Four Decades of Imaginative Children's Gardening!
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Gardener News 16 Mount Bethel Road #123 FIRST-CLASS MAIL Warren, NJ 07059 U.S. POSTAGE PAID HILLSBOROUGH, NJ PERMIT NO. 4444 TAKE TAKE GardenerGardener Serving the Agricultural, Gardening and LandscapingNewsNews Communities ONE ONE August, 2012 GARDENERNEWS.COM No. 112 Four decades of imaginative children’s gardening! Tom Castronovo/Photo Gwen Montgomery, Senior Horticultural Program Specialist for the Morris County Park Commission, center, and Laura Jankura, to her right, an Education Assistant for “Branching Out!” help a group of children with watering one of the 72 raised garden plots, and harvesting some fresh produce and flowers from the “Branching Out!” garden at the Frelinghuysen Arboretum in Morris Township, Morris County, New Jersey. celebrates its 40th birthday. What began with a into one of the arboretum’s Pest Management (IPM), By Tom Castronovo “Branching Out!” has taken proposal from The Garden premier youth horticulture examining nature, and as a Executive Editor thousands of young people Club of Morristown to programs. result, they discover the joys of outside and into the garden the Morris County Park Each year, more than eating fresh-harvested produce This August, “Branching where they learn to plant, Commission for a small piece 130 young people from 5 to directly from the garden that Out!” the gardening program harvest, have fun and learn to of land on which to teach 13 years old garden in their they helped grow. for children held at The be future gardening stewards teenagers about gardening has own plots, getting dirty, Beginning on Saturdays in Frelinghuysen Arboretum, and lifetime gardeners. developed over the decades learning about Integrated April through (Cont. on pg. 20) 2 August, 2012 G ARDEN C ENTER D IREC TORY Gardener News This Fall Restore Your Lawn The All Natural Way Learn About Organic Fertilizers Eco-friendly grass seed mixtures Questions specific to your lawn Saturday, September 22 10AM to 1PM Gardener News August, 2012 3 Around The Garden By Tom Castronovo Gardener News Going back in time! Every once in a while, I feel the need to deviate from my monthly agricultural, gardening and landscaping-related columns to bring you an interesting topic. On the morning of July 3, I traveled to the New Jersey Division Motor Vehicles office in Somerville, Somerset County, to renew my driver’s license. Upon my arrival, I looked into the rearview mirror to make sure my hair looked OK. The mirror told me I looked great…only kidding! I wanted to make sure I was ready for my new photo, which was going to last me for the next four years. With my six-point verification in-hand, and my renewal form all filled out, I entered the office. I was greeted by a very polite and friendly receptionist. She looked over my renewal documents very carefully, and marked up my renewal form. All was in order. She directed me to the back of the room, where there was a directional sign for getting your license renewed. The short line moved quickly. After I heard the word “next,” I stepped up to the opening in the office-style cubicle and handed the agent my paperwork. He studied each document very carefully. He then asked me for my old driver’s license. I thought to myself, “Wow, these folks really do take their jobs seriously.” My credentials were checked twice. Driver’s licenses must really be a very serious and legal form of identification. You need them for travel, to cash a check, to purchase alcohol and tobacco, to open a bank account, to enter into a bar, to enter into a state and/or a federal building, to get a U.S. Passport, and if you are stopped by the police. A pretty serious document. The agent then punched a hole into my old license with a giant hole-puncher and handed it back to me. At the same time, I was asked for the $24 renewal fee. Next, my photo, from four years ago, appeared on a screen, right in front of me, right next to a big digital camera. I glanced at the photo and I thought to myself, “Boy, do I look a lot younger in that photo!” He then asked me if I liked the photo on the screen, I said yes. He then asked me if I would Gladly like to use the same photo on my new license. After pausing for a moment, I said to him, “Are Accepting you sure it’s OK? This is for another four years.” He said yes. So I said, “OK, do it.” Poof, SNAP just like magic, it was done. I was then handed back all of my six-point paperwork EBT Cards When I was younger, in my late-teens and early-20s, I always wanted to look older. Now that I am in my late 40s, I always want to look younger. I’m sure a lot of you felt and feel the same way. He then told me he would call me in a few minutes. I proceeded to the waiting area and sat down. In just a few short minutes, he called my name. I hopped up to proudly retrieve my new license. I looked it over and said to him, “This is the only place in the world that you can come to and get younger looking as you get older.” He looked at me, hesitated, then laughed and said, “You’re right.” Now, here is the million-dollar question. If my driver’s license is supposed to be a legal form of photo identification, and the New Jersey Division of Motor Vehicles allows you to use an old photo on it, how is it a valid, up-to date, form of photo identification? It seems like the photo on it is the most important part. Everybody wants to see it, to compare the photo on it, to make sure it’s you. How many times has someone told you that you look different in your photo? Now, as much as I hate to say this…as we all get older, our hair begins to grey, and in some cases thins and falls out. Our skin also begins to wrinkle a bit and our facial expressions begin to change. If you haven’t seen a friend in a year or two, or three, sometimes they look a bit different. Face it, we all change. Although, I think I still look pretty good… So, my photo is already four years old, and I just renewed my license for four more years. Will I look exactly the same in a couple more years as I looked four years ago when my photo was taken? Time will tell. In today’s day and age of feeling secure as we travel, and being able to present a true, up-to-date, form of photo identification, and for Homeland Security’s sake, I ask this question: Should the New Jersey Division of Motor Vehicles take a new photo every time a driver’s license is renewed? After all, you’re there, and the digital camera is right in front of you. Till then…I think I finally found the Fountain of Youth. Every time I want to feel younger and look younger, I’ll just look at my new driver’s license. As always, I hope you find the information in the Gardener News informative and enjoyable. Until next time…Keep the “garden” in the Garden State. -Tom Editor’s Note: Tom Castronovo is executive editor and publisher of Gardener News. Tom’s lifelong interest in gardening and passion for agriculture, environmental stewardship, gardening and landscaping, led to the founding of the Gardener News, which germinated in April 2003 and continues to bloom today. He is also dedicated to providing inspiration, Robert Belleck and education to the agricultural, gardening and landscaping communities through this newspaper and GardenerNews.com. Water Garden Specialist 4 August, 2012 Gardener News New Jersey farmers grow Before you know it, we more than 100 varieties of will be in the fall season, fruits and vegetables, and right when other late-summer and now, we are at the height of fall favorites are available. the summer growing season. NJ Dept. of Agriculture To keep up with what is in Two things are visibly season in New Jersey, the apparent – just about all of our By Douglas H. Fisher Department posts a weekly favorites are either here or will Secretary of Agriculture update of what Jersey Fresh be arriving soon. Everyone is being harvested and what has the opportunity to taste all is coming up next at www. that New Jersey agriculture state.nj.us/jerseyfresh/ has to offer and, boy, does At the Height of Jersey-Freshness JFreport.pdf. We also have New Jersey offer a lot. fruit and vegetable farm in rutgers.edu/pubs/subcategory. pounds worth $178 million a seasonality chart where you In season now are fruits, Bergen County; a 300-acre asp?cat=5&sub=1001. each year. Plus, New Jersey can easily see the general such blackberries, peaches, Hunterdon County farm with It also is the time for ranks at the top in the nation range of when some of the nectarines, pears, plums and more than 5,000 peach trees a natural outgrowth of in clams and scallops landed. most popular fruits and melons. For vegetables, we and 10,000 apple trees and your efforts – canning and It also is still a good time vegetables are in season at have beans, beets, carrots, an eight-acre community- preserving. Rutgers has run to visit your local nursery or www.state.nj.us/jerseyfresh/ cabbage, chard, collards, supported-agriculture farm workshops on how to can and garden center to add to your searches/availability.htm.