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Indoor Holiday Market - December 7th, 14th & 21st

The Town of Halifax Farmers Market is hosting its first Indoor Holiday Market for the holiday shopping season on Saturdays, December 7th, 14th, and 21st.  The Indoor Market will be open 8am - Noon.  The Holiday Market will be open for our local farmers, as well as any local artisans, crafters, and product/home based businesses' who have products they would like to showcase during the Holiday Season!  This is a great place to market your products for the Holiday Shoppers!  The fee for the Holiday Market is $15 for all three Saturday's if paid in advance or $7 per Saturday with advance registration required.

For more information or to register to become a Holiday Market Vendor please call 434-476-2343 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

2nd Annual October Halifest 2013

     Halifax Events is preparing for their final event of the 2013 season, the October Halifest, to be held on Saturday, October 26, from 9:00am till 4:00pm.  The Halifax Farmers Market will be buzzing with a fun filled day of fall activities for the whole family to enjoy.  This year's activities will include Scarecrow making, hosted by the Mentor Role Model Program and Abbotts Farm Supply.  There will be a pumpkin painting contest, hosted by United Way, and face painting and costume dress up provided by Halifax County Little Theater.  There will be many more fun activities for the family to enjoy.  Live music will feature The Barn Yard Pimps with Dennis Roller and Robyn Robbins, bluegrass with Big Cedar Drive, Kirsten Wellons, and Shakedown Street.  Essence of Movement will perform dance demos in the morning and afternoon.  Art and craft vendors will offer great selections of one of a kind items to get your holiday gift list started.  The Lions Club will provide free children's eye screening, collect old eyeglasses for recycling and take orders for their annual fruit sale.  Food concessions will be available and the Farmers Market will be selling stew.  Limited Vendor space is still available.  For more information, vendor applications, or to support your community by being a volunteer, come by the Halifax Town Office at 70 South Main Street or call Susi Robbins at 434.470.1602.  Don't forget to return on Thursday, October 31, for the Halifax Village Association Children's Halloween Trick or Treat and costume contest from 5:30pm till 7:30pm.  Mark your calendars and come join us in the Town of Halifax to celebrate this fall at the 2nd Annual October Halifest.

Garden Author coming to Halifax County-South Boston Museum

     There is poetry in gardening.  Each day, we watchpetals open to the sun, hummingbirds probing for sweet juices, the blush rising on a tomato and we file these images away in memory, maybe in a garden journal.  Anne Bethel Spencer (1882 - 1975) often put the love of her garden into words, caught on scraps of paper scattered around her house.  Eventually these scraps and her remarkable story were captured in a book, Lessons Learned from a Poet's Garden.

     As part of the Master Gardener Fall Garden Forum on August 2nd, author Jane Baber White will discuss her book, which details the 28-year restoration of Anne Spencer's Lynchburg home and gardens.  Anne's husband, Edward, built her a lovely small house out in the garden and together they named the sanctuary Edankraal ("Ed" for Edward, "an" for Anne and "kraal," an African word meaning "place").  Anne then went to work planting many exotic varieties of flowers and crafting garden-themed metaphors.  Her works inspired other writers and gardeners, especially during the years of the Harlem Renaissance.  Her gardens continue to inspire poets and gardeners today.

     Anne developed her way wwith words at an early age.  She graduated from the Virginia Seminary in 1899 and married in 1901.  Always a strong, independent thinker who advocated equality and education for everyone, she gravitated toward people like herself.  She became involved in her community and in the early NAACP and welcomed many notable people of the era to her home, including Langston Hughes, Marian Anderson, George Washington Carver, Thurgood Marshall, W.E.B. Dubois and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  The Spencer property is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

     Jane Baber White is also a life-long resident of Lynchburg and shares Anne's love of gardens.  Her book draws on the steps that she and the members of the Hillside Garden Club took over almost three decades to restore the Spencer garden.  Along with her garden club, White discovered links between Randolph (Macon) College and the Spencers.  White served as Director for the Old City Cemetery for 27 years and has been active in many other restoration projects.  She is also the author of Once Upon a Time...A Cemetery Story and The Book of Attributes for the Living Horticultural Collections of the Old City Cemetery Museums and Arboretum, Lynchburg, Virginia.

     An exhibit on Lessons Learned from a Poet's Garden and Anne Spencer will be on loan from Lynchburg to our county Museum.  This exhibit will be open September 11th through November 2nd.  Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

     The November 2nd Garden Forum is scheduled for 9 am to 1 pm.  The first presenter is Kevin Conrad, speaking on the preservation of rare plants and an overview of the National Arboretum in Washington, DC.  Jane Baber White is our second forum speaker.  Ms. White will discuss the life, house and gardens of Anne Spencer and sign copies of Lessons Learned from a Poet's Garden, which will be available for $45.  To register for the Forum, call (434) 476-2147 or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Second Saturday and Tools by Laverne Fuller

     As any do-it-yourselfer knows, the right tool can make all the difference in a project's success or failure.  The same goes for gardening.  Pruners or loppers?  Spade or shovel?  It all depends on the job.  Along with choosing the correct tool for the job, tools should be maintained for ease in use and so they will last.  Good tools are an investment and with proper care will serve you well for many years.  Be sure to clean your tools after each use.  Dirt and mud can be removed with a spray from the hose or a little scrub from steel wool or a grill brush.  Mixing used motor oil and sand in a tub and running your shovel or hoe through the mixture will help prevent rust.

     Keeping your tools sharp makes them easier to use and is better for plants.  Most folks can sharpen their own tools with a ten inch mill or bastard file.  When you file the blade, it is important to pull the file away from the edge and to maintain the angle of the factory bevel. 

     If your have questions or dull tools, bring them to the Halifax Farmer's Market, Saturday, September 14 between 8 and 11 a.m.  The Southside Master Gardeners will be there for their Second Saturday workshop on tool sharpening.  You can also support your neighbors who bring homegrown vegetables, fruit, organic meats, baked goods and other local products for sale at the market.  For questions about the Master Gardener program, call the Halifax Extension Office at 434-476-2147, visit the website at www.ssmga.org or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..