THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 19, 1994 TAG: 9408180234
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY MARY REID BARROW, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 149 lines
GRETCHEN KELLAS' ORGANIC gardening grandma always told her that if the soil was healthy, the plant would be healthy, too.
``Bugs don't attack a healthy plant, Gretchen. Feed the soil,'' Kellas' grandma used to say.
Grandma knew best. Today, healthy soil is still Kellas' No. 1 priority and the No. 1 priority of the members of the Organic Gardening Club of Hampton Roads, a group whose members grow their vegetables and flowers without chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
The tenet works. The proof was in the pudding the other evening at the club's annual Harvest Feast.
The buffet table in the meeting room of the London Bridge Fire Station on International Parkway was laden with delicious fruits and vegetables. Raised without chemicals, the main ingredients of the day had grown healthy in good earth, made rich with organic materials such as compost, leaves and grass clippings.
Kellas' contribution to the feast was an exotic hot salad made of grain amaranth, Malabar spinach and the wild edible, lamb's quarter, which she encourages in her yard. The salad was spiced with her homemade opal and purple basil vinegar.
Grain amaranth is a purple-leafed plant, Kellas said. Homeowners are familiar with another variety of amaranth, an ornamental annual reminiscent of coleus. In addition to having edible leaves, Kellas' grain amaranth actually produces an edible grain in the fall.
``It was held in much esteem by the ancient Aztecs,'' Kellas said. ``The leaves can be eaten in any stage, raw when young and tender, and cooked, when mature.''
Malabar spinach, a tropical vine from southeast Asia, was featured in several dishes. The hotter and wetter the weather, the faster it grows, said Karen Green, secretary of the Organic Gardening Club. Green contributed a bowl of the heart-shaped green leaves with reddish stems to the feast, along with some of her long, skinny Oriental cucumbers.
Vickie Shufer, her hands stained with purplish-black elderberry juice, brought along an elderberry coffee cake. She made the sweet, flat cake with wild elderberries growing in her yard and flavored it with pecans, also gathered from her yard.
John Waller brought an okra and potato dish, sauteed in eggs ``which my chickens produced.'' Everett and Gloria Landers served up a zucchini and Swiss chard lasagna, seasoned with basil. ``We did buy the mozzarella at the grocery store,'' Gloria Landers admitted.
Organic Gardening Club president Marie Butler contributed a cracker spread made of cream cheese flavored with homegrown herbs and nasturtiums. She also brought along a graceful Oriental-looking arrangement of organically grown flowers and herbs, which she put in the center of the blue and white checked tablecloth.
The arrangement consisted of rosemary branches, fennel with seed heads intact, variegated spearmint, sage, Italian white sunflowers, colorful zinnias, yellow blackberry lilies and radish tops, of all things.
``My radishes bolted,'' said Butler, fingering the graceful long stems with the tiny white flowers.
Every dish, and flower arrangement, had a story that each chef/grower told before they all dug in to enjoy the fruits of their summer's labor. The harvest feast began six years ago on a smaller scale after club member Duane Harding suggested a tomato tasting.
``We had such a good time, we said, `Let's do this every year,' '' Green explained.
So now the Organic Gardening Club's August meeting is devoted to feasting on tomatoes and everything else the members grow. This year, Harding brought blueberry pie, bursting with his organically grown blueberries.
Although most meetings feature speakers and time for discussing one another's gardening problems and successes, some other meetings also are devoted to eating. There's a January social, Green said, and last fall, the club held an apple tasting. Then, they weren't tasting each other's harvest but they were testing a dozen or so apples that are supposed to grow easily here.
The club meets from 7 to 9 p.m. the first Wednesday of every month at the fire station at 2697 International Parkway. Interested persons are welcome to attend a meeting, Green said. Or, they can call Green at 486-0230 or club president Butler in Chesapeake at 548-2602 for more information. If you decide to join, dues are $12 a year.
``We're a good global group,'' said Green, ``because we come from every aspect of gardening.''
The 10-year-old club has about 30 members from Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Chesapeake, many of them trained as master gardeners. Though small in number, their impact is big. Both master gardeners Green and Butler will addresss garden clubs and civic groups.
``We're all really willing to help and answer questions,'' Green said. ``We'd like to see more people waking up and realizing that whatever they are applying or spraying in our gardens is in the air we breathe, the food we eat and the water we drink''
But not on the Harvest Feast table. ILLUSTRATION: Photos by C. BAXTER JOHNSON
Color on the Cover: Marie Butler, president of the Organic Garden
Club of Hampton Roads, arranges the centerpiece on the club's annual
feast.
Marie Butler talks before the feast. Every dish, and flower
arrangement, had a story that each chef/grower told before they all
dug in to enjoy the fruits of their summer's labor.
Clair Duckett talks about the dish she prepared from her garden.
Weather forecaster Duane Harding sets out his blueberry pie.
Once the talking was done, it was time to fill plates from the
feast.
HOW TO GROW AN ORGANIC GARDEN
Here are some tips for the organic gardening hopeful:
Like Gretchen Kellas' grandma says, ``Feed the soil.'' Use
organic material such as leaves and compost. A healthy soil makes
a healthy plant.
If you must feed the plant, switch from chemical to organic
fertilizer, which has more nutrients, releases them more slowly and
is not harmful to the environment.
If possible, garden in raised beds. Raised beds, filled with
compost, help with drainage in clay soils and they also help to
hold organic materials in sandy soils.
Choose plants that are known to do well in our climate. ``For
example, everyone knows it's too hot to grow lettuce here in the
summer,'' Karen Green said.
With the humidity in this area, space plants far enough apart so
there's good air circulation among them.
Get plants off the ground and up on trellises wherever possible.
Trellises allow for more air circulation also.
Quit using chemical insecticides. They usually kill the
beneficial insects first and that includes the all-important
pollinators like honeybees. ``No matter what else you do, stop using
chemical insecticides,'' Green said.
Get a good insect identification guide and know how to identify
the good and bad insects.
Patrol your garden, hand-picking insects off the plants, if
necessary. ``There's an old Oriental saying that your garden's best
friend is your shadow,'' Green said.
Don't expect miracles. It will take a couple of years for your
garden to get back in balance again and re-establish the beneficial
insects.
``Chemical Free Yard and Garden,'' a Rodale publication, is a
good first book on organic gardening, and it's available in the
public library.
by CNB