FINDING HIDDEN TREASURES

Leah Penniman, Soul Fire Farm’s co-director and farm manager. Photo courtesy of Soul Fire Farm 021 was not your mother’s Shirley Meneice Horticultural Conference. Ordinarily limited to 200-300 attendees, this year’s all-virtual event—Finding Hidden Treasures—once again meant registration caps and geography were no longer limiting factors. Speakers, gardens, workshops, and resources from around the country were included and made accessible to the more than 2,250 club members who registered. The conference was open to the entire GCA membership.

Club members happily hopped aboard, trekking around the country as armchair travelers. From tours of Heronswood Garden, on Puget Sound near Seattle, to the Kampong in Coconut Grove, Florida, the former estate of botanist Dr. David Fairchild and now part of the National Tropical Botanical Garden, virtual garden tours featured horticulture hot spots from coast to coast. The spectacular Gainesway Farm in Kentucky’s famed Blue Grass country was featured, as was the picturesque Coastal Maine Botanical Garden in Boothbay Harbor, the xeriscape-focused Desert Botanic Garden in Phoenix, and the semi-tropical Jungle Gardens on Avery Island in Louisiana, home to McIlhenny Tabasco. An added bonus showcased Horticulture Committee members who shared their favorite gardening tips and tools in short, recorded videos. Conference- and horticulture-themed puzzles and games (crafted by TRD’s own Dawn Borgeest) were made available during breaks; and a curated collection of GCA wizards spoke on their areas of expertise: Nancy Schotters (Garden Club of Denver, Zone XII) gave an instructional presentation on making seed bombs; Carrie Waterman (Noanett Garden Club, Zone I) dove deep into succulents; Cynthia Druckenbrod (Shaker Lakes Garden Club, Zone X) shared her extensive knowledge of daylilies; and Peggy Mayfield (Fox Hill Garden Club, Zone I) gave an informative airlayering demonstration.

The entire two-day 2021 Shirley Meneice Horticulture Conference is available on the everexpanding, always informative GCA website. Take a look. It’s well worth your time.

One of the most provocative and inspiring speakers at the 2021 SMHC was Leah Penniman, co-founder of the 72-acre Soul Fire Farm, “an Afro-Indigenous community farm committed to uprooting racism and seeding sovereignty in the food system.” Soul Fire Farm was established in 2010 near Albany, New York, with a mission to further education and research on sustainable agriculture and food sovereignty.

Food insecurity is a pervasive threat among many low-income families, and one that a number of GCA clubs address through various civic initiatives. According to Penniman, “food security is essentially built on four pillars:availability, access, utilization, and stability. An individual must have access to sufficient food of the right dietary mix (quality) at all times to be food secure. Those who never have sufficient quality food are chronically food insecure.”

Penniman’s inspiring message provoked a lively Q&A session with SMHC Chairman Diane Guidone. One of Penniman’s particularly passionate responses was to a question about spiritual ecology. Penniman shared that central to her work is integrating the scientific and spiritual dimensions of farming. When seeds are planted at Soul Fire Farm, “[We] dance to give thanks for the soil and pray for the rain, to sing our ancestors’ songs, and feel our ancestors’ movements in our bodies,” she said. “That’s real, real important because the Earth actually is alive.”

Leah Penniman, co-director and farm manager of Soul Fire Farm, has 20 years of experience as a soil steward and food sovereignty activist. Additionally, she is the author of Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2018). To learn more and discover ways that you can support the work of Soul Fire Farm, visit soulfirefarm.org.

Infusing her signature humor with her Texassized personality (she was raised in Arlington) and a deep knowledge of horticulture, New York Times bestselling author Amy Stewart was the perfect bookend to the all-virtual, muchanticipated GCA Shirley Meneice Horticulture Conference in September. Stewart’s lively presentation, Garden to Glass: Adventures in Cocktail Gardening, showcased the burgeoning trend of themed cocktail gardens.

Speaking from her home in Portland, Oregon by way of Zoom, Stewart revealed the use of plants in cocktails (think mojitos and juleps) and shared a recipe on how to make hard cider kir (crème de cassis added to hard cider). Stewart also explained why cilantro tastes like soap to some people but is pleasant to others (cilantrohaters can blame their aversion on an olfactory gene receptor they appear to have in common, OR6A2), explained absinthe’s original medicinal use, and shared tips like whipping chickpea gunk (technically known as aquafaba) as a vegan substitute for egg whites in a sloe gin fizz. Whip it up and give it a try!

It’s no shock that interest in gardening and entertaining outside has soared during the pandemic; cocktail gardens are just one of the niche trends that are on the upswing. They’re making their way into flower shows, even appearing as an official horticulture class in the prestigious Newport show. Naturally, the art of infusing fresh and unexpected flavors at the stove and at the bar has also caught on. Whether your garden means a window box, a few small containers, or ample space to spread out, cocktail gardens can work virtually anywhere. Sharing tricks of the trade, slides, and personal stories and anecdotes, Stewart deftly demonstrated the use of herbs, flowers, fruits, and vegetables to make simple syrups and all sorts of libations.

—Jane Gamber, New Canaan Garden Club, Zone II

Writer, speaker, teacher, and painter, Amy Stewart is the acclaimed author of 12 books, including the bestselling The Drunken Botanist. Head to her website at amystewart.com for more information on the many plants you might want to grow in your own cocktail garden, along with growing tips, and cocktail recipes. Be sure to check out the schedule of classes she teaches in art and writing. And, don’t miss Amy’s original and absolutely charming artwork on her website and Instagram— definitely worth a look. Cheers! Amy Stewart. Photo and Illustration courtesy of Amy Stewart