Today, in Medieval times and after, is Plow Monday, the first Monday after Twelfth Night, when men traditionally returned to work in the fields. It is paired with St. Distaff’s Day, the following Tuesday, when women returned to work. In 2013, that day fell on this date (see St. Distaff’s Day).
A more contemporary Plough Monday banner (source: unknown)
I am really excited about this year’s garden conference in Haines!
We have a great group of gardeners here, many of whom have taken the Master Gardener courses. (Several could teach the Master Gardener courses.) We are loosely organized, but have gotten a lot of really good things to happen. There is an annual plant sale around planting time in the spring, a farmers market, and a radio show, The Garden Conversation, on our local radio station, KHNS, to name a few.
Our little community hosted the 2017 Southeast Alaska Farmers Summit last February. The organizers had planned to focus on larger scale farming, but many of us small back-yard gardeners and subsistence gardeners attended and got a lot out of the experience. One result was the motivation to have our own gardener’s conference this year.
Jeff Lowenfels, acclaimed long-time Alaskan gardening author, is the keynote speaker. He wrote a couple of books I actually have on my bookshelf (and have read more than once): Teaming With Microbes: The Organic Gardener’s Guide To The Soil Food Web, and Teaming With Nutrients: The Organic Gardener’s Guide to Optimizing Plant Nutrition (paid links).
