Yellow Springs Farm

Our beehives were healthy and active in 2007. A bountiful harvest of this local, natural food allows us to offer a limited quantity for sale. Before we head off to present our 2008 photo-filled lectures about native plants and earth-friendly garden design to plant enthusiasts at public events near and far, we hope you will order Yellow Springs Farm gifts and gift certificates for any gardener on your holiday gift list. Certificates can be used at the Farm, or for phone/online orders. Our gift to you–10% discount on all gift certificates purchased thru January 1, 2008.

May you share joy and love together with family and friends this Holiday Season–

With good wishes, Catherine M. Renzi

Did you enjoy your garden this year? What did you learn? Did you make a decision you regret, or vow to never again try something that failed you? Now is the time to write these observations and lessons in your garden journal. Experience is a great teacher in so many facets of life! We start our sixth year at Yellow Springs Farm with sincere thanks to all for your patronage, friendship, and sharing.We lose count of how many plants we added to local landscapes this year. In short, it was a record year.

Our website will soon feature photos of your gardens that include Yellow Springs Farm native plants.We want to use examples of both your personal garden design, as well as the gardens and restoration projects Yellow Springs Farm created at client properties. Please send us your photos via email.

In every garden, we strive to create beauty, as nature does wherever she goes. Yellow Springs Farm was glad to host artists from Mid-Atlantic Plein Air Painters

Association, Chester Springs Studio, and the Regional Center for Women in the Arts this year. Their creative energy was contagious and inspiring. Art and nature are a great pair, so we plan to host more artists, and add sculpture to complement the Farm’s paths and vistas.

For 2008, we will design some farm features for more shade in our growing areas, better rooting for our cuttings, and raised beds for seedlings.We also hope for the delivery of healthy Nubian goat kids in May. Who can resist their cute faces, and the delicious, nutritious milk we enjoy in cereal, homemade cheese and ice cream? Besides all the emotional reasons we love Nubians, we also keep goats because they produce good compost for our gardens. Please read below for tips on composting at your property.

As our bones and muscles recovered from daily hard work, we were encouraged to see our young grapevines set fruit.We are adding vines this Fall, and patiently waiting for a harvest worthy of crafting a fine wine.

Composting: Think of it as another Recycling Bin

After a later than normal show of spectacular Fall colors, most of the leaves are now on the ground.We have become accustomed to recycling our glass and paper, so recycling leaves is the next opportunity to learn how to reduce waste, while also reducing carbon and noise pollution. Why not create some good compost from all of those fallen leaves?

The National Composting Council estimates the average U.S. household generates 650 lbs. of compostable material per year. Approximately 34% of landfill waste in Pennsylvania is food and another 30% is paper. Statistics show that we recycle over half of our yard waste, but only a very small percentage of our food waste, so there

is a lot of opportunity to utilize our food scraps to make compost. Besides, compost is considered black gold for the soil and is hard-to-find and expensive to purchase from garden centers.

To make good compost, you need materials with a balance of carbon and nitrogen. Good nitrogen sources include grass clippings, vegetable scraps, coffee grounds and manure. Good carbon sources include dead leaves, straw, paper, and wood chips.

Compost bins are easy to build.We recommend starting with a 3-foot cube that can be made out of cinder blocks or wood pallets. Good air circulation and adequate moisture are needed to create good compost. The pile needs to be turned every few weeks during the growing season. Once the compost pile starts to look more soil-like, let it cure for

another month or so before you apply compost to your beds.

One teaspoon of good soil with compost contains 100 million bacteria and 800 feet of fungal threads. This enhances soil biology and the uptake of nutrients by plants. It increases the soil’s water retention and nutrient holding capacity.

Even if you don’t collect leaves in a compost pile, most leaves fallen in your garden beds will disintegrate over just one winter if they are in contact with the soil. Deeper leaf piles will take longer to break down, but all will provide a nutritious tea for your plants as winter rain and ice steeps the leaves while recycling nutrition and beneficial organisms your garden will use again in 2008. Happy Composting!

www.yellowspringsfarm.com

1165 Yellow Springs Road | Chester Springs, PA 19425 | P 610-827-2014 | F 610-482-9311

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