Some sources attribute the rumor about the dangers of poinsettia leaves to a case of poisoning in 1919 that led to the death of a two year-old child. At the time, the cause of the poisoning was incorrectly determined to be a poinsettia leaf.

According to the POISINDEX information source – the primary resource used by the majority of poison control centers nationwide – a child who weighed 50 lbs. would have to eat over 500 poinsettia leaves to reach an even potentially toxic dose of compounds in the poinsettia plant. Doctors at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Poison Center conducted a review of 22,793 reported cases of poinsettia exposures, the majority (93%) of which occurred in children, and found that 92% of those exposed did not develop any symptoms at all. Ninety-six per cent of those exposed were not even treated in a health care facility. Furthermore, no deaths resulting from poinsettia ingestion have ever been documented.

Even though accidental ingestion of poinsettia leaves will not damage your body or kill you, it may lead to nausea and vomiting in some cases. Since the taste of poinsettia leaves is reportedly very unpleasant, it is unlikely that a child or animal who attempts to eat or chew the leaves will continue to do so after the first taste.

While ingestion of house plants is never a good idea (some popular plants can be extremely dangerous when eaten) parents of young children can be assured that the poinsettia plant is not a dangerous risk in the home.

-By Maggie Oldfield Thayer Nursery

Now that you have selected the perfect Christmas tree, here are some tips for keeping it fresh through the holiday season! If you follow the steps below and treat your fresh cut tree as you would a bouquet of flowers, you can enjoy its warm glow into the New Year!

With a pre-cut tree, it’s vitally important to make a fresh cut across the bottom. This is because after a tree is cut, its sap will form a seal across the base after about 3 hours. A fresh cut, at home or at the nursery, will ensure that your tree can absorb water and that its needles will stay fresh.

As soon as possible, get your tree in water! If you aren’t going to trim it right away, place it in a bucket of water until you are ready (if your tree dries out in the stand, another fresh cut will be necessary).  Your tree will “drink” more in the first few days, so be sure to keep your stand topped off.

A variety of organic products are available to keep your tree fresher longer. At the nursery, we recommend spraying your tree with Wilt Stop to seal its needles and slow the drying process. Mixing Tree Life nutrient powder in with the first watering will also help to keep your tree soft and green.

Try keeping your tree away from heat sources, as these tend to speed the drying process. Lastly, check that your lights and outlets are in good working order and are designed for use with indoor trees. If you follow these steps, you will never have to miss the joy and warmth of a real Christmas tree!

Merry Christmas!
Andy Archer Thayer Nursery

“They must be starving! Maybe if I feed them, they’ll stay away from my plantings.” Sound familiar? As tempting as it may be, do not feed foraging deer. Feeding the deer trains them to think of your yard as a reliable source of food and they won’t stop at handouts, your landscape plantings will become their tasty treat!

Deer-X protective fencing is a more direct method of cultural protection against browsing. Whether used to erect vertical fences (to prevent access) or simply draped over shrubs (to interfere with chewing), this simple, rugged mesh can provide seasons of control!

An application of a deer repellent, such as Liquid Fence or Deer Scram, on and around landscaped areas will also help stop deer from making a winter meal of your trees and shrubs. Because they work by scent, repellents stop damage before any feeding occurs:

Liquid Fence is available as a liquid concentrate and in a ready-to-use spray bottle. Simply apply to plants and their perimeter to discourage foraging by scent. The active ingredients dry odorless to humans and do not need to be rotated with other brands!

Deer Scram is available as a granular formula with no mixing necessary. Simply apply in a 16 inch strip around plants to discourage browsing for up to 100 days!

Always remember that it’s much easier to prevent feeding damage than it is to stop a foraging cycle that has already begun. Call or stop by the Nursery to discuss your cruelty-free options with our knowledgeable staff!

-By Andy Archer Thayer Nursery

Are you never sure of which blue or purple is you? Well now is the time to try them all! At 50% Off, you can’t go wrong (until 7/15/11).

Artists and gardeners use blue to show perspective. Blue gives a feeling of distance.  It allows us to look beyond and increase our perspective outward. Plants that have blue, violet or lilac flowers are said to be soothing on the eye and hence the soul.

Blue Energy: Blue is considered beneficial to the mind and body. It slows human metabolism thus producing tranquility and calmness. It symbolizes trust, loyalty, confidence & wisdom.

Put some blue in your life when you want:

• calm and relaxation to counteract chaos

• to open the flow of communication

• to broaden your perspective in learning

• solitude and peace

Come visit for the cure of the summertime blues!

planting for the future.

-By Maggie Oldfield Thayer Nursery

The roller coaster weather pattern we experienced this spring switched back to prolonged wet and chilly weather last week. While the moisture was needed as soils were quite dry, the constant wetness creates ideal conditions for disease causing organisms. Disease causing organisms are natural inhabitants of the soil and infect grass plants when the environmental conditions are favorable or the plants become weakened by poor growing conditions.  The pathogen is favored by warm, humid weather, wet or compacted soil, drought stress, and low mowing heights.

The spores of these parasitic forms of plant life are spread by wind, air, water, animals, people, insects and mowing.

Important steps to manage plant diseases include proper soil preparation, proper selection of grass seed including ones with a natural genetic resistance to diseases, and application of proper cultural practices.

If you have a fungus, spraying now with Dr. Earth Natural & Organic Fungicide effectively combats a broad spectrum of fungal diseases found in your lawn, on your vegetables, flowers & shrubs. Dr. Earth can be used both as a foliar spray for your plants or a soil drench for your lawn & trees.

Once you have sprayed the fungicide, you should then fertilize your lawn & your plants with Fire Belly Bio-Blast to reintroduce beneficial mycorrhizal fungi.

Healthy soils that have the ability to fight off disease causing pathogens increase the chances of plant survival and thus control the pathogens so they will not multiply in great numbers.  Beneficial microbes fill up the available spaces in the soil so that pathogens cannot become established and destroy healthy plants.

Most lawns recover with changes in environmental conditions and proper cultural practices. For severe cases due to poor soil, poor grass selection, or excessive thatch, the best solution may be renovation. Please give us a call with any questions or to schedule a courtesy consultation for a lawn renovation.

planting for the future.

-By Maggie Oldfield Thayer Nursery

This Week’s featured member is Al’s Backwoods Berrie Co.! Read all about his passion for fresh, local & seasonal products in our stonesoup sundays blog!

After a few years, Andy sold his business, and he and his wife moved back to Silverbrook where he repaired, cleared fields, replanted orchards and brought the land back into production.

With each year, the Pollock family added greenhouses, a well, a grain silo, and a new roof for the barn, plus new and newer equipment. You get the picture. Andy watched the farm expand as he and his family rented more land and added more outlets for their products.

Andy’s commitment to his farm and his employees is but one part of his greater commitment to the larger agricultural community. Forming partnerships with other local farms is key in his business plan – by providing outlets for other farms through his many business and co-marketing endeavors, he’s hoping to bring prosperity to many farms.

We’re proud to have Andy Pollock and Silverbrook Farm at stonesoup sundays @ the farm and share with him in his commitment to continue to find ways of cooperation with other local organizations to reduce waste and improve the sustainability of our local farms.

Andy thinks that his parents would be proud of his accomplishments.  And so do we.

Come sample the delights of Silverbrook Farm on Sunday from 10:30-3:30.

Burnin’ Love Sauces, a company whose goal is to bring fresh ideas and flavors to the table, is owned and operated by Gregg and JoAnn Marsh, of Dorchester. After many years in the restaurant business, the couple set out to share their favorite flavors and creations with everyone, and created the company. The recipes have come from Gregg’s personal collection which he has built over the last 20 years. They are tried and true favorites.

The company’s four sauces will be available at the market for those pre-game drills and practices that are so much a part of the warm up to the big game.

“We use fresh local ingredients,” said Joann, “and we are always working on new flavors and ideas. These sauces are perfect for Super Bowl party items, perfect on ribs, wings and chili.”

Some of the favorites are Heartbreak Sauce, a sweet and spicy roasted red pepper sauce that goes with everything from meats to seafood and is particularly awesome on ribs and wings, Torch-ered Heartbreak sauce, which is slightly sweet but with this is the one with a fire that will leave you sweating and panting for more, 1919, a molasses based BBQ sauce, and Sweet Onion Blues, described as a marriage of wild Maine blueberries and caramelized onions, that is good for almost anything.

So, are you ready for the Super Bowl?Impress your friends and satisfy the fans with New England Chili by Burnin’ Love Sauces!

Burnin’ Love’s New England Chili

Soak ½ LB. dried Navy beans overnight in the refrigerator.

Drain and rinse the beans. In a large pot sauté a quarter of an onion diced in 1 TSP oil.  When the onions are clear, add two 2 cups water, 12 OZ. 1919 Molasses Barbeque Sauce and 9 OZ. Torcher-ed Heartbreak sauce.Add beans, and salt and pepper to taste.

Bring to a simmer and cover.

Add 1 LB. cooked drained beef, chicken or diced extra firm tofu.

Serves 2-4.

Burnin’ Love sauces will be available every other Sunday at stonesoup sundays@the farm at Thayer Nursery in Milton.

Our seasonal market, named stonesoup sundays @the farm, is a market that will offer only local and in season items, bringing you closer to the food that you eat and to the people that produce it.

stonesoup sundays @ the farm will be open February 6th, from 10:30 AM – 3:30 PM and every other Sunday after that.

Burnin’ Love Sauces is one sizzling way to keep your Super Bowl treats all natural! Just add chicken, ribs or chili!

Living and working on a nursery farm, I spent my life walking among fields and orchards where budding trees in a very few, short months would produce magnificent flowers or plump, sweet fruit. My childhood was defined by these adventures in nature – spring conjures up of memories of green buds peeking through the soil; summer brings memories of foraging for wild blueberries; the vibrant changing of the leaves and apple picking mark the fall; and winter offers root vegetables.
Eating seasonally and locally has always been a way of life for me. Even if I craved the delicate aroma of basil, it was not possible to get my hands on locally grown basil in winter from my home in Milton, MA. Each meal my family shared was based up what was on hand and available at our local market. Our ritual was to harvest the ripest gems from our family garden – vibrant green and white leeks, or ruby red stalks of rhubarb pulled fresh from the ground in spring, while summer was a never ending feast of tomatoes plucked from vines, beans snapped right off the stalk, and an endless array of fresh and fragrant herbs sprouting here and there.

We added to this bounty by visiting our local markets.

Our first stop was at the fruit and vegetable market where we squeezed and smelled every piece for freshness, gently caressing the prize piece that would undoubtedly be the star of our next meal. Next, the local butcher visited the house where the freshest meat and game was available. Our local baker was next on our list. We prized her large, crusty rounds as something to savor all on its own. My father always had to remind me that bread, like soup, was something for everyone to share, but was always followed by a quick wink, which propelled me to take just one more bite.

While my father and I took trips to the local markets, my mother would take a trip to a local farm where she would pick up delicious milk and cheese. We would all return home where my mother’s talent and ease in the kitchen, a talent that inspires me even today, would prepare a simple and completely satisfying meal.

It is in this fashion that I learned to respect the seasons and understand that nature intended for us to enjoy the truly magical combination of lamb and sweet peas in the spring, cherry tomatoes and cucumbers in the summer; mushrooms and apples in the fall, and beets in the winter.

Inspired by the seasons, I wanted to open a seasonal market that would honor ingredients at the peak of their freshness, flavor and abundance. Drawing further from my experience, I wanted to highlight the great produce, cheese, fish, meat, jams or any other product whose producer saw their roots from the soil. The changing seasons would bring a changing a vibrant variety of vendors to our market by focusing on what is fresh for the season. And, I wanted to bring to life the people who produce this for our customers.

I hope you enjoy our seasonal market, called “stonesoup sundays @ the farm, and are inspired to enjoy ingredients at the peak of their season and fresh from the market. Every other Sunday at Thayer Nursery.  Next market, February 6th, 2011.

Maggie Oldfield