Pansy Pick-up Days May 11 and 12

Come join your neighbors young and old in celebrating Spring with colorful field-grown pansies. This year Singing River Farm hosts Pansy Pick-up Days instead of our usual Pansy Festival. The dates for this two day event are May 11 and 12, Mother's Day weekend. Hundreds of field grown pansies will be ready for sale between noon and 4PM each day.

The pansies will be on display at the farmhouse which is 2/10 of a mile north of Vermont Route 103 at 2128 Brockways Mills Road in Rockingham between I-91 and Chester.

Singing River Farm's field-grown pansies are nurtured to grow as nature intends with strong, large root systems. Compared to commercially raised hot-house pansies sold in cell pack trays, field-grown pansies are more robust and more likely to continue blooming until fall. Laurel Green, who grows the pansies, will be on hand to discuss how to care for field-grown pansies, their origins and other pansy lore.

Since the last Pansy Festival, Steve Crofter and Laurel Green have turned their attention from farming to social and climate justice work. Steve is the founder and executive director of the Community Asylum Seekers Project (CASP). The non-profit organization is now hosting nine people who are legally pursuing claims for asylum under federal and international law. The CASP mission is to provide basic needs and a supportive community for those seeking asylum in the US. The website has more information at www.caspvt.org. Laurel has led a series of workshops about reversing global warming with solutions described in the book Drawdown, edited by Paul Hawken. In the past four months she has presented this information to over a hundred people in this region. Community organizing around climate justice is her passion. She has also helped start Mountain Valley Climate Action which is a local 350 Vermont working group. In addition, Laurel has various roles with Sustaining All Life and the Pachamama Alliance.

Laurel and Steve want to thank all of those loyal field-grown-pansy patrons and aficionados who have shared in our past Pansy Festivals. They hope their pansies have refreshed a memory of a loved one whom you've cherished, added a little color to your early growing seasons and brought a smile to your face.

Singing River Farm welcomes everyone to this community event! The Pansy Pick-up Days happen rain or shine. For more information, call the farm at 802-275-4646.

https://www.facebook.com/Singing-River-Farm-616669548476381/

Photo: Three generations of pleased pansy patrons; Emily and Luna Burkland of Chester and Marty Burkland, visiting from Fort Walton Beach, Florida.