Members and guests of the 46th Parralel Planters Garden
Club hit the road Thursday on a tour of local Farms. The
first stop of the evening was at the Saxon Farm of Jeff
Soltesz and Leslie Kolesar Soltesz. The vegetable and
fruit garden is totally organic and has been certified
as such. Leslie uses absolutely no commercial
fertilizers, no pesticides and no herbicides resulting
in a garden that produces an abundance of safe to eat
food.
photo above - Leslie Kolesar Soltesz, introduces her
"Organic Farm" to the members of the 46th Parallel
Planters
Gardeners viewing the amazing results of a totally
organic garden. Leslie uses manure as her method of
fertilization. No chemicals allowed!
View of vegetables verifies that food grown with
organic manure can be as productive as one that uses
fertilizers with a chemical mix, best suited for an
afternoon cocktail for Frankenstien's monster! photo above: baseball size tomatoes in abundance
! Aluminum Sulfate users "Eat Your Heart Out!"
above Leslie describes what crops she planted this
year and how she maintains her farm without the use of
dangerous chemicals.
above: the corn is as high as an
elephant's eye..... can you finish that verse?
The Soltesz farm gets its energy from the new
windmill shown above. The turbine produces 2 1/2 times
the needs of the residence. The excess electricity
produced is sold back to the electric company. The 300
acre farm also produces all the fire wood needed for the
family.
Oh yes, one more thing. Behind
every successful gardener there's a garden dog.
After a tour of the gardens and orchards the group said
thanks and started the journey to Joe and Pat
Cattelino's "Jopac" Farm on U.S. 2. There another garden
tour took place after a tour of Pat's Great canning
kitchen.
above: Pat Cattelino in the canning
kitchen she designed and built using the state's
standards.
The gardener's toured Pat's Great canning kitchen. The
jams and jellies are canned in a building away from the
house. Pat's kitchen was built to the standards set by
the State of Wisconsin and was constructed after Joe
sold their herd of cows and retired from a long career
in Dairy Farming. Should you stop at the farm stand you
will find a large variety of great products for sale.
Joe also grows gargantuan size
vegetables like this cabbage shown above
above 46th Gardeners explore Joe's
garden
Oh yes, one more thing. Behind
every successful gardener there's a garden cat.
After the farm tours the garden group hit the road
again and headed back to Kimball where there was a very
nice reception at the home of Range Master Gardeners Vic
Calore and Zonza Wick.
Vic and Zona have a terrific garden that they describe
as a work in progress. Looks great already!
above: part of Vic and Zona's
beautiful gardens.
above: gardeners discuss the evening events at
the groups reception at the home of Vic Calore and
Zonza Wick. Great Job Vic and Zona!
