Valentine’s Day is that time of year when that extra fuzzy lovey feeling starts to surround us, particularly for partners. Making time for others in an intentional way doesn’t have to be romantic, though. The growing popularity of “Galentine’s Day” creates the opportunity for girlfriends to connect and enjoy each other’s company while including all the fun festivities of Valentine’s Day. Galentine’s Day originated out of the interest to be able to enjoy the holiday centered around love as a more expansive, inclusive event for anyone – not just for couples. </p> Between busy schedules and COVID-19, it can be a challenge to get together with friends. Take advantage of this friend-centered twist of Valentine’s Day to make time for the visits that you’ve been missing. </p> Our Chatfield Farms private events team</a> has some cute flower-based ideas for your Galentine’s Day event. It can be as elaborate or simple as you like; all you need is to have your besties by your side. </p> (We even have beautiful venues – inside and outside spaces available</a> – for your private event at Chatfield Farms!)</p> </h3> Inspiration for the Perfect Galentine’s Day Party:</h3> </h4> Floral Arrangement DIY Class</h4> Learn about the meanings of different flowers and enjoy the textures of nature during winter (although sometimes here in Colorado it may be 60 degrees in February!). Find your favorite florist or a class online (like our Flower Happy Hour</a>), purchase some flowers and enjoy! </p> </picture> </div> </div> </article> Floral Spa Party</h4> Bring your friends out and set up your own spa party! Infuse foot tubs with hot water and sprinkle in some rose petals, soak for 10 minutes, and pat your feet dry. Moisturize with calendula cream for deep hydration and repair. Repeat with your hands and some fresh new hot water. Find inspiration with Grocery Store Herbalism</a>, a fun class you and your gal pals can take together! </p> Make a Galentine’s Day Cocktail</h4> Delight in a classic old fashioned with a floral twist: 1/2 oz simple syrup infused with rose petals* 2 oz whiskey 2 dashes of lavender bitters 1 Bordeaux cherry Orange peel garnish</p> Blend together your ingredients into a glass. Rub the orange peel over the rim of the glass for some added flavor and place the peel in your drink along with the cherry on a toothpick. </p> *To make a rose petal-infused syrup, simply bring ¼ cup water to a boil and add a ¼ cup of sugar along with 1 tablespoon of dried organic rose petals. Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved and remove from heat. Allow the mixture to cool, strain the rose petals and keep your syrup in a jar stored in the refrigerator until it is ready to use.</p> </picture> </div> </div> </article>
The Depression-era expression “Waste not, want not” hangs in my mother’s pantry, and even though she didn’t grow up during the Great Depression, she was raised with those values and passed them along to me. Sometimes, though, the “Marie Kondo” voice echoes more loudly in my head as I search my fridge for a snack. Look at all this clutter! Occasionally, I completely clear out all those bottles and jars and baggies, crispy spaghetti and half-eaten take-out leftovers and end up throwing it all in the trash or recycling bin. As I feel so good about my clean, empty fridge, the wave of guilt starts creeping in. Could I have tried harder to finish all those leftovers? Could I have coordinated with my partner better so we both don’t buy mustard at the same time? While I love the idea of “sparking joy” there is nothing joyful about wasting all that food – and energy, labor, carbon emissions and single-use plastics. </p> At Chatfield Farms, part of our focus on regenerative agriculture principals is to look at food and plastic waste Like the entire food system in our country, this is a complex issue, however, there are several simple steps we can take to reduce what we consume. </p> </picture> </div> </div> </article> </p> Our CSA (Community Supporting Agriculture)</a> staff have created a survey to understand people’s habits and needs around how they buy and consume food. If you fill out this survey</a>, you will be helping us to develop an action plan around waste (within our own CSA program but also on a wider scale). We work with hunger relief/zero food waste organizations such as Denver Food Rescue, SAME Café and, of course, Metro Caring, who all save food from landfills and get it to people in need. </p> We plan to implement more gleaning days on our farm and more ways to educate people on food waste, like our new CSA Cooking Class Series with Chef Edwin Sandavol</a>. This series focuses on how to meal-prep your CSA box with lessons that are emailed to your home, so every last vegetable gets eaten. According to ReFed, a national nonprofit</a> working to end food loss and waste across the U.S. food system, 43% of all food waste happens at home. But what will you decide to tackle? My own goals are to focus on meal planning, smaller portions, sticking to a grocery list, seeking out products like plastic-free detergents, plastic-free self-care products and remembering the values I was raised on: waste not, want not. Because the earth needs our action.</p>
Seeds are quite amazing little capsules of information; it is mind-boggling that something that fits in the palm of your hand (or on the tip of your finger) can hold the information needed to grow something as large as a tree! Not only do seeds act as a container of genetic information but they also contain mechanisms to make sure that the embryo will start growing exactly when conditions are just right for it to thrive, even if that means waiting for years to get it right.</p> While seeds “wait” to germinate at the right time in the right place, they will go into types of dormancies to help preserve the information it contains inside. As gardeners, we strive to manipulate environments so they’ll grow when we want.</p> </p> Here are a few simple tricks I have learned over the years:</h3> Cold stratification</h4> Seed dormancy can be regulated by the environment or by the seed itself. In Colorado where we experience a temperate climate (which generally have wider temperature ranges throughout the year with distinct seasonal changes), many plants are used to a cycle of blustery, winter temperatures followed by the fluctuations that spring, summer, and fall bring about.</p> We can mimic this through a period of moist, cold stratification. At the Gardens, we sow flats of seeds, water and cover them up and either place in a cooler or outside in cold frames in winter. At home, you can do the same by either placing seed in wet sand or vermiculite in a baggy and storing in your fridge or freezer until you are ready to sow. Alternatively, you can take advantage of our spring snowstorms and broadcast seed directly into your garden just before an expected snow to let seeds get a taste of real winter. </p> </picture> </div> </div> </article> Sophora secundiflora</em> (Texas Mountain Laurel) having germinated after scarifying the seed and a short cold stratification. </p> Scarifying</h4> Many seeds (think tree seeds and legumes) have a thick, tough seed coat protecting the seed until prime conditions occur. Scarifying, or mechanically breaking down the seed coat, can also give you a higher percentage of germination in a quicker process than mother nature does. The goal is to expose the tender tissues hiding inside; this can be done several ways and you can get creative in the process. In our greenhouse workspace we have several tools to scarify, including sandpaper, nail files and clippers, and even needles to poke and nick. </p> </picture> </div> </div> </article> Cacti seed with the seed coat being chipped off with a needle to expose the tender tissues inside. </p> Water baths</h4> Soaking your seeds in water is another simple trick to germination. Soaking in water can either help soften the seed coat to wake up the hiding embryo or can leach out chemicals in the seed coat that are preventing germination until conditions are right. A technique I have fallen to recently is an aerated bath, where seeds soak in a bath of water being turned by an aquarium air pump which provides required oxygen to the seeds as their coats soften. </p> </picture> </div> </div> </article> Seeds in an aerated soak having germinated in the bath, before sowing. </p> </p> Breaking seed dormancies can take a little expertise (and time) but it’s so rewarding once the deed is done! </p> This article first appeared in the February edition of Life on Capitol Hill. All images: Brooke Palmer. </em></p>
