Last week’s frost bit the potato sprouts, turning them black but now they are sending up new green shoots . The mesclun mix lettuce didn’t seem to be affected, perhaps the straw used for a weed barrier helped insulate them. The Russian Blue Kale is very cold hardy and the spinach and Rainbow Swiss Chard can handle chilly temperatures.

Many gardeners were likely scrambling for tarps, buckets and sheets to cover tender plants they just couldn’t wait to get in the ground. It is so tempting to exuberantly snug all the seedlings into the garden on beautiful 80 degree spring days. However, tomatoes and melons are tropical in origin and so don’t care for our low temperatures and exhibit their displeasure at being put out too early by wilting, turning yellow and, in worst case scenarios, dying altogether, much to the dismay of the eager gardener.

Now that we are in the third week in May, it is reasonably safe to plant everything into the garden including direct sowing.

Last week, the Mountain Laurel Montessori School junior high students came out and helped us get the remainder of our plants in the garden. They transplanted 50 tomatoes, a flat of watermelons and cantaloupe, a row of squash and zucchini and various herbs and miscellaneous seedlings. We really appreciate their help and enjoyed talking with them about their garden at the Flint Hill campus and experiences growing under hoop houses. They spoke of a new retail outlet for their garden goodies at the Front Royal campus, selling their items at the local farmers market and donating large amounts of produce to the food pantry, in addition to harvesting the vegetables for their own use and learning how to prepare them. We applaud the students’ initiative and hard work and hope theirs is the most productive garden year ever!!

Awards Spotlight Development Projects – Luray Home Among 11 Selected In Valley

By CANDACE SIPOS

Daily News-Record HARRISONBURG —

An 18th century home in Luray, a garden center in Woodstock and a years-long street improvement project in Winchester all have something in common as of last week. They’re three of 11 development projects across the Valley, including two others in Shenandoah County, to have received 2013 Better Models for Development Awards from Valley Conservation Council.

Project representatives accepted awards during a ceremony in Staunton, where the organization is based. The awards highlight recently completed projects that enhance the character of Valley communities while also minimizing impacts on natural and cultural resources.

While the economic downturn led to a lack of development projects to choose from in previous years, a “good batch” of applicants came in this time around, according to Sara Hollberg, a planner with VCC.

One of the recipients is White House Farm in Luray, a 270-acre property purchased by Scott Plein in 2005. In addition to being one of the oldest structures in Page County — a large white house built in 1760 — the site includes a circa-1890 farmhouse, silo and other buildings.

Plein has restored the structures and is creating a 52-acre riparian buffer along the South Fork of the Shenandoah River, which runs alongside the farm for about a mile, as well as a plant nursery devoted to native Virginia trees. In 2010, he created the White House Farm Foundation, an educational and research center focused on conservation and ecology. Roughly 450 people, many of them students, visited the foundation run on the farm last year, according to foundation Executive Director Chris Anderson.

Three projects in Shenandoah County also earned awards: the Toms Brook School Apartments in Toms Brook, and Fort Valley Nursery and Indian Spring Wetland Park, both in Woodstock. “It’s not your average garden center,” said Terry Fogle, one of the three owners of Fort Valley Nursery. Their 5-acre site contains a nursery, European- style garden café and event center. It also doubles as the location for the Woodstock Farmers Market.

The Amherst Street improvement project and Green Circle Trail in Winchester also garnered an award. “That was a very large project and an excellent one,” Hollberg said. “It made that part of town into a place on its own that people would come to.” The city turned a mile-long stretch of Amherst Street into an attractive and functional corridor by replacing infrastructure, addressing needs for all forms of transportation and meeting recreational goals, according to VCC.

For more information on the award recipients, visit http://valleyconservation.org/better-development/better-models-for-development-awards/.

Contact Candace Sipos at 574 6275 or csipos@dnronline.com

“Can we run?!” asked the students hopefully.

“Yes, you can run,” Ms. Nixon, head of the Mountain Laurel Montessori School  replied as the students took off across the field. We were on our way to the river to admire the new wildflowers recently planted by students from Page County High School.

The 4th-6th grade students spent the morning learning about geology, the history of the White House, water quality and quantity and soils. We enjoyed lunch under the maple trees in the side yard, thankful of the beautiful spring day without rain.

The kids were remarkably attentive and interested in everything we talked about, demonstrating their impressive knowledge of watersheds and earth science.  They were genuinely interested in learning about the farm and, when asked questions as a group, many hands enthusiastically shot up, the students eager to share their knowledge and experiences.

The Mountain Laurel website explains that ’a Montessori education is designed to assist children in their task of self-construction as they grow from infancy to adulthood. This approach to life and education is founded upon the  principles discovered by Dr. Maria Montessori and complement the developmental characteristics of the human being.’

We continued along the river path to The Grove where the students stuffed their pockets with special rocks gathered from the bank of the Shenandoah, collecting samples of the ancient Appalachians mountains and taking home momentos of their day at the farm.