2023 – Fruition

December 21, 2023Brad Pendergraft

Meet Brad Pendergraft, Master Gardener Volunteer

Can you remember the moment you decided to become a gardener, or when you realized you had become one?

When I was a young kid in the Texas panhandle my parents bought an extra strip of land beside the house we built for a garden. My Mom was the gardener and my dad did the rototilling; pretty traditional, but it was the 1950’s. Later we moved to Gunnison, Colorado where there had been a frost recorded on every day of the year, so as you can imagine gardening was difficult there, but my Mom did it. Seeing her perseverance over the years even in unpredictable conditions was motivating. I later decided I wanted to become a homesteader.

What tool can’t you do without in the garden / what is a garden invention or plant variety you wish would be developed?

When I first started gardening I bought tools from a company called “Smith and Hawkens”. They imported forged tools from England. I love them. I fork my entire 40’ by 60’ garden using the four-tine digging fork and their long-handle shovel is my favorite shovel.

What plant do you wish you’d never planted in your garden?

Tomatillos are a mixed bag as much of life is a mix of good and bad. I love serrano tomatillo salsa, but if you compost the fruits of the tomatillos you end up with baby tomatillo plants everywhere, coming up like a carpet covering the garden beds. On the plus side, the plants add organic matter to the compost.

I tie my tomatillos with bailing wire and stay vigilant about where the seeds end up.

December 7, 2023Laurie Gilbert-Smiley

Meet Laurie Gilbert-Smiley, Master Gardener Volunteer

How did you come to be a gardener?

I had the privilege of being raised on a working dairy farm. My father raised most of the forage and also had a large vegetable garden. My mother devised many creative incentives to entice us to help in the garden, but they were never quite worth it… to this day, I deeply abhor a long handled hoe! My brother Joe threatened to turn my dad in for “transporting toxic waste” (garden produce). I wanted to call in an airstrike to vaporize the plot! Then, somewhere in my 30’s, a miracle occurred! I found I loved working the dirt and growing plants.

Nancy (left) and Laurie (right) weeding the pollinator garden — Nancy (left) and Laurie (right) weeding the Daun Martin-Poole Memorial Pollinator Garden at CCE

What is a unique project or endeavor you’ve taken on in your garden?

My gardening friends like to tease me about my love for heavy equipment. When I was learning to run the mini excavator, I started in the garden. It was a nice big “safe” space to learn to handle the controls! My joke is that I weeded the garden with an excavator!

What benefits do you gain from gardening?

Dr. Chris Lowry, from Bristol University in the UK, has published interesting research on a non pathogenic soil bacterium called Mycobacterium vaccae. Gardeners encounter it while working with the soil, and it triggers an immune response. This response increases serotonin production, which elevates mood, and decreases stress and anxiety. To put it simply: working in the dirt makes you happy. Read more Meet Laurie Gilbert-Smiley, Master Gardener Volunteer

November 28, 2023Kathryn Farr

Is My Old Pressure Canner Safe to Use?

So, you spot a used pressure canner at a thrift store. Given the average price of a new pressure canner [around $200.00], that $25.00 price tag looks pretty good, but is the canner safe to use? What should you look for before using an older pressure canner? Extension employee Leslie Swartz recently posed that question to the Master Food Preserver group. Leslie had been gifted with a used Presto pressure canner and asked the group to evaluate it for safety.

The Master Food Preserver group evaluated this Presto pressure canner.

First Things First: When do I use a Pressure Canner?

A boiling water bath canner is fine for processing high acid foods like jams and pickles because molds, yeast, and enzymes are destroyed at temperatures below 212°F [the boiling point]. However, botulism spores can survive a boiling water bath, creeping inside the sealed jars of foods. Pressure canners use—well—pressure to heat the inside of the canner to 240 degrees. Water inside the canner is transformed into steam, which replaces the air in the canner, forcing the air out of jars and preventing bacteria from coming in. [The Cooperative Extension offers hands-on classes in how to use a pressure canner. See the Extension’s Events schedule.]

The Parts

The first thing the group asked was to see the canner’s user manual. We found the model number stamped into the side of the body and found the user manual online. The diagram below is an excerpt from How to Use and Care for Your Presto® Pressure Canner. Considering the critical functions of the various parts during the canning process, the group checked each part to see that it was in usable and working condition.

First Impressions

One MFP suggested checking the bottom of the canner body to see if it was perfectly flat because a warped canner bottom will prevent the canner from heating evenly. Our canner did not rock on a flat surface; its bottom was flat. Read more Is My Old Pressure Canner Safe to Use?