Date: Fri 27-Aug-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

gardener-Bridgewater-Novaco

Full Text:

A Blue-Ribbon Year, Despite The Drought

(with photo)

BY STEVE BIGHAM

It was another blue-ribbon year for Mary Ann Novaco at this year's Bridgewater

Fair. In meeting this summer's drought head-on, the Newtown resident simply

diversified.

The prize-winning gardener and canner took home first place in four categories

-- best vegetable display, pears, shallots, and beets.

"It was a rough year. I had no blackberries or blueberries, so I had to can

beets," she said.

For Mrs Novaco, the switch was not a difficult one; she grows just about

everything at her garden home on Homer Clark Lane. She calls it her "victory

garden," referring to a term used during World War II. During the war,

Americans grew their own vegetables, allowing farmers to feed the hungry army.

Victory gardens sprouted up all over the country, supplementing homefront

dinner tables with fresh produce. In 1943, there were 20 million victory

gardens in the United States. They produced eight million tons of food.

The longtime Newtown resident is running out of room in her home for all the

blue ribbons she has won over the years. Mrs Novaco has collected first prize

in a number of other categories, including best in overall show, best

blueberry jam, best blackberry sauce and best blackberry brandy.

After a run of victories for best of eggs show class, the local grower

finished third this past weekend.

"It was a real come down," she joked. "The lady that won was really good,

though."

While gardening seems to be as popular as ever, the art of canning is now

practiced by a only a few. It is a lost art, according to Ms Novaco.

"If I don't keep it up, who will?" she wondered. "In the old days, people had

to do it. I do it for the fun of it, now."

The retired fashion designer has always been a gardener, and she says canning

was just a natural progression. Putting her wares up for show was never a

consideration.

"I had always gone to the Bridgewater Fair. I canned all the time so I just

decided to try it one year," she explained. "When I came home with the blue

ribbons, I was hooked."

The drought has been especially hard on Ms Novaco's gardens. Even constant

watering of the plants has not helped. Vegetables are small, plants are

wilted, even the trees have suffered.

"It's so sad this year. Usually, by this time, I would have gugats of salsa

already canned, but the tomatoes are still green on the vine," she said.

A private woman, Ms Novaco enjoys puttering around her eight-acre property.

She is up with the sun and out in the gardens with her friend and neighbor

John Kortze, III. (Mr Kortze is an accomplished gardener himself, taking home

first prize for his 40-pound cabbage a few years back.)

Life is good for this former New York City fashion designer. Her days of work

on 7th Avenue in Manhattan are five years in the past. She plans to spend the

rest of her retired years enjoying her favorite hobbies. When not in her

garden, Ms Novaco is doing arts and crafts, going for early morning swims in

her pool or packing her bags for her annual spring passage to Paris.

"I don't even wear a watch anymore," she said holding up her bare wrist.

Born in Canada, Ms Novaco grew up in Danbury and has lived in Newtown for the

past 25 years. With a career and an apartment in New York City, Newtown was

her weekend home.