What is a shed? Well, our tax bill defines our 15 x 15 foot Cottage Ornee as a shed. Some people call it a summer house, a screened porch, or a gazebo. To us it is pure delight, and I was happy to share our pleasure in it with the ladies at
Garden Rant and Debra Prinzing. Debra’s book Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways is a beautiful tome, and a reminder of how many ways there are for a shed to be beautiful, functional, whimsical and green.
I was astonished at how many garages and sheds have been repurposed as offices, as dining pavillions or creative space. I’m a little jealous of Debra’s visits with all these creative shed owners – but, of course, through her book I do get to listen in to their inspiring conversations.
Happily for me, Debra has given me more than Stylish Sheds to enjoy. There is her
blog, and her other books. The Abundant Garden is next on my list.
Sawyer Hall is not the oldest building in Heath’s newly designated National Historic District, but it is the building I am most familiar with. Originally built as a town library, and named after the man who put up the money, it has been added on to and functions have been added. The whole east side of the downstairs is the Heath free Public Library founded in 1894. Across the hall is the Post Office, and an office for our police force. Margo is the Postmistress and the Chief of Police. There are two accessible bathrooms and an elevator that will take you upstairs to the town offices – all in one big room that has been somewhat cubical-ized in a very makeshift way, and a separate assessors office. This is one busy place.
The two town museums were open in honor of this historic day when certificates were handed out to all the homeowners whose houses are in the National Historic District. Grand and humble abodes make up the history of our town.
There was a little bit of speechifying and wonderful reminicences by four of the town elders. We got one of our neighbors to take this family portrait.
As much as we treasure our Heath history and traditions, we are very progressive. The Heath Fair Parade now includes an antique tractor section, and a Prius section. Maybe they will add a Smart Car section. There is more than one in town. Two residents have installed windmills!
In the evening there was a more personal kind of celebration to top off the civic festivities. Our friends BJ and Dan invited us to Rowe Pond for a swim and a barbecue to celebrate their 22nd wedding anniversary. We did not attend the ceremony. We exchanged our house for the weekend with BJ’s mother’s beach house while ours was taken over by various celebrating relatives. We asked how they made it through 22 years together and Dan said, “The vows are strong!” He smiled.
The boys had gone swimming but another storm blew up and we raced over to Dan and BJ’s house in the woods. BJ knows how to take care of shivering boys. Cozy quilts and cookies.
I’ve noticed that a lot of celebrating goes on in the Heathan environs. We are lucky.
There is a reason and a use for lawns. Croquet! Although I can’t say that our turf is finely maintained.
A cultural foray. Off to North Adams and Mass MoCa, the Museum of Contemporary Art which is housed in the renovated old Sprague Electrical Factory. The museum of part of the revitalization of this old mill town and it is just about 45 minutes from our house, across the historic scenic highway, The Mohawk Trail. We stopped to admire the views from both the Eastern and Western summits. We eschewed the gift shops of both. With difficulty.
The upside down trees are the iconic art work at the entrance to the museum. We don’t know the meaning of this work. Is it about the way man, humankind, are always trying to bend nature to their own purposes? Or is it to show that no matter how hard we try, nature will have her way? The trees persist is trying to grow up and have to be replaced periodically. We thought there should be a society against cruelty to trees.
We saw some good exhibits inside. There was Jenny Holzer’s Projections. We got to lie on giant bean bags (no jumping or walking on them) while words were projected across the enormous dark gallery. We could read the words but not really the sentences. A frustration for a reader, especially since I supposed the text was part of the exhibit.
Then up to the Kidspace Gallery and the Deborah Sperbver exhibit of spools of thread acting as pixels to recreate great works of art, the Mona Lisa, the Last Supper, American Gothic. The artist is very interested in the way our eyes and brains perceive form. It was very interesting and kind of magical. We got to make our own pixilated art with special markers and sticky dots in lots of colors. What a great place!
Back to the farm. The Major mowed a big path in the field. After he turned the mower off he took us on a long tour of the path.
It took us a while to decide how to arrange ourselves, but we had a great ride. We love the tractor. After supper we went to a Theatrical Event.
The Mettawee River Theater Co. comes to Shelburne Falls every summer with a most unusual puppet performance on the lawn of the elementary school. Usually the stories are taken from myth, Greek to Native American. This year’s performance was about Nanabozho, the trickster hare and Grandmother Earth. This is a Winnebago tale.
The sun had died in the west long before Grandmother welcomed Nanabozho back from his arduous quest, and told him he still had a lot of work to do to get ready for the arrival of humans. Spectacular theater effects. We look forward to Mettawee every year.
Anthony (almost 12) and Drew (10) up from Texas joined Rory. They found out there is a LOT to do at the End of the Road. Put away those cards!
Rory started working on the worm farm. Now it’s Anthony’s turn to drill some air holes.
Drew wasn’t sure he liked the drill, but he took his turn and did his duty. Of course, there is more to a worm farm than a bin and air holes.
We took a trip to our neighbor’s house. Paul always has a nice big pile of leaves.
Then the leaves have to go into the bin.
Then dirt and compost have to go into the bin. The worms are supposed to be delivered by UPS this afternoon and we need to be ready.
Next on the docket is baking cookies to bring to the Friends of the Heath Library potluck tonight. But – no chocolate bits. We need to go to Avery’s General Store.
It’s hard to get through a day without a trip to Avery’s. What do you need? Milk? Bread? Steak? Barn boots? A garden hat? Pajamas? Screws? Paint? Office supplies? A new deck of cards? A lamp? A toaster? Hummingbird feeder? Chocolate bits! Honey! Decoupage foam paintbrushes! Soup for lunch!
After stocking up at Avery’s we thought we’d stop up at the Bog in Rowe. Pitcher plants grow there and Drew had never seen them. Lots of discussion about the biology and dangers of bogs.
Finally, we start mixing up those cookies!
Drew forgot how stiff the dough gets when you’ve added all the flour.
While the cookies were baking, the boys went out – and found a snake. Definitley a catch and release program.
We took the cookies to the Potluck and they were a great success.
But wildlife is everywhere. The boys found a red eft outside the Party Barn (it used to have sheep) while they were exploring between courses.
While we were at the Potluck, the worms were delivered. The UPS man must have been working overtime. The worms cannot wait any longer.
Into their new home. They are tiny baby worms. One pound. 1000 worms. Approximately. And now to bed for all of us. Can you believe we all fall asleep pretty fast.
Rory has arrived to spend nearly a week with Granny and The Major. There is a lot to do here at End of the Road Farm. I just bought a new plastic trash can so that I can make compost tea. Rory and I used Kathy Puckett’s recipe which mixes bunny pellets (alfalfa) and Epsom salts in water. I used 12 cups of pellets with 3 cups of Epsom salts. Rory measured and stirred.
Rory likes hiking so we set off to a neighbor’s property that has good hiking trails. We saw various mushrooms that have bloomed since our recent but brief rains. This was the best photo we took, but we don’t know what kind of tiny mushrooms these are.
The raspberries are coming in fast. Rory and I picked another quart. He is not enthusiastic about raspberry jam, full of seeds. We decided to make the Flummery recipe that was in the Sunday New York Times magazine. Take 1 quart of berries, 1 cup of sugar, half a cup of water and heat until it is liquid. Strain through a sieve (we used a food mill which did let a few of the seeds through, but not too many) and return to the heat. Add 3 tablespoons of cornstarch stirred with 2 tablespoons of cold water. Stir and bring the berry mixture to a boil. Simmer one minute. Stir in juice of half a lemon. The NYT suggested serving this with some heavy cream swirled in artistically. We served the beautiful and delicious red sauce over vanilla ice cream. Very good!
Day is not quite done and neither are our labors. It was starting to get dark when Rory and The Major (grandpa) went out on the piazza to work on the worm farm. Rory drilled drainage holes on the bottom of the plastic bin. Work will continue. Cousins Anthony and Drew are on their way!
There was substantial discussion about the demise of the lawn on Garden Rant recently. One question was what will replace lawns, especially on municipal sites. I’m not against all lawns, but some municipal space could very well be used for community gardens. This one in Greenfield (MA) is right in the center of town. It occupies part of the lawn surrounding an old elementary school that now houses the school systems’ administrative offices.
Eveline MacDougall found the site, originally a school playground with sandy compacted soil. Through her persistance and work with town departments the garden was born. Nine years of cultivation by all kinds of energetic gardeners with lots of compost have resulted in beautiful, lush and productive plots. In addition to personal plots, some of which have been important to new immigrants, there is a plot for the local food pantry, a communal herb plot, an experimental permaculture plot and a kids plot that are all tended communally.
It is not only the gardeners who benefit. Many local people find the community garden a pleasant place to walk, or to sit in the shade of a temporary pavillion to visit with friends. community for everyone!
It’s amazing to see what 9 years of conscientious cultivation will accomplish!
The raspberries are coming in. I wish I had put up a better trellis. Picking the berries requires some maneuvering. I have learned my lesson. Next year I will have a better trellis and I will have the berries thinned out, for their benefit and mine. I don’t have to wait for next year to have delicious berries. You can see that I’m in the process of making jam, but really, one of the benefits is that I can just pop them in the freezer. No work at all.
Years ago, when visiting a friend in Tacoma, we toured the Lakewold gardens. Near the back door was a trellis screen covered with a vine such as I had never seen before. The leaves were not only variegated, they were variegated in pink and white. I said I had to have this vine which turned out to be a hardy kiwi, Actinidia kolomkita.
The fact to remember about all Actinidias is that they require cross pollination by a male plant in order to make fruit. I was not really interested in the tiny fruits so I did not worry about buying a single vine. I wanted the pretty foliage.
In his book Uncommon Fruits for Every Garden Lee Reich calls these ‘lusty vines’ and as you can see from the photo that may be an understatement.
I planted my hardy kiwi behind the hardy roses in the Shed Bed to give some interest to the area after the roses’ brief bloom period. It has done precisely that. Sometimes visitors to The Annual Rose Viewing are more interested in the vine than the roses.
The Shed Bed has fairly rich soil (its right next to the chicken house) that drains well. It has not been bothered by pests or disease, and according to Lee Reich, once the plant is established it is trouble free. The biggest problem is pruning to keep the new shoots and branches under control – easy enough to do at the lower levels, but I’m now going to need a ladder.
For months an area in our shopping center was walled off and shrouded. Then The Tree was unveiled.
It’s an ATM!
Joyce Kilmer’s oft quoted line is, “Poems are made by fools like me/But only God can make a tree.”
I don’t think God anything to do with this one.
Ever since we pulled the curtain across the window and discouraged Frank the cat from sitting in the window box looking forlorn even though he has perfectly good access through the cat door, the windowbox has been looking pretty good. I always plant geraniums in the window box but I’ve never grown verbena there before and I really like it.
I do write most of my plant names down in my Record book, but that doesn’t mean I remember them off the top of my head. I bought this beautiful hydrangea (Moth something) at Nasami Farm three or four years ago and it is a strong grower. Some red bee balm (Colrain Red?) crept under it, snuggling up with the Henry sweetspire. Someday I’m going to have a whole garden of Henry plants (for my husband) and I welcome all suggestions.
Of course, June is the month for my hardy roses, but some like this one are continuing with vigor. I call this the Buckland Rose, named for the nearby town from whence it came, and where it grows in the gardens of all my friends. No one knows any better name
When we first moved to Heath I received a gift of a yellow daylily collection from White Flower Farm. They did have names attached to each plant, but they have been moved a couple of times and their proper names have long escaped memory.
This red daylily was a gift from a friend when she left her house and garden, but by then her memory was failing, and it is nameless as well.
There are a few other flowers in the garden, more bee balm, garlic chives, Achillea ‘The Pearl’, a pink yarrow, potted red geraniums, squash and tomato blossoms, and an annual salvia border around the rose Shed Bed, but from now on things will get very green until the zinnias, Asiatic lilies and dahlias come into bloom. right now they are just promising buds.
I am not responsible for all the flowers in the garden. Mother Nature is very generous with yarrow and Queen Anne’s Lace along our roadside (no it is not a Driveway), daisies and vetch in the field and mysterious yellow flowers here and there. I do not disdain them.
Stylish Sheds | Pat July 30, 2008 | 
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