This blooming Griffith Buck rose named Winter Sunset might be warning me that winter is not that far off. 50 degrees this morning when I woke up, and tonight is promised to be even cooler. For more (almost) Wordlessness this Wednesday click here.
Frank, a natural creature, is red in tooth and claw. He has caught a few of the many rabbits that have been marauding my garden, and gardens all over Heath this year, but he doesn't usually bring them in doors. This rabbit was mortally wounded. It was amazing that it had so much energy to run around the kitchen. I went out to cut flowers for an arrangement for church and I became the prey. I got…
Berries are the best. They are delicious summer fruits, especially when they are picked right off the bush and brought in for a morning bowl of cereal, a beautiful fruit tart, or a pot of jam. They are easy for the gardener because they are perennial plants and require little fussing over the years of their life. In Heath we pay a lot of attention to blueberries. One section of town is called Burnt Hill because the hillside…
Our creative community got to display its imagination and skill at the 95th Annual Heath Fair from August 17-19. The Hall exhibits range from flowers, flower arrangements, vegetables and fruits on a plate or in jars, cookies, bread, maple confections, eggs, ciders, honey, quilts, knitted or crocheted hats, sweater and scarves, lego constructions, photography, art of every sort - and all categories are organized by age. Ribbons and money can be won by everyone! I spent a lot…
I did not notice these wonders at Mass MoCA until about the fourth time through All Utopia's Fell by Michael Oatman. This exhibit is an Airstream trailer rigged up like a space capsule that has crashlanded and is hung up in the air on an old factory building, crammed with all the equipment for necessary for spacemen to live and work. Finally I noticed that this craft has God's eyes everywhere. Was Michael Oatman suggesting that God's eyes…
How long does it take for a vision to become flesh? Or in this case patios, stone walls, cool shady flower beds and a koi filled pond? For Bruce Cannon who found and bought a hilly wooded site on South Mountain in Northfield fifteen years ago, the vision was complete in only three or four years, but the building took a little longer. The house came first, set on the only bit of flat land on this steep…
Good glory in the morning on these August days. Things are looking a little fresher after the 2-1/2 inches of rain we had this past weekend. And another inch last night. At first I didn't think I had much in bloom - and then I took another look. I didn't expect the aconite would be embracing the Moth Light hydrangea - or vice versa. I bought a bag of acidanthra bulbs on a whim and them forgot where…
Spring planting did not go happily for me what with the rabbits coming along and eating each little shoot as it came up. Since spring we have added new resources – a big fence around the vegetable garden, and row covers. Therefore I am going to try for a fall crop in ways that I have not before. I took a look at the seeds I have leftover from the spring and realized that many of them can…
Deer have come and gone in my garden. Our gardens (and house) are essentially in the middle of a large field bordered by woodland. The deer population crosses the field and goes down to our Frog Pond. Very beautiful when they are not hungry and there is plenty of forage. But are they satisfied? Earlier in the spring I did not see any deer in the garden and I thought perhaps I had planted so many deer resistant…
It is ever harder to feed the hungry in our community. So many people have been unemployed for a long time. Many other people have only part-time jobs or minimum wages jobs that do not pay enough to pay all a family expenses. We have several ways that we try to feed the hungry in our community. There are food pantries like the Center for Self Reliance, the Salvation Army and the Survival Center. We have breakfast and…