The first Bloom Day of the year. The first Bloom Day of a new decade. I wish I could post something really splashy, but I don't really have much in the way of houseplants - but here we go. I made a trip to Logee's Greenhouse several years ago and the only thing still thriving after all this time is two scented geraniums. Their blooms are not notable. I bought them for their beautiful scented foliage which continues…
December is not usually a good time to visit a small farm in action, but when I visited Daniel Botkin and his wife, Divya, at Laughing Dog Farm in Gill I got a tour of a thriving garden in the big hoop house (or long tunnel) and a lunch of delicious vegetable soup with bread and goat cheese made that very morning. This is local food at its finest. I had specifically gone to Laughing Dog Farm to…
I'm starting to make up my list of Plants to Buy for the spring, and I got stopped right at the first page of the Bluestone Perennials catalog. A is for Achillea or yarrow. I already have "The Pearl" in my garden and I love it. It is pretty in the garden and useful in bouquets. I have another pink yarrow, but I don't know the name. When I first started gardening I was only familiar with the…
Garden Bloggers from all over this great USA, from California to Massachusetts, and from Michigan to Texas and Louisiana AND Canada, are all meeting up in Buffalo, home of the famed Buffalo Garden Walk for the Third Annual Garden Bloggers meet-up from July 8-11. I will be here to compare notes with Kathy Purdy about cold climates, with Carol about dreaming in the garden, with Frances about faire gardens, and with Susan Harris about how sustainably our gardens…
It was 10 degrees, but sunny, when I left Heath for the Valley yesterday, joining the crowds who attended Northampton's First Annual Winterfare Farmer's Market to get to know their farmers. CISA was one of the sponsors. Clarkdale in Deerfield had a table right near the entrance, so Winterfarers were greeted by the smiling faces of Tom, and his son Ben. I think Ben makes the fifth generation of growing premium fruit on their magnificent farm. I always…
Amy Stewart over at Garden Rant posted about the reality of Meryl's Streep's garden in the new movie, It's Complicated. As the LA Times article said, this garden was not planted or tended in situ. It is a movie set. The plants for this 'potager' were grown in a greenhouse and laid out when it was time for the scene to be shot. Tomatoes were wired to the plants. Some people have complained that this fantasy of a…
Bread is the staff of life. I love making bread in general, especially in winter when the oven helps warm the house, but in preparation for my sprouting workshop at the Northampton Winterfare on Saturday, Jan. 9, I decided to make sprouted wheat whole wheat bread. I got a good recipe from the Sprout People website, and the result is delicious. The recipe made two loaves. One, the prettier one, went into the freezer so I can bring…
This Saturday, Jan. 9, I'll be giving a Sprouting workshop at the first annual Winterfare in Northampton which will be held at the Smith Vocational School, near Cooley Dickinson Hospital. This event is patterned after the Winterfare market that has been held at Greenfield High School and will be celebrating its third annual festival of fresh produce, workshops, bartering, and refreshments. Northampton's Winterfare will be serving delicious soups (bring your own mug) provided by 5 local eateries: Cup…
The recent days have been the coldest (3 degrees) and windiest (40 mile gusts) we have experienced so far this winter. Snow showers every day have kept the landscape pure and white in the Knott Road landscape. We live at the End of the Road, which we always say is not much of a road, but the road crew keeps it in good shape all year long. Knott Road is a spur off Rowe Road which leads from…
My view to the northwest is of an unblemished snowfield. The snow is clean and bright, the sky a brilliant blue. The landscape is as untouched as the new year.. What will I do with 2010? How will I approach my landscape? Recently a friend of mine said he was gearing himself up to buy a tiller for his tractor, usually used for work in the woods and plowing snow. His wife chimed in that he was tired…