Who the heck is Jimmy Nardello and when is the paper pot bee?

Jimmy Nardello is the name of a beautifully shaped, sweet red pepper whose seeds were brought over in 1887 in the hem of Angeline Nardello’s skirt. This was to avoid them being confiscated at the border. Angeline and her husband Giuseppe were from a poor, remote village in southern Italy, and these seeds were amongst their few possessions.

The story goes that their son, Jimmy, became an avid gardener like his mother and carried on the tradition of serving these nutritious peppers at family meals. Before he passed in 1983 he donated seeds to the Seed Savers Exchange, and they became Jimmy Nardello peppers.

Another heirloom variety that enables us to save and possibly share seeds with our community.

I thought about starting this report with the title, “What a difference a day makes”, but for us living in Maine, that is not a particularly dramatic headline grabber, especially with the weather these last two weeks. We did feel like celebrating when our new Rimol Seedling Greenhouse arrived just in time to beat the road postings and another winter storm.

The Rimol Bobcat, arrived on a flatbed truck with a very talented truck driver, who backed all the way down to the tool shed. I complimented the driver on his expertise, and he remarked that for a farm, the spacing between buildings was unusually accommodating for deliveries. Thanks again to John Newlin, who is always thinking and planning ahead for our growth and possible expansion.

The driver had asked for 4 people to help unload. Thanks to Tom, Burnham, Doug, and John for helping Carrie and me. Gerald, our driver, helped us unload and stack all the parts–ready in record time. We are hoping our new greenhouse will start to go up in April or whenever the ground thaws.

When he asked who was going to sign the receipt, he turned to John and said “I guess you are the one to hand this to?” I stepped up and proudly announced, “Actually, this farm is run by women.” (My sister says I say “actually” a lot!) In this instance, I think it was appropriate, and my sister would approve!

The following day, another snow storm arrived.
And another.
And another.

Carrie and I gave a presentation on no-till and regenerative farming at the Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick. Forty-five hardy Mainers braved the snowy conditions on Sunday afternoon to listen to us, ask questions, and share ideas.
The Library, partnering with Growing to Give and the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust, is sponsoring a series of workshops and presentations on Sunday afternoons this winter. Many are on Zoom and recorded for later viewing, ours included. Another cool aspect of the Library is their tool collection for lending. I was particularly interested in a leaf shredder–a great way to try out a tool to see if it works for your home garden.

Holly brought a big box of paper pots to the presentation that she had already made for us. Thank you, Holly! This is a great start and was a good visual for people. We will have a paper pot “bee” on Saturday, March 11th, from 10 to 1. Patty has generously opened the yoga studio in the red barn for us to use to stay warm and dry. Thank you, Patty. Bring a drink for yourself and a snack to share if you want. Come when you can, and stay as long as you like. If we have ANOTHER STORM, we will be sure to reach out about canceling. Cathy has updated and opened up our volunteer sign-up page. Please sign up so we know how many volunteers/friends are coming. Items we will need:

  • newsprint, no glossy sheets
  • wine bottles with big dimples in the bottom
  • a couple of really big boxes to store the pots in

It’s getting closer. The activity at the farm always starts a bit slow, then BAM!–we are off and running. Seed starting will be happening soon, and if we can make our way into tunnel 6, we will get some pea seeds into the earth using Carrie’s pre-sprouting technique, of course! Lesson learned last year in our great pea challenge.

I think that’s all I got for now.
Looking forward to seeing many of you and something green again.

Always grateful,

Theda