 Hearthfire Hill: Jj Starwalker
Jj has always had a strong connection to the earth. She grew up helping on her grandparents farm and selling kitchen herbs and seedlings which she grew in her small Michigan backyard and peddled around the neighborhood from her Radio Flyer wagon.
She worked with one of the first Ecology Action groups as a college student in southern California in the late 1960s and began studying agriculture formally in community college during the next decade. She has farmed or gardened in almost every state where she lived: Michigan, California, Colorado, Wisconsin, Texas, North Carolina and now Maine, where she is glad to return to her northern roots and the joy of the true four-season climate.
She eschews chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides and often encourages "volunteer" seeding of her plants. "Mother Nature knows when to tell them to grow" she says, watching for the first sprouts of self-seeded lettuce and spinach as a cue for planting season to begin.
Jj is a long-time advocate of a more natural diet, based on local foods, "eating in season," and recently has become a fan of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution (though she generally watches little TV and no "reality" shows).She listens to her intuition when it calls for hearty winter soups and stews based on stored root crops and dried summer veggies, augmented with small amounts of meat and changes her diet as summer comes, bringing plentiful greens and other veggies best served raw or with minimal cooking, less meat and more of the milk and eggs the longer days bring forth.
Jj is also the Stone Soup webmaster
Abundant Acres: Todd and Anne Sheerman
 Both Ann and Todd have agriculture in their blood. Ann comes from an extended family tradition in gardening and her main plant focus is vegetables. She grew up with family gardens that ranged from intensive raised bed plantings to larger, traditionally laid out plots. As a child, one of her favorite things to do was to wander the garden beds, eating cherry tomatoes and green beans. Her family often wondered why she was not hungry at meal times! Some things never change; Ann still eats her way through the garden, and the greenhouse, as she works.
Todd is a Master Gardener, horticulturist and works off the farm in landscaping.  With this background, it is easy to understand his focus on ornamental plants, flowers and herbs. His growing knowledge of traditional herb and herbal preparations is reflected in Abundant Acres expanded herb offerings.
Ann also enjoys milking their herd of goats and uses the milk to make soap and cheese, though the latter is not currently a commercial product. |
