Special Events Coming Soon

  • Post published:02/11/2016
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The ground is covered with snow, but we gardeners can feel our hearts beating faster as we sense spring and the special events that will remind us of the delights and work waiting for us. Here are the dates for some enjoyable and instructional special events. February 17, Wednesday 7 pm - The first event is my own talk on The Making of a New Garden at the Shelburne Grange, Fellowship Hall, 17 Little Mohawk Rd, Shelburne. I'll…

Master Gardener Spring Symposium March 21, 2015

  • Post published:03/13/2015
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Creating Your Own Eden is the name of this year’s fact and delight loaded Western Massachusetts Master Gardener Spring Symposium on Saturday, March 21 at Frontier Regional High School in South Deerfield. I can imagine a garden Eden where all the trees welcome insects to take a modest banquet from their leaves, where birds eat some of those insects, where weeds and flowers grow to provide food for caterpillars, some of which also get eaten, and where butterflies…

Greenfield’s Winter Fare – February 21, 2015

  • Post published:02/19/2015
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Greenfield's Winter Fare is more than a Farmer's Market. Last month I attended the first  Winter Farmers Market of the year, held at the Greenfield Middle School. I came home with two heavy bags full of apples, winter squash, watermelon radish, golden beets, bread and frozen ground lamb.  And wonderful bread from El Jardin bakery.  Walking into that space was like walking into Ali Baba's cave full of jewels. A little brighter, but with so much wealth spread…

Full Weekend Monday Report – June 1, 2014

  • Post published:06/02/2014
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On this Monday morning I can report on a full weekend beginning with a New England Wildflower Society member Plant Swap at Nasami Farm. I brought waldsteinia and tiarella and came home with Jacob's ladder, an unusual epimedium, more tiarellas, a spicebush plant (very tiny) and an unusual native sedum. There  was a big crowd and a big tent for for the Greenfield Community College graduation Saturday afternoon. Granddaughter Tricia was graduation with honors and an Associate Degree…

Gardening with Kids – Fun and Learning

  • Post published:05/24/2014
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Gardening with kids is being taken to a whole new level at the HawlemontElementary School. They have received a grant that is allowing them to establish themselves as an AgricultureElementary School. This means that the schoolyard will have a variety of raised vegetable and flower beds, including a story garden that is being sponsored by the school library. But the schoolyard will also become a farmyard with a cow, sheep, goats and chickens. And yes, that means a…

Emerald Ash Borer Awareness Week

  • Post published:05/23/2014
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I just learned about Emerald Ash Borer Awareness Week (May 19-23) which is almost over, but I did  want to remind everyone about the necessity to watch for EAB damage.  The Emerald Ash Borer has been found in Berkshire County and most recently (Dec. 2013) in Essex County.  I wrote about the EAB in 2012, before it had arrived here.  The US Forest Service has an excellent website about this dangerous pest that can kill ash trees within…

Seeking Spring at the Leonard J. Buck Garden in NJ

  • Post published:05/11/2014
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  I went to New Jersey, the Garden State, to search for spring and found it at the Leonard J. Buck Garden in Far Hills. My brother Tony and his wife Joan took us to the 29 acre garden which was originally part of Mr. Buck’s estate. In the 1930s Buck began working with Zenon Schreiber, a well-known landscape architect, to create a naturalistic garden that incorporated the various rock outcroppings, the sinuous Moggy Brook and two ponds.…

CSA – Community Supported Agriculture is for You

  • Post published:04/13/2014
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For some people the initials CSA are just another of those annoying acronyms that can make our conversations sound like an unintelligible inter-office memo. For some CSA means Community Supported Agriculture which encompasses delicious local food, help for the farmer, and a community of like-minded folk who enjoy fresh food, and enjoy knowing they are supporting farmers and farms, and the very land and environment that surrounds us. Small farmers never think they are going to get rich…

Cellars and Cave Tour with the Heath Agricultural Society

  • Post published:03/11/2014
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The Heath Agricultural Society gave us all a chance to  go exploring the cellars and caves of our neighbors  this past Saturday. Root cellars, cider cellars and a cheese cave. Who could resist this opportunity? Over 50 people signed up for this tour, many of them from towns beyond Heath. Even Springfield! I took one group around beginning with Sheila Litchfield who first explained the basics of cheesemaking. Chemistry. Bacteria. Sheila is a nurse so she knows all…

Slow Flowers by Debra Prinzing

  • Post published:02/06/2014
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Slow Flowers by Debra Prinzing is the perfect book to be browsing through on this frigid day. The temperature is only 20 degrees, but the sun is brilliant and the ground sparkles with frozen snow crystals. As I turn the pages of the sumptuously illustrated book, my own summer garden exists in my imagination as it never has before.  Debra's 52 weeks of bouquets from local flowers from 'garden, meadow and farm' are full of surprises and inspiration…