the meeting.  See our our Holiday and Any Day Recipes posting on the Resources page for her recipe and for other ways to use local and seasonal produce.  Our Publicity Chair, Dianne Battle, wrote an article, Honey in the Mornin' Honey in the Evenin' for her Master Gardener column in the December 2015 St. Johns Sun on her  adventures on Tour de Farm and shared an unusual cookie recipe.

Click on the Read More >> link below to see some holiday ideas that support our affiliated garden clubs.  Don't forget to enjoy the pictures of our visit to Westminster Woods Garden!

Saturiwa: A Habitat for Longleaf Pine and Monarchs!

In October we enjoyed a trip to Saturiwa.  Mike Adams, the owner, was gracious enough to take some of our white aquatic milkweed plants to establish a Monarch Waystation on his property this summer (see the milkweed in the photo).   This milkweed (also called white swamp milkweed) is a moisture-loving native perennial.  It seems to enjoy the spot its occupying and we'll have to wait and see how it does next year.  We will cross our fingers because there are no guarantees in nature.

Read about Saturiwa and our November field trip to Westminster Woods community garden in our Events posting from September.  Read about Monarch Waystations  in our home page posting for September, "Protecting Our Pollinators!" which includes a link to the September 2015 Issue of The Creekline, "Monarchs on the Brink."   They will tell you about the Garden Club’s project to reintroduce native milkweed to our area and establish Monarch Waystations. 

 And October isn’t October without a few festivals.  The District IV GardenFest was at the St. Johns County Extension Center this year, with Doris and Claire ably manning our table.  And we also participated in Old Settlers Day at Alpine Groves Park.   Thank you new member, Misty, for running this event!

November will find us in Westminster Woods exploring the vertical hydroponic system that Master Gardener Jerrel Powell installed in their community garden.  In December, the club will be celebrating Christmas with a luncheon at Town Center.  It’s truly an out-and-about season for us!