Month: October 2023

Root Beer Floats and a Coors in the Rockies

By Bill Powers       

             In 1972 while on a lengthy road trip to California, we discovered A&W Root Beer stands while traveling through the mid-west and western states.  We left the interstates, when it was time to fuel up the Ford Pinto and to grab a bite to eat. It was summer and it was hot! The Pinto was not equipped with air conditioning. Driving through the center of a small town in Iowa, just off Interstate 80, we spotted an A&W Root Beer stand where they served little more than the root beer at curbside. It was a day to remember, not only since It was a very hot day and we were parched, but it was the first time that we, including my wife, and our son, had ever experienced a root beer float. We had previously enjoyed drinking root beer and eating vanilla ice cream but not a mixture consisting of the two. On that sweltering day, the combination served in a frosted mug was such an incredible event that we vowed to stop at every A&W Root Beer stand that we came across for the rest of the trip for root beer floats. It was a vow that we kept, and something that we to looked forward to after long hours of driving.

           The trip was broken up by visits to a number of National Parks. On our return trip from California, we changed our route to include Rocky Mountain National Park. It was there while sitting by a roaring mountain stream and enjoying a picnic lunch that I was treated to my first ever Coors beer. It was wonderful. In those days it wasn’t available east of the Mississippi. It was unpasteurized and contained no preservatives. It was truly an unforgettable “Rocky Mountain High!” A few months later John Denver’s recording was released and to this day each time that I hear it, I visualize that beautiful mountain view, and for some reason get thirsty.  

         In the March issue of Neighbors, I wrote about the Hampton General Store. When visiting the store, I was taken back to my youth and a similar store in Glover, Vermont where, from time to time, I had vacationed with relatives in the Northeast Kingdom of the state. Whether visiting in Vermont or at the Hampton General Store, it was like stepping back into the general stores of the 1800s. Now, I often stop by the Hampton store in order to bring home one of the many delicious   ‘Take and Bake’ meals that are available and some of the home baked goodies. 

        Six months ago, when talking to Kara Hicks, who reopened and runs the Hampton General Store, one of her upcoming goals was to provide soda fountain treats for customers at the marble soda fountain counter, which she had recently located in Stamford, CT, purchased and had installed. At the time I asked her if by any chance she would be offering root beer floats and was delighted to hear her say, “Absolutely!” The soda fountain is up and running and in addition to root beer floats, there are shakes, malts and many kinds of ice cream sodas to be had. She offers many delights using ice cream and her home-made brownies and cookies for brownie Sundays, cookie specials and brownie ice cream sandwiches.  

        The Hampton Congregational Church is celebrating their 300th anniversary this year and they have scheduled special events to honor this notable achievement. On Sunday November 12, the Band of Steady Habits will appear at the church at 3P.M. and on December 3, Rick Spencer will perform at “11ish” (after Sunday services). The Band of Steady Habits, led by our previous State Historian, Walt Woodward will be providing music, singing and providing historical facts about the Congregational Church. The following month Rick Spencer, known for his historical music programs will perform a selection of Christmas songs popular at the end of the 1800s. I have heard both the Band and Rick perform several times and they are consummate musicians and proficient historians. Be sure to witness these performances that will be complete with unique historical themes. And take the opportunity to explore the Hampton General Store just across the street from Hampton Congregational Church. Check out the soda fountain and perhaps partake of a ROOT BEER FLOAT!

The photo views Hampton General Store’s Kara Hicks creating a special soda fountain treat for a customer.

 Bill Powers is a retired Hartford and Windham Public Schools teacher who writes a regularly appearing local history column for the Willimantic Chronicle.

1979

By Tom Woron

Nineteen Seventy-Nine!  The final year of the 1970s.  It was one of the most eventful years in recent history.  A lot happened that year that was noteworthy, seemingly much more than in most other years.  There were climactic match ups in sports, great music, and much upheaval in other countries. It was a pivotal year that changed the world.  

In 1979 the President of the United States was James Earl “Jimmy” Carter.  The year began with President Carter extending diplomatic recognition to the Communist government of mainland China.  Since 1949 the U.S. only recognized the Nationalist Chinese government on the island of Taiwan as the legitimate government of all of China.  It was ultimately in the best interest of the United States to establish diplomatic relations with the Chinese Communists.  

In the 1960s and early 70s, the United States tried to prevent Communists from taking control of all of Vietnam and its neighboring country, Cambodia.  The efforts failed and Communists took full control of both countries in 1975.  Strangely enough the two Communist neighbors began to fight each other in 1977.  It escalated into full scale war in late 1978 and on January 7, 1979 Vietnamese troops drove the Khmer Rouge, the ruling Communist faction, out of the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, effectively taking over the country.  The Khmer Rouge had been responsible for a genocide in Cambodia over the previous few years, however, the United States and many nations disapproved of the Vietnamese action.

On January 16, 1979 a full year of upheaval in Iran reached a climax.  The U.S. supported Shah (king) of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, left the country after many months of violent demonstrations against his rule. The revolution was inspired by the the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, an Islamic religious cleric who was exiled from Iran years earlier for opposing the Shah’s rule.  For a few weeks Iran was in chaos as it was not clear who among several opposing groups was going to lead the government.  On February 1st the Ayatollah Khomeini was welcomed by thousands as he returned to Iran from exile.  Iranian Army troops that were still loyal to the Shah were quickly defeated by rebel groups opposed to him. On February 11 Khomeini effectively took over leadership of the country and soon after proclaimed an Islamic Republic.  The repercussions of the revolution are still felt by the world today.   

We all heard of the Iranian hostage crisis that began in November 1979 when the U.S. embassy in the Iranian capital of Teheran was seized by Iranians loyal to Ayatollah Khomeini and held American diplomats prisoner for over a year.  However there was an earlier, little known hostage crisis also involving the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Teheran.  During the chaos in February, armed Iranian urban guerrillas seized the American embassy and held U.S. Ambassador to Iran, William Sullivan and his staff hostage for over two hours. In what was later to become a bit of an irony, Iranian forces loyal to the Ayatollah Khomeini drove the guerrillas out and rescued the American diplomats.    

In 1979 as was the case for decades, the Communist giant, the Soviet Union was the opposing superpower to and the ideological rival of the United States.  The two had struggled for years to promote their opposite ideologies to other countries and prevent the other from doing so all the while trying to avoid going to war directly with each other.  Both superpowers possessed many nuclear weapons.  In his State of the Union Address on January 23, 1979, President Carter, in what was seen as a warning to the Soviet Union, stated that just one of our Poseidon submarines, which comprised of less than 2 percent of our nuclear weapons capability, possessed enough nuclear warheads to destroy every large and medium sized city in the Soviet Union.  

The Southeast Asian picture got even more complicated in February. Communist China attacked and invaded Communist Vietnam on February 17th.  The reason was that the Chinese supported the Khmer Rouge Communists who had ruled Cambodia and they were not at all happy about the Vietnamese invasion of that country.  China and Vietnam were historic enemies despite the fact that they were allies during the Vietnam War.  Vietnam then turned to the Soviet Union for support.  China and the Soviet Union at the same time had been feuding with each other for a while.  As if giving them the go-ahead to oust the Chinese supported government of Cambodia, the Soviets signed a treaty of friendship and cooperation with Vietnam on November 3, 1978 effectively bonding the two countries together against the Chinese.  The Chinese attack on Vietnam was “to teach them a lesson” and was clearly in retaliation for for the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia.  It all seemed so strange because United States participation in the Vietnam war from 1961 to 1973 was to prevent the North Vietnamese Communists from taking control of South Vietnam.  Successive American administrations refrained from taking drastic action against Communist North Vietnam, that could have won the war, fearing that Communist China would enter the war on the side of the North Vietnamese.  Ironically now the two Communist countries were fighting each other.  Headlines stating that Chinese jets were attacking the Vietnamese port of Haiphong seemed odd since American jets had attacked Haiphong often in 1972 . Fighting raged in northern Vietnam for a few weeks and the world wondered if the Soviet Union would enter the war on the side of the Vietnamese. The Soviets did not and the Chinese withdrew their forces in March.  The headline on the cover of the March 5, 1979 issue of Time magazine was: COMMUNISTS AT WAR.

In sports the 1978 National Football League season was concluding as the post season was played out in early 1979.  The powerhouse Pittsburgh Steelers obliterated the Houston Oilers 34-5 in the American Football Conference Championship game on January 7 to win the right to play in Super Bowl 13.  Later that same day in Los Angeles a powerful Dallas Cowboys team squared off against a strong Los Angeles Rams team for the National Football Conference Championship.  The Rams had great teams during the 1970s but always failed to reach the Super Bowl. They would fail again this time as the Cowboys prevailed 28-0.  That set up what was anticipated to be a really Super Super Bowl!

The cover of the January 22, 1979 issue of Newsweek magazine hailed “A Really Super Bowl.”  The cover was shared by Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw and Cowboys linebacker Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson.  During the two weeks between the conference championships and the Super Bowl, Henderson caused a stir as he taunted Steelers players in the media and insulted the talent and intelligence of Bradshaw.  Henderson had taunted the Rams and correctly predicted that the Cowboys would shut them out.  The Steelers did not reply to Henderson who predicted that the Cowboys would win the Super Bowl 31-0.

Super Bowl 13 truly lived up to the hype as it turned out to be one of the best ever. Hollywood Henderson was correct in that the Cowboys scored 31 points, however…

The teams battled it out in Super Bowl 13 scoring a combined nine touchdowns.  At one point the Steelers led 35-17.  The Cowboys battled back to make the score 35-31.  That’s how it ended as time ran out on the Cowboys.  The heartbreaker for them was that a veteran receiver, Jackie Smith, dropped a certain touchdown pass in the end zone earlier in the game.  Had Smith held onto the ball it could have made the score 35-35 at the end of regulation time.  

A week later the Pro Bowl, the NFLs all star game, was played in Los Angeles.  The crowd was eerily quiet the whole game something the telecasters attributed to the Rams again failing to reach the Super Bowl. 

In March President Carter scored a triumph as he played a critical role in getting bitter enemies Israel and Egypt to conclude a peace treaty between them, the Camp David Accords.

On March 28 a partial meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor in Pennsylvania caused radioactive gases to be released into the environment in a heavily populated area.  The accident gave a strong boost to the movement opposed to nuclear power because of the dangers it entails. 

In the field of aviation the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 aircraft was not having a good year in 1979.  On May 25 a DC-10 taking off from Chicago’s O’Hare Airport had an engine detach from its wing upon take-off resulting in the aircraft crashing.  It was the worst aviation accident in U.S. history with 273 fatalities.  Two other DC-10 crashes later in the year were not due to anything wrong with the aircraft itself but a famous image of the Chicago DC-10 missing its engine just before the crash was particularly damaging.

In May 1979 the world of hockey fans yawned as the National Hockey League’s Montreal Canadiens won the Stanley Cup for the fourth year in a row.  A second major hockey league, the World Hockey Association played out its last playoffs as the league was soon to cease operations.  The last WHA champion was the Winnipeg Jets. Four WHA teams, including the Hartford Whalers, would join the NHL.  

June 1979 saw a re-match of the previous year’s National Basketball championship finals with the Seattle Supersonics prevailing over the Washington Bullets, the opposite result of the year before.  

In the spring of 1979 Americans began to feel the repercussions of the Iranian Revolution earlier that year.  Oil production from Iran was greatly reduced and a major oil crisis resulted.  Panic buying then led to fuel shortages. Long lines formed and long waits occurred at gas stations and many states imposed odd-even gas rationing.  This meant that whatever number or letter your license plate ended with determined what days in the month you could buy gas. In the late spring of 1979 outraged Americans saw the price of a gallon of gasoline go over a dollar for the first time.

In the spring and early summer of 1979 TV news broadcasts frequently covered civil war in the Central American nation of Nicaragua.  Fierce battles raged in the streets of the cities and towns of Nicaragua as rebels called Sandinistas, named after a martyred hero, fired from behind barricades at troops of the government’s army, the National Guard.  The heavily armed National Guard was eventually defeated as town after town was taken over by the rebels who were widely supported by the general population. The government of the American supported dictator of Nicaragua, Anastasio Somoza, had long fallen into corrupt ways which in turn fueled the rebellion.  The final battle for the capital city of Managua led to Somoza leaving the country on July 17 and the collapse of the National Guard two days later. The new Sandinista government seemed moderate at first but it eventually became allied with Communist countries namely Cuba and the Soviet Union.  

1979 was a great year for music. Undoubtedly the anthem of 1979 was “My Sharona” by The Knack, an American band from Los Angeles.  Released in June 1979, “My Sharona” reached number one on the Billboard hot 100 singles chart and remained on top for six weeks.  “My Sharona” was also placed number one on Billboard’s Top Pop Singles year-end chart for 1979.

In 1979 Americans often said “No!” when they heard British Rock Star Rod Stewart sing the line “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” from his song titled the same.  The song, released in late 1978, was everywhere in 1979.  

In March 1979 the British Rock band Supertramp released their highly successful album Breakfast in America.  Three big hits from it, “The Logical Song,” “Goodbye Stranger,” and “Take the Long Way Home,” became very popular.

Electric Light Orchestra released an album containing the song, “Don’t Bring Me Down,” a big hit that has stood the test of time.  The Australian rock group The Little River Band released their song “Lady” In September 1978 and it was a big hit in 1979. The American group The Charlie Daniels Band had its big hit “The Devil Went Down To Georgia” in 1979.  The American rock band Styx released their number one hit “Babe” in September 1979.  English singer Robert Palmer sang “A Bad Case of Loving You” making the song written by an American songwriter a big hit in 1979.  The band Kiss had its hit “I Was Made For Lovin’ You” in 1979.  The band Foreigner released its hit song “Head Games” in late 1979.  There were, of course, many other hit songs in 1979.

In the early summer of 1979 there was a sense of suspense.  America’s first space station, Skylab, which was launched in 1973 and used by astronauts up until February 1974, couldn’t maintain its orbit around the earth. It was going to come crashing down to earth.  But where?  On July 11th Skylab disintegrated over the Indian Ocean showering debris there and onto part of Australia. 

The unmanned American space probes Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 made close approaches to the planet Jupiter in March 1979 and July 1979 respectively.  The probes transmitted high resolution photographs of the planet and some of its moons.  Voyager 1 discovered that Jupiter has a ring around it and observed active volcanoes on Io, a moon of Jupiter.  In September another U.S. space probe, Pioneer 11, was the first probe to fly by and transmit close-up photos of Saturn, its rings and its moon Titan. The probe detected that the average temperature on Titan was minus 315 degrees Fahrenheit.  

In the late summer of 1979 a political firestorm erupted when the U.S. intelligence community revealed that there was a Soviet combat brigade stationed in Cuba.  The brigade was believed to consist of about 2,600 Soviet troops and had been in Cuba for many years.  It was the timing of the release of the information that caused the uproar.  The United States and the Soviet Union were in a period of time in the 1970s, called detente, during which tensions and threats of previous decades were easing up.  The two superpowers were at the time negotiating limiting the number of nuclear weapons between them. President Carter and a number of U.S. politicians deemed the presence of Soviet combat troops in Cuba as unacceptable.  U.S Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance, met with Soviet envoys to try to persuade them that the brigade must be removed.  The Soviets had no intention of removing the brigade and assured the Americans that its presence in Cuba was only for training purposes. Unable to force the Soviets to withdraw the troops from Cuba, President Carter, in his speech to the nation on October 1 declared that the combat brigade in Cuba posed no direct threat to the United States.  The furor calmed down and the crisis was all but forgotten.  The September 17, 1979 cover of Time magazine had in large letters: STORM OVER CUBA.  The Cuban crisis of 1979 did not involve nuclear weapons as did the Cuban missile crisis of 1962.  Unlike in 1962, it was the U.S. side that backed down from a potential confrontation with the Soviets.  Although the crisis turned out to not be as big a deal as originally thought, it did derail nuclear weapons limitation negotiations and was the beginning of the end of the period of detente.

In a little known incident, on September 22, 1979 an American Vela satellite detected a double flash, consistent with a nuclear weapon test, in the South Atlantic Ocean roughly half way between South Africa and Antarctica. Originally called the South Atlantic Flash, the cause of the double flash was never officially determined.  Although no nation ever claimed responsibility for a nuclear weapon test in the ocean (banned by international treaty) at that time, the Vela Incident is believed to have been a joint nuclear weapon test between Israel and South Africa.

On a local note the residents of Windsor and Windsor Locks, Connecticut that were alive and old enough to be aware will never forget October 3, 1979.  That was the day an unexpected tornado started in the Poquonock section of Windsor and made its way northward roughly following Route 75.  The tornado measuring F4 passed through Windsor Locks and Suffield before ending in Agawam, Massachusetts.  The twister left 3 people dead and many homes and businesses destroyed or damaged.  Many aircraft on display at the Bradley Air Museum near Bradley Airport were damaged or wrecked.  

The Major League Baseball season was different in 1979.  The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox dominated the American League East the previous few years but 1979 saw the Yankees and Red Sox down in the standings and the Baltimore Orioles on top almost from the start.  In October the Orioles met the Pittsburgh Pirates the World Series.  In a series played in much cold weather, Baltimore won three of the first four games.  However, the Pirates won the next three games and the World Series Championship. The Pirates adopted the 1979 Sister Sledge hit song “We Are Family” as their theme song.

Also in October the government of the Central American nation of El Salvador was overthrown leading to a civil war that would become a major issue for the United States in the 1980s.   

Iran was back in the news on November 4 as Iranians loyal to the Ayatollah Khomeini seized the U.S. embassy in Teheran and held 66 Americans as hostages.  The reasons for the seizure was that the deposed Shah of Iran was in the U.S. for medical treatment and the Iranians feared an American attempt at restoring the Shah to the throne in Iran.  They also demanded that the U.S. hand the Shah over to them so they could put him on trial for brutality carried out by his secret police against Iranians during his reign. The crisis escalated as newscasts showed thousands in the streets of Teheran burning American flags and engaging in anti-American demonstrations.  The images broadcast around the world of blindfolded American captives in the hands of fanatical Iranians was a national humiliation. The Iranians released some Americans but 53 remained captive as the year ended. 

With the humiliation of the hostage situation, Americans needed a lift. They got it, sort of, in the form of a song.  Some genius composed a humorous song about the hostage situation sung to the tune of “My Sharona.”  The word “Ayatollah” was used in place of “My Sharona” and there were some made up words that rhymed with “Ayatollah.”  I remember many people getting a big kick out of that song. 

If the hostage situation in Iran wasn’t bad enough, on November 21 the U.S. embassy in Pakistan was stormed and burned down by Islamic fanatics who were inspired by the Ayatollah Khomeini. A couple of Americans were killed and some were taken hostage. They were subsequently rescued by Pakistani troops. It was a very somber holiday season in the U.S. with the Pakistan incident and seemingly no resolution to the Iran hostage situation in sight.

As 1979 was winding down into its final days. the southwest Asian country of Afghanistan was suddenly front page news.  Afghanistan had been taken over by a Communist government in April 1978 with Communist General Secretary Nur Muhammad Taraki installed as its leader.  This began a chain of events that would plunge Afghanistan into seemingly endless turmoil that continues to this day.  A rebellion by Moslem Afghan tribes began fighting to overthrow the Communist government.  In September 1979 Taraki was assassinated and Afghan prime minister Hafizullah Amin took over leadership of the country.  Dissatisfied with Amin’s rule and unsure if the Communist government could hold out against the rebellion, the Soviets had Amin assassinated and sent about 85,000 troops into Afghanistan in the final week of December. 

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan at the end of 1979 was seen as a threat to world peace and seriously soured relations between the United States and the Soviet Union.  It began a new period of potentially dangerous tensions between the two superpowers.  

The Chinese zodiac had 1979 as the Year of the Ram.  In the 1979 NFL season the Los Angeles Rams, the franchise that had many good teams over the years but never made the Super Bowl, was not expected to accomplish much.  Their owner died in an accident over the summer and the front office had a shake-up.  The team lost its starting quarterback to injury.  The Rams had only a so-so regular season of 9 wins and 7 losses.  But it was enough to get into the playoffs.  

On December 30, 1979 the Rams got a measure of revenge against the Dallas Cowboys for their humiliating playoff defeat early in the year.  They beat the Cowboys in Texas 21-19 in a playoff game.  With that victory, the Rams were on their way to their first Super Bowl.  

How Far Have We Traveled?

By Loretta Wrobel

As I perused the paper, a headline grabbed my attention. It was a news flash from the US Open on August 28th in New York.  The opening ceremony was honoring Billie Jean King, as nearly fifty years ago, she defeated Bobby Riggs by outsmarting and outplaying the loud-mouthed Riggs who screamed that no woman was clever enough and sharp enough to beat him. Fifty years later, people still talk abut that match that was witnessed by over fifty million in the US and millions more worldwide. 

What those crowds witnessed was a shift in perspective. It became the birthplace of a societal shift that drew women not only to the tennis courts but also to the legal courts, board rooms and medical schools. Women began to see possibilities of all manner of success in fields not seen as realities for women. This life-transforming event happened in 1973. 

It was during the era when women were beginning to crack the long-time glass ceilings in all fields, as they gained strength and inspiration from not only the women’s movement, but all the mass movements of the 60’s and 70’s–civil rights, LGBTQ+ and antiwar demonstrations/protests. It was a grand time for women to dream their wildest fantasies and reach their highest goals.  

I remember those open, free, and phenomenal years, when all possibilities were on the table. When in college at UConn, the sports arena was mainly for the male species with females confined to the stands to oooh and ahhh over the feats of their favorite male players. Part of the thinking during that era was that women had a hard time running the whole length of a basketball court due to their weaknesses. No one cared to bother with the reality of most female existence. Everything they achieved and accomplished was in addition to carrying and birthing a child, nurturing that child (children), maintaining a house, plus whatever they accomplished outside the home. 

Along came Billie Jean with her star skill set and her brilliant strategies. She won the match, plus the admiration of millions of women who could now pursue their dreams. If Ms. King could do it, why couldn’t they?

This amazing tennis star already had been instrumental in forming the Women’s Tennis Association earlier in 1973. King recounts that throughout her life women have approached her, thanking her for the inspiration she provided. Just ponder that one special match proved life transforming for so many.  It opened doors. Although those doors are still today not totally ajar, much progress has been made.

In Connecticut we have seen the success and popularity of the UConn Women’s basketball team that has so many devoted followers, not just females. Young women have role models to emulate. They have opportunities to learn how to become better players when they are young. We have a successful WNBA team, The Connecticut Sun, that made the playoffs again this year. We celebrate this achievement. In my college years I never would have thought this could happen, even if 50 years had elapsed!

Billie Jean King will turn 80 in November, so she is just a bit ahead of me. She continues to be active, and is supporting the new Women’s Professional Hockey League. Barack Obama told Ms. King that he saw the famous match and it influenced how he raised his daughters. What an endorsement for being in the right place at the right moment in history.

Who would have even imagined that this Battle of the Sexes still holds interest and is remembered after half a century! Truly this was a watershed moment. This one sports/political happening had a profound influence on not only women, but everyone who witnessed this out maneuvering of a boasting man  

by a crafty, talented, and courageous woman.  

I am in awe of the lasting significance of this well publicized contest that led to such a dramatic shift of the mindset of people in recalibrating the societal expectations of what a woman can do and how competent she is. Billie Jean demonstrated that physical agility and smarts is not confined to the male sex. It reinforced the notion that women are equal to males in their abilities to accomplish what they dream. It validated the tenets that the second wave of feminism was shouting about, during those radically changing times.

I feel proud to clearly remember what a victory for all women Ms. King scored that fateful day in 1973. I am also aware that we are still working on achieving equality in so many ways, not just in the sports area. We have a long way ahead but we are moving in the right direction and must not lose our focus. Historical change crawls slowly forward and old patterns struggle to stay alive, even when they have surpassed their usefulness.

For example, in 2023, Black Women’s Equal Pay Day does not occur until        July 27th. That means that Black Women must work all those months extra in order to earn the same salary that white males earn.  I see this as a very shocking reality that must be rectified in our country.

The next issue that Ms. King is addressing is aging. As a nearly 80-year-old woman, she is expected to slow down and be quiet and not raise any sand. Forget that one, this is not your average person who accepts what her fate is. She says, “We are not done yet. I’m not done yet.” I love that response from this trailblazer, who knows that it is never too late to carve new paths. She continues to work for equality and to acknowledge loudly and clearly that her work is not done. She is busier than ever and knows there is still much to do and she is on board to do it.  What a classy woman with such ferocity and ability to stay on target. Good follow-through on any court. 

From the Ground Up—Buying Local in Connecticut

By C. Dennis Pierce

The garden year has no beginning and no end. 

—Elizabeth Lawrence

The world of gardening is like drinking through a fire hose. You can never learn enough. For some time, I have considered myself somewhat of a gardener. Each growing season I had a simple relationship with the soil and I either introduced some seeds into my garden or, for lack of time and planning, relied on the local greenhouse’s “starter” plants. I watered and, when necessary, at least at first, weeded, until the weeds ruined my rapport with my plants. I would also load up with a spray mixture of Dawn dish soap and water as I engaged in a war against undesirable insects, often losing the battle. As the summer progressed, the only reward I hoped for was a few tomatoes and basil leaves to make the essence of a fresh summer salad.

If you read my column on a regular basis, you will recall that last fall I shared that I had signed up for the University of Connecticut’s Master Gardener program. Having retired, it was one of the many items that was on my “bucket list.” I applied in October, was accepted, and began classes in January. From January to May, I trekked up to Brooklyn every Friday for classes, only to find that what I thought I knew about gardening was pretty much nothing at all. Now it is September, and classes and volunteer hours have ended. Graduation will be in mid-October, and I will have successfully transitioned from what I call a “sprout” to a certified “permanent nametag holder”: Master Gardener.

You may ask, what is a Master Gardener? Certified Master Gardeners are members of the local community who take an active interest in lawns, trees, shrubs, flowers, and gardens. They are enthusiastic, willing to learn and to help others, and able to communicate with diverse groups of people that might have questions or challenges with their gardening activities. Master Gardeners receive extensive training and then provide information to the public via phone or email helplines, speak at public events, write articles for publications and the internet, and partner with other community programs, gardens, and educational facilities. The label Master Gardener isn’t simply a designation for someone who is good at gardening, but rather a specific title achieved through skill, hard work, and a passion for people. It is a designation overseen by the U.S. government and land-grant universities. Many universities offer Master Gardener programs through the Cooperative Extension System of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Master Gardeners are distinguished by two main traits:

  • A commitment to being a community resource for gardening knowledge as well as a desire to teach and mentor other gardeners
  • A dedication to volunteering and community service

Applications have opened for UConn’s 2024 edition of its Extension Master Gardener program, which blends educational instruction and hands-on volunteer work to instruct participants in the art of horticulture. The deadline for applications is Oct. 13, 2023, and formal instruction will begin on Jan. 8, 2024. The university has a long history of education through the Master Gardener program. It has been taught throughout Connecticut since 1978, at locations including Stamford, Norwich, Torrington, New Haven, and Brooklyn. Online, the UConn Extension Master Gardener program continues to engage individuals of all skill levels in the process of gardening. Participants do not just learn to build their own gardens but are also given a critical opportunity to spread their knowledge and enthusiasm with would-be gardeners and perform community outreach. The application and further details can be found at the official UConn Master Gardener website, https://mastergardener.uconn.edu, which also provides valuable resources and information on Advanced Master Gardener classes. 

While my experience was worth the effort, potential interns should be aware of the time commitment. To become a Certified Master Gardener, you must complete a 16-week course that meets once a week from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., starting in January and running through April. Individuals enrolled in the program receive training in botany, plant pathology, soils, entomology, pesticide safety, integrated pest management (IPM), woody ornamentals, herbaceous ornamentals, vegetables, tree and small fruits, turf grass, invasive plants, weeds, water quality, environmental factors affecting plant growth, and diagnostic techniques for the home gardener. 

Following formal classroom instruction, you will complete a 60-hour internship program. Thirty hours are dedicated to hands-on training in the Extension offices, where interns are supervised in researching and determining the answers to a broad range of horticultural questions, including insect and plant identification, diagnosing plant diseases, and providing sound horticultural recommendations. The remaining 30 hours are devoted to organized community outreach projects. Internships include plant clinics, educational displays at local county fairs and farmers markets, presentation of educational lectures, and working in demonstration gardens. During this past year, I have volunteered with the Friends of Goodwin Forest, maintained information tables at various events such as the Coventry and Andover farmers markets and the Lebanon and Woodstock fairs. In mid-October I will participate in the “graduation” ceremony, where I will receive a certificate and name badge officially verifying my achievements as a University of Connecticut–certified Master Gardener.

In the end, you might ask, was it all worth it? The guy who thought he knew enough to grow a tomato plant realized he was only scraping the surface. This may sound corny, but in a biblical sense the scales fell from my eyes, and I now have a different perspective on the nature that surrounds me. I have a better understanding of the plants, trees, and shrubs in my yard that I took for granted, how they rely on each other and the challenges they encounter, and how the ecological system that surrounds me survives. So, if you ever had the inclination to obtain the certification, do so now. As mentioned above, the application deadline for this year is October 13. 

 No time to commit, but you are an avid gardener? Remember that whenever you encounter a gardening issue, you can email the Master Gardener program and you will receive a response that will help you in your time of need. And best of all, it is a free service brought to you by UConn’s Master Gardener program and Extension offices: https://mastergardener.uconn.edu/ask-us-a-question/.

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Some of you may be putting your garden to bed, others may still have a lot of squash as a result of a successful production season. On the culinary side, we have a tendency to move to preparing thicker soups, such as a bisque, this time of year. These tend to be a hearty, smooth and richly flavored earthy soups, such as the pureed butternut squash soup described below:

Curried Butternut Squash Bisque

Serves 6 to 8

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Ingredients:

1 medium butternut squash (about 1¾ lb.)

1 tablespoon butter

¾ cup finely chopped onion

1 clove garlic, minced

1 large cooking apple, such as a Cortland or McIntosh, peeled, cored, and chopped into ¼-inch pieces

1 teaspoon curry powder, or more to taste

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

4 cups chicken broth

1 tablespoon tomato paste

½ cup half and half

1 tablespoon minced fresh sage leaves or 1/ teaspoon dried sage

salt and pepper to taste

whole sage leaves for garnish

Directions:

Wrap the squash in aluminum foil and bake for 1½ hours or until squeezable in the center.

Remove and when cool enough to handle, remove seeds, scoop out pulp, and set pulp aside.

Melt butter in a large pot.

Add onions, garlic, and apple and cook over low heat until mixture is soft, about 10 minutes.

Add curry, nutmeg, and flour and stir until flour is mixed in.

Add this mixture, squash, and 1 cup of broth to a food processor and puree.

Return mixture to the pot and add tomato paste, half and half, minced sage, the remaining 3 cups of broth, and salt and pepper to taste.

Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly until beginning to boil.

Serve in pre-heated bowls with a garnish of whole sage leaves.

Preparing a homemade soup is a process. Unlike the convenience of opening a can and reheating the contents, each step is an effort that involves all of your senses and the result is a unique experience that is one of life’s pleasures. There is nothing extraneous in any of the actions. That is what is called living. Life requires time and effort. If we eliminate time and effort, we eliminate life’s pleasures. Enjoy the processes in life, and every so often experience the flip side of convenience.

Lastly, I leave you with a poem by Robert Frost that is so suited as we approach the season of autumn.

October

O hushed October morning mild,

Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;

Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild,

Should waste them all.

The crows above the forest call;

Tomorrow they may form and go.

O hushed October morning mild,

Begin the hours of this day slow.

Make the day seem to us less brief.

Hearts not averse to being beguiled,

Beguile us in the way you know.

Release one leaf at break of day;

At noon release another leaf;

One from our trees, one far away.

Retard the sun with gentle mist;

Enchant the land with amethyst.

Slow, slow!

For the grapes’ sake, if they were all,

Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,

Whose clustered fruit must else be lost—

For the grapes’ sake along the wall.

If you have a suggestion for a farm or a local grower or even a recipe that features a local ingredient, please let me know. I will do my best to share your suggestions in a future column. Drop me a line at Codfish53@Yahoo.com. Peas be with you. Come celebrate with me and remember, every day is a holiday, and every meal is a banquet. I’ll save you a seat at the table! 

Caption: John Lorusso, Erica DuPlessis, and Katie Wilcock.

Fake News Splits Americans and Destroys Our trust in Democracy

By Bill Powers

                               “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble.

                                  It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”  – Mark Twain

     “Fake News”, also known as disinformation, is not new. These days It gives rise to a toxic environment that splits Americans, and negatively affects our political process, our institutions and the integrity of our democracy. 

    These days with disinformation running rampant, it becomes difficult to be sure that what you think you know is based on fact. Outright lies and messages of hate are intentionally spread through the traditional media sources, social media and social networking in efforts to persuade. Messages of disinformation arise not only from domestic sources but also from foreign sources often originating from places such as Russia, Iran and China. In the 2016 U.S. election Russian operatives famously flooded social media with disinformation designed to influence the election. In 2022, China has ratcheted up their ability to “create controversy along racial, economic, and ideological lines” while targeting American voters, according to Clint Watts of the Microsoft Threat Analysis Cener (September, 2023). The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has also recently warned that China is attempting to influence U.S. elections. On September 9, 2023, President Biden extended the National Emergency for Foreign Intervention in U.S. Elections citing “unusual and extraordinary threat” to national security. Domestically there is an overabundance of nonsensical conspiracy theories that infest our society today.

    Is “disinformation” the same thing as “misinformation”? During the cold war of the 1950s, the term “disinformation” became popular to describe the intentional spreading of false information in order mislead. The word propaganda also comes to mind especially during the mid-1900s. The term “misinformation” is used when incorrect information is spread without the intention of misleading. These days we need truth more than ever before, since there are now countless sources of information where real facts and the truth can be so elusive. 

    A popular term used today is “fake news” that can be defined as misleading information presented as intentionally and verifiably false news. A concern is that being barraged by so much information in a short period of time by so many sources can be so confusing, overwhelming, and confounding. Rephrasing Mark Twain’s quotation: “What gets you into trouble is what you think you know, that factually isn’t true.” It’s hard to know if what we know is true, especially these days. Thinking critically involves sorting out fact and truth, and that takes time and energy. Frequently, I endure the many pundits and bloggers who put forth all sorts of ideas and I’m not really certain if I have just been bedazzled by brilliance or baffled by bullshit. When that happens, I try to pay attention to the resulting unsettling disparity that I am experiencing and simply try not to just laugh it off.

   “Fake news” was a factor 100 years ago. It was the topic of a September, 1923, Willimantic Daily Chronicle editorial titled “FAKE NEWS ITEMS”. Here’s what the editor wrote: “Every now and then some person with a poorly developed sense of humor sets to work to get a fake news item printed, either telephoning it to the office or sending in an unsigned communication.  

   “This is one of the many things with which newspaper workers have to contend and to their credit let it be said that a few items of this nature appear in print. It takes all kinds of persons to make the world and we suppose that there is bound to be a certain percentage of these so-called humorists among them. A law making it a criminal offense to furnish a fake news item to a newspaper or its workers would go a long way towards stopping this despicable practice.” 

    Clearly, one hundred years ago fake news was a concern and according to the editor, in an effort to prevent fake news, the Chronicle employed a practice for screening anonymous items. However, one could provide disinformation or misinformation as long as they took credit for it. Effective screening is not so easy these days with so many sources of information and fake news. Screening or thoughtful review is preferable to censorship or suppression; finding a happy medium can also present a slippery slope. 

     From the time of Colonial America, newspapers in America were very politically biased. Using the Willimantic Chronicle as an example, its first issue was published on December 3, 1879 and it succeeded a weekly paper called the Willimantic Enterprise, thatwas first published only two years earlier. The Chronicle incorporated many new changes compared to the Enterprise. Perhaps the biggest change was its devotion to a political ideology. Whereas the Enterprise had been apolitical, the Chronicle immediately declared itself to be the local advocate for the Democratic Party’s views and ideals. As explained in the first issue: “The need for such a paper as we intend for the Chronicle, has been felt by those in this community who are in sympathy with the political struggles which it is designed to advocate. Within the past eight years the growth of the Democratic party in the town of Windham from a minority, counted by hundreds, to a majority, has been in the face of the open or disguised opposition to our local press. It is high time the party had some local organ which will inspire into its ranks a united, organized and persistent zeal, and to marshal an unbroken phalanx to the triumph at the ballot box of liberty, equality and law.”  

    The reporting of the news in America, when first amendment freedoms exist, has always been biased and polarized and to some extent characterized by disinformation and misinformation. However, today’s electronic social media, with or without interference from foreign sources, further splits Americans and predisposes the destruction of trust in our political process, our institutions, and the very integrity of our democracy.

     Perhaps the Willimantic Chronicle editor’s intuition, from a century ago, calling for “a law making it a criminal offense to furnish a fake news item”, was on the right track. The problem has grown one hundred fold since that time. The editor got it right! “Fake news” is a “despicable practice” especially when it undermines trust of our political process, our institutions and the integrity of our democracy. 

Bill Powers is a retired teacher and resides in Windham

Champ or No Champ?

By Tom Woron

Scotland has Nessie.  Over here we have Champ.  Or does Scotland really have Nessie?  And for that matter, do we really have Champ?

Everyone has heard of the legendary Loch Ness monster, affectionately named Nessie, and usually referred to in the singular sense.  Nessie is the alleged unknown water creature that inhabits Loch Ness, a long and deep lake in Scotland.  Whether Nessie really exists or not has been the subject of much study and debate for over a century.  The Loch Ness monster, if it does exist, is a cryptid. 

Cryptozoology is not a recognized branch of true science.  Rather it is more or less a separate cult whose mission is to seek out creatures of hearsay, legend and folklore that have not officially been documented to exist in reality by mainstream science but rather might exist or might have once existed.  Creatures large and small that mainstream science cannot prove nor deny the existence of are referred to as cryptids.   The definition of cryptids can also be extended to include animals that existed at one time in reality but are officially recognized as being extinct.  The possibility that creatures officially considered to be extinct but may possibly still exist is one subject of cryptozoology.

The cryptid that allegedly inhabits Loch Ness, while eyewitness descriptions often vary, is usually described as serpentine in nature possibly resembling a sea serpent that existed during the time of the dinosaurs.  Whether it’s an unknown animal that hasn’t yet been documented or really a creature that never actually went extinct, it’s existence is very much disputed to this day.

In North America is Lake Champlain, a large natural lake that is located between the states of New York and Vermont but also stretches to the north into Canada into the province of Quebec.  Lake Champlain is 107 miles long and 14 miles wide at its point of maximum width.  The lake covers 514 square miles and has an average depth of 64 feet with a maximum depth of about 400 feet.  Lake Champlain has also long been said to be the home of a serpent-like cryptid.  

In 1609 the French explorer Samuel De Champlain, the discoverer of Lake Champlain, is said to have documented “a 20-foot serpent thick as a barrel, and a head like a horse.” This quote by Champlain has been published repeatedly but its authenticity in describing a creature in Lake Champlain is in dispute.  Historians and scholars who have read Champlain’s writings seem to think that he was describing something that he saw near the St. Lawrence River.  Champlain did however, describe seeing some fish in Lake Champlain that were five feet long, as thick as his thigh, with a double row of very sharp and dangerous teeth and with silvery-gray scales so strong that a dagger could not penetrate them.  The native peoples of the area told him that some of them were known to be up to 10 feet long.  

Earlier legends told by the native Abenaki and Iroquois tribes, both of whom long lived and hunted near Lake Champlain, spoke of a large horned serpent or giant snake that lived in the lake.  The early French explorers were warned against sailing on the lake so as not to arouse the serpent.  

Since the early 1800s up to the 1990s there have been approximately 200 reported sighting of a large, unidentified creature in Lake Champlain with over 600 witnesses claiming to have seen it in many different parts of the lake.  In 1873 an article in the New York Times reported that a railroad crew working alongside the lake saw the head of a huge serpent, with silvery scales that glistened in the sunlight, rise above the surface of the water.  The crew left the scene in a hurry.  

The unknown or mythical creature of Lake Champlain, affectionately named Champ, is very often described as an unusually large snake or water serpent.  The serpent is, at times, described as having a head like that of a horse.  Sightings of Champ have sometimes occurred to multiple witnesses at the same time occasionally to groups of passengers sailing on steamships on Lake Champlain.  A common size estimate of Champ is between 20 and 40 feet long although historically there have been descriptions of a water creature in the lake that was estimated to be over 180 feet long.  

In 1977 Sandra Mansi, a woman from Connecticut who was on a family vacation alongside Lake Champlain, supposedly took what is widely believed to be the first known photograph of Champ (like Nessie, Champ is usually referred to as a single creature).  But just like with alleged photos of the Loch Ness monster, whether or not Ms. Mansi’s photo shows a large, unidentified creature in Lake Champlain is a matter that is hotly disputed.  It is pointed out that Ms. Mansi could not locate the original negative and could not later identify the precise location where she took the photo.  Both would have been useful in further studies of the object in the photo.  Does the Mansi photo really show a water serpent or a large partially submerged floating tree trunk?  The debate goes on.  

The 21st century has brought many additional reports of sightings of a lake monster in Lake Champlain including a video taken by 2 fishermen in 2005.  Analysis of the video can be interpreted to show a snake-like creature or the long neck and head of a creature similar to a prehistoric reptile, but again, the video is a matter of much dispute.  Although it is believed that the video is not faked nor tampered with, a retired FBI forensic image analyst who examined the video does not believe that any animate object is shown in it.

So what have people been seeing at Lake Champlain for the past few centuries?  Are they seeing an oversized eel or multiple eels?  Maybe a large sturgeon or group of them?  Perhaps Champ is a northern pike or muskellunge that grew way beyond the normal size that one would be.  Is Champ possibly a giant northern water snake that grew to an immense size?  Or is the Lake Champlain monster really a serpent that is undocumented by science or a prehistoric reptile long thought to have been extinct?  One has to wonder what did the railroad crew see in 1873 that frightened them to the point of fleeing their worksite.  Recently I talked with a fisherman who fished Lake Champlain frequently.  He told me he’s seen some weird things around the lake and definitely believes Champ exists.  The search for Champ goes on.  

C. Dennis Pierce

“I learned long ago never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.”

– George Bernard Shaw

There are times in your life when the unexpected turns your life around. Tom and Kyla Satkowski, current owners of East Willow Farm in Columbia, were living in Berlin and then Amston, Connecticut and were slowly outgrowing their residence and were in search of a larger piece of property. They had engaged a realtor who had introduced them to several options, however these were not quite right. Finally running out of viable options an opportunity arrived to visit a farm in Columbia. On the day of their visit, they were met by the current owner and to Tom’s surprise it was an old classmate who he had not seen in many years. The farm had hundreds of apple trees and Tom’s classmate, who was a former chef on the Cape, had come to conclusion that farming was not a career that was practical for him, and he offered Tom and Kyla a deal that they could not refuse.  So, that all took place a few years ago, and now, several years later, Tom and Kyla have created a “one stop” shop farm that continues to take Columbia by storm. 

Over the years while driving up Route 66, heading out of Columbia proper, while heading to Hebron, I have passed the farm sign on numerous occasions but never took the opportunity to stop in. If you are familiar with the area the entrance to East Willow Farm is right after the park and ride parking lot on Route 66. Visiting the farm, I was welcomed by an inviting avenue of trees that lined the road leading to the farm. While it was a warm day back in Mansfield, I was surprised to feel a fall-like breeze which brought a comforting coolness to the air. At the end of the road there was plenty of parking and a well-appointed farm store. Let me correct that. The “well appointed” description does not do it justice. 

Perhaps this is the best place to stop and explain a trend that I see local farmers are adopting. If you look back many years ago our state only hosted a few farmer’s markets. Now, most towns have a seasonal market that offers a wide variety of local fresh options. The farmers that are present at the market must spend a lot of time and energy to prepare for the market, load their trucks, set up and then tear down and subsequently unload, always hoping that the weather is conducive, and the market has a lot of customers that are interested in purchasing the farmer’s offerings. The trend I mentioned earlier is that some farms are finding that the markets are not the best opportunity and subsequently have created farm stands on their own farms. In essence some of the local farms have almost made a 360-degree change back to what it was in the early days.

Now, let me take you back to Tom and Kyla’s, East Willow Farm. Gone are the apple trees except for a few left standing while the land makes way for berry bushes and a field for the chicken tractors. You ask what is a chicken tractor?  A chicken tractor is a movable chicken coop lacking a floor. Chicken tractors allow free range feeding along with a shelter, this allows chickens fresh forage such as grass, weeds, and bugs, which widens their diet and lowers their traditional feed needs. Unlike fixed coops, chicken tractors do not have floors so there is no need to clean them out. They support a natural, symbiotic cycle of foraging through which the birds eat down the vegetation, deposit fertilizing manure, then go on to a new area. Tom moves their “tractors” daily, so the chickens are always foraging in a new area. 

Adjacent to the parking area is a greenhouse that provides an area to start the farm’s vegetable plants as well as providing starter plants for sale to the farm’s customers. The farm grows a variety of vegetables, raise pigs, chickens and soon turkeys as they prepare for Thanksgiving. While their produce is not certified organic, they do use organic practices and do not use synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. The farm also has a small apiary that is used to help pollinate their gardens. Tom and Kyla operating a farm has become a labor of love and devotion. They started this farm because they found something worth sharing right in their own backyard. 

As the responsibilities are divided up Tom takes care of the gardens and livestock, and Kyla operates the well-supplied farm store. Their two children are right alongside them pitching in whenever they can. Now their farm store is not an ordinary store since they sell their own meat offerings, eggs, candles that are made by Kyla and extensive line of locally sourced dairy, honey, and bakery items.  

Back to the farm activities, Tom makes sure that the farm provides a stress-free setting for their animals. Tom has experimented with various strains of pigs in order achieve a hybrid vigor, the best attributes of various pig species combined. The farm’s pigs are pasture raised and they move from paddock to paddock as they go about clearing the land. Tom refers to them as his “construction workers”. Were they happy pigs? I can honestly say when I was taking a photo, I swear I saw some of them smiling. 

So why does East Willow Farm operate with such a caring philosophy? Because their initiative supports healthier and happier animals that are raised ethically in open pastures, animals that deserve to be fed what they are meant to eat. The farm’s efforts builds a stronger community which consists of the customers who wants to take back their control of the food they purchase, cook and eat in order to ensure a long term health and happiness for their friends and families. Lastly, the farm’s efforts are part of the overall stewardship of the soil since it is one of our most vital resources.

Here is a recipe to try out utilizing East Willow’ prized pork:

Maple Glazed Pork Chops with Roasted Corn Relish

Serves: 4 

Prepare Corn Relish prior to cooking chops on grill. You can make glaze prior to making corn relish. You might want to place dishes or serving dish, if you are using one dish to serve from in a warm oven ahead of time.

Maple Glaze / Pork Chops

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons of maple syrup

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Freshly ground pepper

4, thick sliced pork chops

Directions: 

Combine maple syrup and vinegar in a small saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat.

Simmer until reduced by half and just thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. About 4 to 5 minutes.

Season with several grindings of fresh pepper and set aside.

Pre heat grill to medium high

Oil the grill rack with an oil spray.

Place pork chops on grill for a few minutes and then turn over and do the other side. This should have made grill marks on the chops.

Brush maple glaze on one side of pork chops and then turn the chops over and do the other side.

Cook until the internal temperature is 145 degrees.

Roasted Corn Relish

Ingredients:

4 ounces of thick bacon diced.

½ cup of finely chopped red onion

3 scallions, white and light green parts coarsely chopped.

2 cups of fresh corn kernels (from about 4 ears). Substitute frozen if necessary.

6 tablespoons of maple syrup

1 red or orange bell pepper, stemmed, seeds removed and diced.

2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Directions:

Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp.

Drain all but 1 teaspoon of fat from the pan.

Add onion and sauté until lightly cooked.

Stir in the scallions, corn, and bell pepper.

Raise the heat and add balsamic vinegar.

Bring to a boil, scraping up any browned bits.

Sauté over high heat, stirring constantly until vegetables are warmed but barely cooked, one to two minutes.

Remove from heat and season with salt & pepper.

When pork chops are done gently reheat corn mixture by either returning it to the stove or placing it briefly in the microwave.

Place corn mixture on plates and place pork chops on top of corn mixture. 

I would highly recommend stopping by East Willow Farm in Columbia. They are open Tuesday through Friday from 10:00am to 5:00pm and Saturday and Sunday from 9:00am to 4:00pm. I would suggest a visit not only because of the variety of options they offer but because their farm meats and their farming philosophy make this farm differ from others. Pasture raising their animals is an extremely rewarding process for them.  It’s a way to connect their animals with the earth in a healthy and stress-free environment.  When they can almost eliminate some grains and introduce high quality grasses and nutrient rich soils, their efforts produces an amazing tasting meat.  When grains are being used for their livestock, they are purchased with a specific diet mix from a farm in Scotland.  

​ When animals can roam free, it generates more oxygen in their bloodstream and creates what’s called myoglobin.  Myoglobin is a mixture of water and proteins, which move oxygen to muscle cells.  You will find their pork is of a finer quality than store bought.  You will also taste the difference in their chicken. Since they are pastured raised it is a tender and more favorable meat like no other. Interested in being part of their meat CSA? You can join anytime during the year. Their CSA runs in 6 moth increments. Pick-ups are the first Saturday of each month during normal store hours. For more information give them a call.  East Willow Farm’s phone number is 860.538.2747. They also host a Facebook page at www.facebook.com/eastwillowfarm/ 

If you have a suggestion for a farm or a local grower or even a recipe that would feature a local ingredient, please let me know. I will do my best to share your suggestions in a future column.  Drop me a line at Codfish53@Yahoo.com. So, Peas be with you. Come celebrate with me and remember, every day is a holiday, and every meal is a banquet.  I’ll save you a seat at the table!

In Summer’s Lull, Think Autumn Planting

By Brian Karlsson-Barnes

Our temperate climate’s change in seasons decided my career path decades ago. I liked the rhythm of seasonal work. Busy, not busy, busy again… then dormant. 

Explosive growth in spring has many garden needs, surging again in fall. Physical and spiritual restoral comes in summer’s reprieve and winter’s rejuvenation. Winter is time to read, research, write and plan for next year’s garden.

This winter was different.

A Boston client wanted a “microforest” designed for spring planting, and a Northborough, grower (Brian Lewis of The Natural Landscape) wanted a list of the showiest trees and shrubs for New England. 

Such as Cary Award-winning plants named by the Worcester County Horticultural Society. All are proven reliably hardy to USDA Zone 4 with exceptional pest and disease resistance and are adaptable to the range of cultural conditions across New England.

Michael Dirr, Ph.D / University of Georgia horticultural professor, is my go-to authority. His Manual of Woody Landscape Plants is an old-school botanical bible. With two decades of hort experience in the northeast, seven with Weston Nurseries, I have my favorites. 

TREES  Three species of native deciduous trees for temperate New England (that I have planted in the Quiet Corner) were used in Boston: redbud, serviceberry and whitebarked birch. 

·    Redbud (Cercis)   Dark red buds open to purple-pink flowers in early spring before leafout at every node along ascending wide-spreading branches — best at edges of tree plantings to reduce crossing branches. Likes part shade to full sun. Mature height of 20 feet.

One is planted in Chaplin to screen a view.

·    Serviceberry (Amelanchier)   AKA Juneberry and Shadblow because it blooms when the shad (herring) run. Pure white flowers cover the tree in April with tasty berries in June — but birds beat you to ‘em. Orange-to-red fall color; ‘Autumn Brilliance’ is a brilliant red. Often available in multi-stem clump form. Height 25 feet.

Allegheny Serviceberry (Amelanchier laevis) is a native tree that naturally hybridizes with twenty species of small trees and smaller shrubs like Shadbush (A. canadensis).

Masses of showy, slightly fragrant white flowers last a week or two in early spring before leaves appear. Shadbush blooms a few weeks later. Then fruit for excellent blueberry-like pie, but birds beat you to ‘em. Yellow-orange-to-brick-red fall color. 

Orange fungal galls can mar fruit if near host junipers for Cedar Apple Rust. Spores can form on eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) a mile away, but the cosmetic damage doesn’t harm the apple-family tree.

Found naturally in woodland borders, full sun to part shade. Vulnerable to caterpillars that I remove by hand or with a jet spray of water or least-toxic pesticide; systemics are not used to protect birds. Grows fast to 25-feet.

Three native A. laevis are planted in Chaplin with one A. canadensis. 

·    Whitebarked Birch (Betula spp)   Striking white bark in all seasons, more so in multi-stem form. Native cultivar (nativar) ‘Whitespire’ (Betula populifolia) resists native bugs. Height 35-40 feet in full sun. 

Smaller nonnative Himalayan Birch (Betula utilis var. jacquemontii) is the purest white, but suffers caterpillars and borers more than native trees, especially in the country.

TIP  Improving horticultural conditions helps all plants survive pests. I use copious compost and kelp, and pay very close attention. 

Three ‘Whitespire’ and one Himalayan Birch are planted at my Chaplin “Chapel of the Birch” Others are Paper / Canoe Birch, Sweet and Yellow Birch.

Japanese plants are also suited to our temperate coastal climate, such as colorful Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum) and evergreen Umbrella Pine (Sciadopitys). Also planted in the Quiet Corner.

SHRUBS  Deciduous Azalea (Rhododendron) shrubs completed the woody planting in Boston. Flower, fragrance and fall color! Other native shrubs planted in Connecticut are Redtwig Dogwood(formerly Cornus, now Benthamidia), and evergreen Mountain Laurel (Kalmia) and Rosebay (Rhodendron). 

SUMMER is a welcome lull to consider fall planting. Less plant material is available in autumn but prices are discounted by October. September is a great time to plant and establish roots before the stress of next summer’s heat, perhaps drought.

Large sizes have visual impact, but small plants cost less and adapt better. Both can be planted in naturalistic groups to mimic nature. Dry-tolerant plants are better in global warming. Best using plants native to the conditions of your site’s microclimate — they establish sooner to thrive not simply survive. 

Brian Karlsson-Barnes, Master gardener/designer    Briankarlssonbarnes@gmail.com

KB garden design, 12 Cross Road, Chaplin CT 06235    Text 617.957.6611

What is Your Awe Quotient?

By Loretta Wrobel

The dictionary defines awe as “a feeling of reverential respect mixed with fear or wonder.” Another definition is “the feeling we get when in the presence of something vast that challenges our understanding of the world.” These descriptions evoke a deep emotional reaction in me. I was captivated by this concept as I read the book by Dacher Keltner, titled AWE: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life. A 2023 book that gives a new wrinkle on how to exist and thrive in our present world. The author of this book focuses on the wonder, creativity, and collaborative dimension of awe, not on the other side of awe that features horror and fear.

I believe I have always been aware of awe, and never paid conscious attention to how frequently or when I have been exposed to awe. Often, we brush that experience aside and continue rushing through our packed and frenzied day. What unlocked my heart and cleared my mind was the suggestion to pause and digest my awe encounters on a regular basis and remember the feelings the experience evoked.

We exist in a world that is crammed with awe events, if we choose to witness them. What I understand is that standing in the middle of a mind-boggling awe event, I can absorb and feel it or I can zoom past it totally, not acknowledging the depth of what I felt or how it changed my mood.  When I remain unconscious as to what is before me, it is as if it has not occurred. 

Dacher Keltner writes, “Awe begins in encounters with the eight wonders of life” and “the experience of awe unfolds in a space of its own,” where a person feels good. He believes that we as humans can witness occasions of awe in everyday life. Awe can be everywhere, such as in the arts, especially music, in nature, in birth and death, and in many ordinary happenings that leave us profoundly open, elated, and feeling connected to a larger community.  Asking ourselves how we process this information gives us a start to open to the curiosity and beauty of awe. 

What impressed me was Keltner discovered that people who are awake to awe experiences exhibit behavior that is more connecting, and demonstrate a greater sense of community! If we stop for a moment, we all have felt the body awareness of awe with chills, hair standing on end and/or goose bumps. We are all aware of the whoa or ahh moments. However, do we consistently pay attention and record these times in our consciousness?

If the awe moments were to become more conscious in our ordinary day-to-day lives, would our feelings, emotions, and mental health be positively magnified? Studies have shown that when we are surrounded by nature, our blood pressure is lower, we express feelings of happiness, and we are more likely to engage in behavior that reflects kindness and a greater thirst for social connection. The author reports that after experiencing awe, participants are less depressed and not as lonely. Could we enhance our mental health by tuning in to the awe that surrounds us?

Keltner talks of the myriad examples of wonderment in our world, from witnessing acts of courage, strength and overcoming obstacles, to walking in a forest or standing next to the ocean. The health benefits of being in nature are well documented by many researchers. The Japanese developed forest bathing to promote mental stability and decrease stress. Forest bathing is simply being present in nature sans all our high-tech devices. The author discusses the biological need for awe.  We are hardwired to be soothed by our awe exposure to guide us in feeling our joy at being alive on this mysterious planet.  He quoted the poet Wadsworth as saying, “O there is a blessing in this gentle breeze.”

The author mentions the ability we possess to be awestruck by music. Music provides an opportunity to be connected to each other as we move with the beat. Music can energize us, calm us, anger us, inspire us, or allow us to feel serene and at peace. As humans we can connect and bond in the musical experience and develop a powerful sense of connection and community. Social movements have coalesced through the strength of a song or march. The Women’s Liberation Movement in the 1970’s and 1980’s was propelled forward by women’s music that provided direction, permission, and joy, supplying the foundation for a radical life altering community of empowered women. 

Who has not attended a sporting event and cheered along with the crowd for the home team? I remember being in Madrid at a bull fight and getting swept away with the ritual, celebration, and passion. I was shouting “Ole!” with all the other attendees and felt part of the group. I would not have guessed in advance that I would become one with the crowd at such an event.  It was a magical time, as I felt like a Spaniard and cheered along boisterously with everyone else, being overwhelmed by feelings. I can still reminisce and be back there during that extraordinary event, although it is more than a half century ago. That is the ultimate awe experience. 

How can we begin to integrate this awesome news so we can all benefit during these frustrating and scary times? We can increase our ability to love, operate from a humane perspective, and react with tenderness to our world. Awe can shift and shape our daily encounters and put deeper meaning in our lives. We can become better community members and more compassionate people in a world that continually challenges our patience, generosity, and sanity. Can we learn to develop our awe awareness so at the end of each day we are grateful for our astonishing, enhancing, mystical, beautiful, and breath-catching times? Let us become worshippers of celebrating and honoring awe whenever we feel, sense, smell, or see it.  

What Are Foo Fighters?

By Tom Woron

“That was ‘The Pretender’ by the Foo Fighters,” said the DJ on the radio as a song ended. The Foo Fighters? Yes, there is a rock band called the Foo Fighters. 

Back in the early 1990s a popular American band called Nirvana from Aberdeen, Washington, was the key band promoting a type of rock music called grunge. Nirvana dominated the airwaves for a while, but the untimely death of lead singer and songwriter Kurt Cobain in 1994 spelled doom for the band. Without its frontman Nirvana could not carry on, and the band became defunct.

After the demise of Nirvana, the band’s former drummer, Dave Grohl, began a project by himself in which he recorded 15 songs that he wrote. With only one exception, Grohl played all of the instruments himself and sang all of the vocals on all 15 songs. When the recording was completed, Grohl handed out cassette tapes of the project to friends for their opinions of it. Desiring to keep the identity behind his songs a secret, Grohl named his project “Foo Fighters” so as to lead listeners to believe that there were multiple musicians behind the music, not just him by himself. The recording got the attention of record companies. The Foo Fighters went from what was supposed to be a one-time solo project by Grohl to becoming a highly successful rock band. 

Grohl at the time did not know that the Foo Fighters would become a huge success and that the band would become his full-time career in music after Nirvana. Had he known what was to come, he has said, he would have come up with a different name, because he thought that Foo Fighters was the dumbest name ever for a rock band. How did Grohl come up with the name? What are “foo fighters”? 

While it is unclear why Grohl chose the name for his project, foo fighters in reality were unidentified flying objects (UFOs) or unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) that were seen by numerous pilots and airmen during the Second World War. Although Allied airmen had seen what they believed were UFOs earlier in the war, it was from November 1944 onward that Allied airmen flying over Germany and German-occupied territory frequently noticed strange, rapidly moving lights that seemed to pursue their aircraft. These objects glowed red, orange, white, and green at times, and behaved as if they were controlled by some intelligence. They sometimes appeared as a single fiery object and at other times as many in a formation.

The astonished airmen witnessed these objects maneuvering in ways that no known aircraft could at the time. One pilot, believing that the unknown objects were a new type of Nazi weapon, decided to challenge them and turned his plane toward them. The objects immediately disappeared. A short time later the mysterious lights reappeared, but at a much greater distance from his aircraft. Apparently they were not made of any kind of solid material since they did not show up on either ground or airborne radar.

Reports of strange glowing objects buzzing around Allied aircraft came in more frequently as the war wound down in its final months. Although descriptions of the unknown objects varied, the pattern of the encounters was similar in many respects. Mysterious fiery lights would suddenly show up, appear to pursue Allied aircraft for a while, sometimes getting up close, and then they would suddenly veer off and disappear. The objects maneuvering around the aircraft were never reported to take any hostile action nor in any way cause damage to the aircraft; however, the airmen who encountered them found the experience to be nerve-racking. One American airman, a radar operator, who saw the strange lights following his aircraft named them “foo fighters.” 

Single-engine German aircraft approaching Allied aircraft with the intent to shoot them down were called “fighters.” It is widely believed that a U.S. 415th Night Fighter Squadron radar operator, Donald J. Meiers, gave the name “foo fighters” to the mysterious lights approaching and seemingly chasing the airplanes. The name came from Smokey Stover, a popular American comic strip of the time. The strip featured the silliness and mishaps of the title character, a firefighter who referred to himself with a nonsensical phrase, “foo fighter.” 

The phenomenon was not limited to the European Theater. American airmen in the Pacific Theater also encountered mysterious “balls of fire” that hovered in the sky and, at times, pursued their aircraft. They, too, noted that these balls of fire never fired upon nor damaged their aircraft. They ultimately decided that the objects were a secret Japanese psychological weapon designed to distract them and drive them crazy. After the war, the Americans asked Japanese airmen about the flying objects that their country sent out to buzz around our airplanes and drive our pilots insane. Surprised at being asked the question, the Japanese replied that they too had seen the objects, had noted that they took no hostile action against their aircraft, and had come to the conclusion that they were a secret American weapon designed to mess with their minds.

Likewise after the war, thirteen high-ranking officers of the Luftwaffe (Nazi Germany’s air force) were questioned about the unknown glowing objects observed by British and American airmen on night missions over Europe. All thirteen claimed they knew nothing about any secret German weapon or anything else that could explain the mysterious sightings. 

As 1945 began, a news reporter who had spent time with the 415th published a story about the foo fighters that ran on the front page of newspapers all across the United States. Because of the number of reports of foo fighters and the impact they were having on aircrews—and, more shockingly, the fact that a reporter had interviewed the airmen and published their story—the military decided to investigate the matter.

Many theories were offered to explain the foo fighter sightings. Among them was that they were hallucinations due to battle fatigue. Another theory was that they were the Nazis’ newly developed V-2 rocket, a ballistic missile, many of which were being launched from Germany against Great Britain and the Western European allies. 

The airmen who observed the foo fighters rejected the hallucination theory. They were there, and they knew what they saw. The V-2 rocket explanation seemed plausible at first since the tail of the rocket would glow with a flame as it burned fuel. However, this theory was also dismissed by the airmen and by military aviation historians because descriptions of the foo fighters’ maneuverability—such as “turning on a dime” and sudden accelerations—were not consistent with the speed and course that a ballistic missile would take. Other theories offered to explain the foo fighters witnessed during World War II have also been dismissed due to the lack of any credible evidence. They were never identified or logically explained.

Although the foo fighters seen during the Second World War remain an unexplained mystery to this day, they sure gave us a great rock band! 

Your assignment: If you’re not familiar with the Foo Fighters band and/or their song “The Pretender,” Google it and watch the YouTube video.