Her presentation included the herb gardens at Old World Wisconsin, the Schulz Farm located at Eagle, WI. The
history began with the European settlers arriving in the mid 1800’s, and the herbs they brought with them. Note the German immigrants migrating to Wisconsin in 1900 was equivalent to 34% of the population. The herbs were for medicinal purposes as well as culinary additives for their sustenance with a well rounded German garden containing 34 herbs.
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If your organization would be interested in this hour long herb presentation, contact the Spooner Agriculture Research Station.
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Article/Photos submitted by Katie Childs

Photo Credit: Carla TePaske


Is your mouth watering?
Oh, the taste of home grown tomatoes. Oh, the taste of that first BLT!

While researching growing tomatoes in Zone 3,  MGV Carol Taylor and MGV Russ Parker found Casey's Heirloom Tomatoes. caseysheirloomtomatoes.ca/about/about-me-----.html
Casey's Heirloom Tomatoes is a fascinating story. Click on the link above to learn more.

If your mouth is watering for a BLT, be sure to come and join us for our Annual Plant Sale and pick out your favorite Heirloom Tomatoes.

Annual Plant Sale sponsored by North Country Master Gardener Volunteers, Saturday, May 18, 8:00 -11:00am (or until plants last) at the Station Building, 1035 E. Maple Street (Hwy 70).  For sale:  Heirloom Tomatoes, Peppers, Natives, Herbs, and Cannas

Photo credit: Carla TePaske

The Herb Six Pack
A collection of herbs used to flavor food dishes of all kinds.

Genovese Basil
Garlic Chives
Bouquet Dill
Giant From Italy Parsley
Rosemary
Thyme

Come to the Plant Sale, May 18th to get your Herb Six Pack
$12.00 for the six pack
Care tip brochure and recipes will be at the sale

North Country Master Gardener Volunteers Annual Plant Sale, Saturday, May 18, 8:00 to 11:00 (or until plants last) at the Station Building, 1035 E Maple Street (Hwy 70), Spooner.  Offerings include: Heirloom Tomatoes, Peppers, Natives, Herbs, and Cannas

Above photo credit: Sue Reinardy


Spring is on the way! Many of us are already starting to plan our garden projects for the 2019 season.  Once again the North Country Master Gardeners will be having a plant sale.  The sale will be offering many new items. We will have two new pollinators to add to your pollinator garden.  New varieties of tomatoes, peppers and a herb six pack!
North Country Master Gardener Volunteers Annual Plant Sale, Saturday, May 18, 8:00 to 11:00 (or until plants last) at the Station Building, 1035 E Maple Street (Hwy 70), Spooner.  Offerings include: Heirloom Tomatoes, Peppers, Natives, Herbs, and Cannas

Additions to the Pollinator Six Pack ~ Continue to Feed the Bees ~ the Ox Eye Sunflower and Purple Coneflower will be new additions to our Pollinator Six Pack.

Ox Eye Sunflower
Heliopsis helianthoides
Produces huge quantities of brilliant yellow - orange flowers from June to September. Very easy to grow. Seeds are great for the birds. Grows 2 - 5' tall. Self - sows, does not spread by rhizomes. Hardy to zone 4.

Purple Coneflower
Echinacea purpurea
One of the best for attracting butterflies and birds, this showy and easy to grow cone flower adds a flashy touch to the late - summer garden. Grows 3 - 4' tall. Perennial ~ Hardy to zone 4.

During our North Country Master Gardener Membership Meeting on February 28th, Mark Nupren of the Friends of Namekagon Barrens gave a presentation.
Mark shared the beauty of the unique flowers, animals and birds that live in the Barrens.
Taking time to be with nature, looking close for new plants to identify and watching Sharp-tail grouse all can be enjoyed hiking in the Barrens.
www.fnbwa.org/
Click on the above link for more information regarding Northwest Wisconsin Barrens.
Maps, photos and stories about the Barrens can be found on the Friends of the Namekagon Barrens web page.

Thank you Mark for your presentation. We look forward to having the Friends of the Namekagon Barrens at the Annual Twilight Tour in the Teaching and Display Garden, Tuesday, August 13, 4:00 to Twilight, Features guest speakers, demonstrations, displays, vegetable tastings.

 ​The theme for our 2019 Garden events is: Re-use, Recycle, Re-imagine.   The dates have been set, so save these on your calendar, check back for more information on our home page or on the Spooner Agriculture Research Station Facebook page, and plan to join us.   For events requiring pre-registration, please call the Station at 715-635-3506. 

Garden enthusiasts in Burnett, Sawyer and Washburn counties who are interested in learning more about horticulture and who have an interest in volunteering in their local communities can now register for the UW-Extension Master Gardener Volunteer Training program.  This program is a gateway to learning for personal growth, and a mission to volunteer through community events, school projects, outreach, and UW-Extension activities. 
 
The first session is scheduled to begin Tuesday, March 26 from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Spooner Agricultural Research Station and continue each Tuesday evening through June 18, 2019.   ​Application deadline is March 1, 2019. 

Late winter and early spring are the time to check out catalogs, place seed orders and start seeds.  Learn more about several seed starting techniques from Sue Reinardy, UW-Extension Master Gardener Volunteer in an upcoming webinar.  Sue has volunteered her time to create and deliver this webinar that will feature:  deciphering catalog and seed package jargon, proper planting conditions and several techniques including the winter sown planted method that you can start now.  

This webinar can be attended from any home computer or device with an internet connection, microphone and camera.  Instructions to access the course will be provided a few days before the start of the class.   Registration is required through WITC at courses.witc.edu   Enter "Early Seed Starting" in the search box.   The registration fee is $13.50, and for those 62+ it is $9.00 . 

​Extension Week – Connecting the U to YOU
Published on September 13, 2018 by amy.tromberg

Join us for any of our Extension Week Programs: October 7-13, 2018!
We want to highlight some of the great things UW-Extension does in our community and bring awareness to the wide range of educational and informative programs by hosting Extension Week!  Connecting the University of Wisconsin to You! To learn more about upcoming programs see details at this link.

Connecting the U to YOU!  Presented by: UW-Extension Educators in Ashland & Bayfield Counties

Roseann Meixelsperger, MGV, along with Russ Parker, Vicki Gee-Treft, and Mark Fox developed a summer program for children that would span five sessions, repeated twice weekly, resulting in fifty (50) kids attending the very first year.

Topics that were covered:

• Planting our Garden and Construction of a Bug Condo
• Composting We Go and Magical Hummingbirds
• Looking Down the Wiggly Worms Hole
• Marvelous Monarchs and Pollinators
• Apples, Apples, Apples and Painting Friendship Rocks

Speakers for each of the presentations were found within the Spooner North Country Master Gardener Volunteers, one of our Summer Interns, and our UW-Extension Ag Development Agent.

A story walk was taken by the children prior to each lesson that was topic related.  One of our MGV’s is a teacher by profession, and she provided the reading and interactive conversations with the children on those topics.

Nutritious snacks were provided that were companions to the lessons, along with cold water.  The cold water was appreciated, as many of the sessions saw +90 degree temperatures, and the raised bed area where the children’s garden is located doesn’t have any shade.  Vegetables and fruits from the garden were provided as they became available. One surprising note was that the kids were ready and willing to try anything we put forward - such as cherry tomatoes, rattlesnake beans, mild radishes, and grapes.

The children not only planted their garden, they refilled the hummingbird feeders and weeded the beds at every session after the initial planting.

After almost every lesson, the children went home with something to reinforce their learning of that subject.  For instance, the bug hotels were placed in their home gardens.  A repurposed 2-liter bottle was used to plant basil in compost mixed dirt, watered by a wick that was placed in the lower portion of the bottle filled with water.  The hand painted friendship rocks also went back to the child’s home.

A program like this needs supplies - hummingbird feeders, shepherd’s crooks, watering cans, child sized hand tools, etc.  The MGV’s generously donated to make this first year work, taking minimal dollars from our budget - mostly to pay for the books and snacks.

Lessons learned were that we need to network closer with home school parents, traditional school teachers, libraries, and publicize our offering in all three Counties that we support - Burnett, Sawyer, and Washburn.  Our story walk posts didn’t make it thru the entire summer - so we need to convert from wood to something sturdier. Would also like to be able to move the story posts around the garden to be more topic related.

The kids who attended were eager to learn, and several of them came to multiple sessions.  Their parents were supportive and engaged in the lessons with the kids. A survey sent out after the sessions drew positive remarks from the parents, and most indicated they would like to attend next year.  All in all, I think we can modestly say “the Children’s Program was a hit!”



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