This past Wednesday Joe and I decided to drive north to Vermont as I want to visit a small nursery that I ’ve been reading about in Instagram – the Bunker Farm . I visited their booth at Trade Secrets a couple of weeks ago , and while a little bewildered why they hand . nips of maple sirup out with every leverage , It now all makes mother wit . It really is a farm . Complete with piglets , doll , cows , barns and tractor – but really , it ’s the glasshouse and industrial plant selection that interest me – This position is special .
So ‘ particular ’ in fact , that it ’s one of those root that I contemplated keeping secret . Yet , I just ca n’t assist myself when it occur to gushing , as you know . I mean – how many diverseness and coinage of scabiosa does it take before I start gas ? ( 5 , but I ’m not counting ) . There is so much here , that I would rede you to check out theirgrowing listand get there betimes . Their selection is harebrained , and the plants perfectly grown . All of those plants that you wished that you had order from Chiltern but did n’t , or the single that you tried to grow , but failed with are in all probability here .
You ca n’t beat up this story – two sis from Maine marry two farm boys from Vermont and purchase a farm . Today , they raise squawk , heritage breed porc , fowl , make maple sirup , teach kids about farming and sustainability , and raise rarefied annuals and perennial . ( Yeah , I know – it ’s that sort of place . ) .
Actually , the story give out more likethis – because you may be wondering how four young people could ever afford to buy a farm today ? This was all made possible by kismat and lots and of generous assistant from the community and the political science from a demesne trust . I m not sure what it is about ( Dummerston Vermont but it attracts some talented works multitude as well ) , the specifics on how these two young couples ended up with a farm that bring forth pasture - enkindle gripe and chicken , vegetable , heritage porc breeds , maple syrup , instruction programme and rare and strange seedling of annuals and perennials is a recollective and interesting one , but suffice to say , it makes a day driving out here not only worth it , but gleeful as everyone is so nice .
Before the Hollywood screen writer deflower it , it goes kind - of like this – Helen O’Donnell and Jen O’Donnell , two gals from Maine marry two guy from Vermont and they move to a working farm . complete with baby shoat , crop squawk and poultry , bloom and vegetable glasshouse and a maple bush . Year daily round they raise animals , cut flower , fresh vegetables , and in the wintertime chopper wood and make maple syrup . Hard work , but for some , the only way to hold out .
The farm support local agriculture as is offers its products for sale at local farm stands , co - ops and restaurants as well as offer up CSA ’s . They also run a small glasshouse which is n’t ordinary by any substance . Rare and unusually yearly ( some rough-cut ones too ) are their specialty , all seed - raised and available in 6 gang and 4 inch corporation as stalwart , well hardened off plants ready to go into your garden , but do n’t expect to see any Proven Winners or branded choice here – alternatively , the germ is cautiously order from only the finest suppliers of unusual seed ( like individual raiser in England including Great Dixter and Sissinghurst , as well as catalogs like Chiltern . anticipate sinful – both in selections and in industrial plant material . Here , you will find plants that you will find no where else unless you raised them yourself .
In some ways , this is Annie ’s of the East , ( but with more Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and piglets ) . If you are looking for those hard - to - raise - from - seed annuals like poppies , this is the place , but get here soon .
Around the farm , ( as it IS a ferment farm by every definition ) everyone has a specialism – Noah runs the animal husbandry part of the far , baby Jen is involved with teaching projection , Mike play the maple sirup part of the business , and Helen O’Donnell is the plant person – negociate the greenhouse and ordering the semen , much of which come from her ally who operate with her when she did Erolia minutilla at small places like Great Dixter .
Helen bonk her works , but then again , she has been well cultivate and she is well connected . For example , we chatted a moment about a few trays of plants that did n’t make it into her catalogue list ( no ring armor rules of order , you need to tug here ) which look like a flat of some Cuphea viscosissima seedlings , yet slightly different – they were healthy and shaggy-coated in 4 in pots as most plants here are – and when I questioned the cradle or name , she agreed with me “ Oh , Paige Dicky asked the same matter – you might be ripe . ”
Clearly this is the kind of place where a plant person can go waste contribute the selections and varieties found only on secret seed lists and the finest seed catalogs from England or the US . I suppose others do know about Bunker Farm ’s special selections , as sometimes I finger a bit ‘ late to the scene ’ because others - in - the - know , have already notice the plant life - delicacy of Bunker Farm . I foretell that it wo n’t remain hole-and-corner for long , once the world discovers the selection here . I enquire if they could deal out wholesale to regional nurseries in New England , but Helen made a good point – “ would people bribe annual that are not in bloom while still in the potbelly ? ”
After shopping yesterday at a local nursery where I watched vernal professional couples load up up their SUV ’s and Volvo ’s with monolithic 75 dollar Calibrachoa baskets ( in full bloom)and other hang field goal and full grown container of Iceland poppies ( nearly over for the time of year ) and the entire cart cautiously semblance - matched in pallet to an left over mix of plants ranging from salvia to gratifying potato vine – I have to agree – with some risk of sound curmudgeonly , the gardening public does involve some Department of Education when it comes to embed buying and pick .
Curating a garden based on a single list to a glasshouse in April is dangerous , but I would engage a bet that a majority of casual gardener purchase their plant in this manner . Will they ever learn to move on to buying plants not in peak ? Some may eventually , but until then , I kind - of like the quiet drive down a crap rural area road and find seedling from seed pick out by a real gardeners with a wish list and the capacity an endowment to farm them . Seeds from Chiltern in England , seeds fromSelect Seedsin Connecticut , and then a few share from gardeners at Sissinhurst and Great Dixter . It ’s out sort of space .
The farm is open to the public only two days a workweek , Weds from 3:30 until 7:00 ( there is much farm oeuvre to be down , you know ! ) , and Saturday afternoon . Check their website for changing hours or call forrader . I imagine that they will have plants for the next few weeks , but most will probably be gone – too mature for pots after mid - June , unless Helen is sow more . That would n’t surprise me .
Upon leaving , I espy another flat : “ Oh , that ? Yeah , I do n’t have it on the plant list , but it count on that you peck that out – because the seed came from Sissinghirst and I was say that it ’s incredible but I havn’t farm it yet – but does n’t it look good already ? ”
It was a flat tire of Ligustium lucidum . A plant I never heard of , and I questioned the name as I though that maybe she meant Ligustrum lucidum , perhaps neglect the ‘ r ’ off by mistake . But nope .
Ligustium lucidum is n’t the same plant as Ligustrum lucidum , ( which you may know as the vulgar Privet bush ) . This is Ligustium with an ‘ i ’ and it ’s also not the still uncommon but Google searchable – L. scotica either . ) . Ligustium is grown in the perimeter of Great Dixter where this source came from , enough for me to bribe a few for I ( and out bee ) can do with another plant from within Apiaceae ( those works with umbels like Queen Annes Lace ) .
endeavor to find this at your garden kernel .
I left with a car full of interesting annuals life sentence Succisella influx , Patrinia scabiosifolium and Melinis nerviglumis not to mention 5 specie of poppies ready to be set cautiously into the garden . Also , some Orlaya , four selections of Scabiosa and healthy pots of Cerinthe John R. Major . It was then that I comment Joe running back to the car – he had ‘ shote ’ in his eye . cunning , heirloom - breed piglet . I was destine and clamber with how I could keep one from not terminate up in our car . The cure porkers were a snatch ticklish today because it was expurgation daytime , so they could n’t be picked up , which probably saved me .
The hogs here are of assorted heritage breed as Noah experiments in trying to receive the most flavoursome and practical breed for the area and for the farm . The piglets were crosses between Berkshire and Tamworth hogs which will spend the summertime being rotationally crease on the velvety wild - flower bless green hayfield of Vermont . It ’s all comes down to stress - detached lifetime which results in toothsome pork , which come from happy pig bed .
The farm also produces maple sirup , and Bourbon dynasty - aged maple sirup , brisk heirloom cut of beef , pork and whole chicken as well as offering a CSA for meat . We left with a big box of meat , and especially enchant in the selection of hard - to - find cut like Pork cheek and cows lingua as well as trotters for some of my families traditional Lithuanian dishes . Helen expressed some relief and delight that we were interested in some of the more ’ fancy cutting ’ which she said either goes to local foodies or some Korean neighbors . No trouble , Joe made me buy a few steaks and chop as well . This is grazed and pastured kick , so steak are much smaller and leaner than typical mill - farm fare .
Since it was only 4:30 PM , Helen suggested that we also make a visit to another nearby nursery – Walkers Farm Stand , which is better have sex as a supplier of plants especially vegetable plants and ship’s boat yearly . I have heard about Zimmer frame from a few friends over the age , and I knew that the belated Wayne Winterrowd and Joe Eck shopped there regularly . We loaded up whatever blank left we had in the car with heirloom tomato plants which were the everlasting size of it ( two span of leaves ) . They had so many varieties , that the inclination was 3 pages long !
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