PARMELEE FARM COMMUNITY GARDENS

 In the year 2000 the town of Killingworth, CT bought 132 acres of land and has recently established a community garden and several beautiful walking trails. The property was named The Parmelee Farm to acknowledge it's first owners, Horace and Eunice Parmelee. The Parmelee house, which was built in 1847 (photo above) will soon house The Killingworth Historical Society.

It wasn't until this summer....the summer of 2011...that I finally discovered this magical place. The gardens, pond, fields and trails are a peacful refuge from our modern hurry scurry world. When I walk the fields and trails, sit by the pond and stroll around the old house and barns, I feel as if I am transported to another time. 

 The concept of  forming community gardens needs to be encouraged. Big agriculture is becoming a monopoly and in order to have affordable healthy food, we need to maintain our right to grow our own food and or to support other local growers. It makes more sense ecologically to grow and buy our food locally, it's good for self sustainability and for the sustainability of the planet.....and it is much better for our health.

Local organically grown food is the first step in maintaining our freedoms and reversing the deteriorating health of our society. I also try to encourage people to utilize their property to the fullest. Edible landscaping should be a landowner's primary focus. Let your dandelions, chickweed, purselane and violets grow wild. Plant more fruit trees, vines and bushes, and add a vegetable garden or even just a few raised beds.Grow your own mushrooms! Doing this is much more rewarding and healthy than stuggling to grow a plain green lawn that has had pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizers sprayed all over it. We have been duped by the monopolies of commerce. We have been conditioned to think that food comes only from a store and that our land is for show only. We are steadily losing the rights to grow our own food. This fatal trend is beginning with the loss of our small local farms and if we do not begin excericising our constitutional and God-given right to produce our own food, soon there will be severe restrictions. Now is the time to learn about growing different types of food. Learn how to forage and how to preserve this food through drying, fermentation, canning and freezing.I have found  the learning of these skills to be an ongoing and exciting adventure!

Now I will take you along for a walk through the woods and fields of The Parmelee Farm.In the 1950s the Bosco family bought the farm and raised turkeys.The photo below is taken from within the fenced in gardens looking towards the old barn where they used to process the turkeys. 

The first time I visited the farm I met the poliwogs (froglets) below. The pond was teeming with them.

The next time I went for a walk the poliwogs were all grown up.

From the pond we walk across a field and into the woods. Recently I have become interested in learning more about mushrooms...their health benefits, how to grow and cook them. I haven't learned to identify many ground growing mushrooms yet so this "tour" will just be showing the large variety of mushrooms that can be found in one ecosystem. I won't attempt to identify any of them. Before anyone ever eats a wild mushroom, they should be absolutely sure of whether the mushroom is edible or poisonous. Many mushrooms look alike and beginners should always have an expert to help them identify anything they are thinking of eating. I was amazed at the large sizes of some of the mushrooms I came across.

The mushrooms below had somewhat of a luminescent look

The Mushrooms below MIGHT be chanterelles

I just love the different colors and shapes of fungi......an almost infinite variety.Take the time to savor the various colors and shapes

Just moss at the base of a tree can be soothing and beautiful

How cute are these guys below?

This fern looks like it was wired together to form a circle but it grew that way naturally

A cute little brown frog that hopped by and stopped to pose so I could take his picture.

This mushroom was pretty BIG!

I love when I find the mushrooms in little groupings or communities

I love the way this mushroom swoops out from the tree

It's fun to learn to appreciate the different textures and patterns in nature

As we near the end of the red trail, there is a pretty archway looking out into one of the fields

In the fields we see bees and butterflies collecting pollen and nectar.

 The ravages of time.......window of old stone turkey processing barn

We end our walk back at the community gardens, looking out from them at the garage where the farm equipment is kept. Hope you feel more relaxed than when you began!