Monday Record 4-27

  • Post published:04/27/2009
  • Post comments:2 Comments

Tynan arrived to spend part of school vacation with us and we devoted ourselves to art, the garden, and celebrating Earth Day at the eleventh most beautiful waterfall in Massachusetts.

Recycling hits the Art World

    First, off to Umass, my alma mater, to visit our friend Dan at the new Studio Arts building. He gave us a tour of the undergrad studios where we saw all kinds of art, collage, drawings, assemblages, paintings, clay sculptures, and even a work made with black headed pins.  Tynan was greeted by a Junk Man.

            Then off to the famous Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. The Museum is celebrating Carle’s 80th birthday and The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s 40th Anniversary with a special exhibit.  Another wonderful exhibit was of Virgina Lee Burton’s work. What child isn’t a friend of Mike Mulligan and his Steamshovel? 

Cleaning around the new Potager
Cleaning around the new Potager

 Back at the End of the Road there was work to do. My husband, known as The Major to the grandchildren, and Tynan had to take down old barbed wire fencing around the new Potager, and clean out to give room for the squash vines to spread. 

Working on the tractor is no chore.
Working on the tractor is no chore.

            Removing a big beam and an old harrow required the help of the tractor. 

Saplings into beanpoles
Saplings into beanpoles

            Ty also helped me by cutting down 10 saplings for bean poles which I will need very soon.

Tannery Falls
Tannery Falls

            Then we set off on a quest to find Tannery Falls in the Savoy Forest. The map showed a parking lot by the trail, but as we got close there was a sign saying the road was not maintained and we traveled at our own risk. It was a pretty rough road! But a very nice parking lot. 

The trail is very steep, but there are occasional railings and stairs built into the hillside. There are actually two waterfalls, but the trail mostly leads beside the rushing stream that makes the larger, and very beautiful falls. We estimated it at about 70 feet high. 

            If there is water there must be bare feet. Even if the water is icy 

            After garden work, and a hike amid great natural beauty we came home to build a fire for the first cook out of the year.

            On Saturday The Major took Ty back to his mother while I picked up my order from the Franklin Conservation District. Why didn’t I check that American Hazelnuts are a favorite food of deer, or that Serviceberry grows very tall before I ordered them.  My planting scheme needs to be totally reorganized! 

Nasami Farm in Whately
Nasami Farm in Whately

            A brief stop at Nasami Farm run by the New England Wildflower Society.  They  have several large greenhouses where they propagate native plants suitable for the garden.

Like this beautiful Pinkshell Azalea.  But I already didn’t know what I was going to do with my hazelnuts and serviceberry so left empty handed.

This Monday morning I can see all the growth in just one week, especially since we had three days of extremely unseasonable temperatures in the 80s.  But all my attention now is on water.

A happy day when we found this well in the garden
A happy day when we found this well in the garden

 

 Yesterday afternoon the water pump died. We opened a little well in the Lawn Bed for emergency water and now we are waiting for the repair man.

            Wish us luck!

This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. Frances

    Hi Pat, what a delightful weekend, Ty is a handsome fellow. It sounds like you hit the high spots for a well rounded education for him. I love the Junk Man and have always admired the torn paper art of Eric. Carle, hoping to try it someday. But really, you did not get the azalea? I would have tossed the trees, or given them to someone, to have room for the azalea, what a looker! 🙂
    Frances

  2. admin

    I might have to go back for the azalea. It is beautiful and we solved the tree problem The American hazelnuts went on a new bank at the end of the house (new cellar entrance with etc.) and the tiny tiny serviceberry and winterberry went into a nursery bed in the vegetable garden. Plenty of time to think about where they will be planted.

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