North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[ribes60@aol.com]

My .02 cents worth

This is in reference to the comments about NAFEX viability and the "net 
worth" of the membership. I realize that nurseries are failing and becoming 
scarce. People are probably planting less fruit and vegetables - times are 
pretty good and food and fruit is fairly cheap. Here in central Pennsylvania 
it is easy to find flowers and flower plants, but you may have trouble with 
vegetables. There are limited selections of fruit trees, and often these are 
not choice varieties. While the total numbers of active growers may be 
dwindling, there are still a lot of very enthusiastic growers around and most 
are willing to share information.

I have just completed my annual "Open House" at my planting of gooseberries 
and currants and felt that it was quite a good meeting. Each year there are 
different people and I am always amazed at the sincere interest. I am already 
looking forward to next year.

This NAFEX forum is a great exchange of information; there is almost no 
question that goes unanswered, and the reservoir of information and the 
willingness to share and provide help to other members is almost 
unbelievable. The overall membership of NAFEX may be declining, but there are 
very active local  sub-units that are outstanding. I refer to one 
specifically - the Back Yard Fruit Growers in PA. I think that this concept 
is a model for the country. It is fairly local, so attendance at meetings is 
very good; it has close ties with Extension service so that it becomes a 
win/win situation for all; it teaches the community and thereby has support 
and ongoing membership opportunities. I am very pleased to be a member of 
this group and thoroughly enjoy the camaraderie of the group.

I am sure that there are many people that could be "speakers" for NAFEX, I 
think that this needs to be done on a more local basis. I am much more 
inclined to listen to a local program with a local speaker than to listen to 
a program 


Northumberland BerryWorks
707 Front Street
Northumberland, PA 17857
Ed@currants.com
WWW.Currants.com
(570) 473-9910


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