No matter how devoted we are to our gardens, most of us would admit that the most important crop we tend is the children in our lives. The Major and I are happy to let the gardens take a back seat to grandson pleasures on these cool summer days. We had to say farewell to Tynan, but we met our daughter Betsy and her older son, Rory, in Amherst for lunch and a 'backyard circus at the Emily Dickinson…
Yesterday we traded off boys. After attending the 'backyard circus' at the Emily Dickinson Museum, daughter Betsy took Tynan home and left us with Rory. We had an elegant BBQ with friends (before the storm) and woke up to a beautiful Sunday - perfect for an afternoon of lawn mowing. Rory will be 13 next month and I have been waiting for this day for almost 13 years too. The Major is giving him a good lesson, and keeping…
Even though there are lots of activities here and there, we all spend lots of time at home, playing games, making art, cooking, checking out the Frog Pond, and Reading Aloud. Life at the End of the Road offers many activities right here. But we did hit the road to do some errands in Shelburne Falls. Tourists come here because they think its kind of quiet and old fashioned. But it is not THIS old fashioned. After errands,…
We moved from Manhattan to the End of the Road with our three daughters the day after Thanksgiving in 1979. Winter arrived in Heath that night. It was a long cold Heath winter in our uninsulated house. We spent a lot of time dreaming and planning for the spring when we could be warm - and make a garden. After having just read Katherine White’s book, Onward and Upward in the Garden I was determined to have hardy,…
With the weather still cold and wet we devoted yesterday to community service. The only gardening we could do was watch the yeast grow as we started baking bread for the food distribution at the Federated Church of Charlemont. It takes strength to knead bread, but we kneaded until the dough felt like a baby's bottom. We weren't going to get any of the bread, but we baked lemon cookies for the Bridge of Flowers birthday on Saturday…
Grandson Tynan arrived Monday evening, but we wasted no time on Monday exploring the damage done to the landscape. We cleared the path down to the Frog Pond a little more and Ty was amazed at the trees bent and broken around the pond. The frogs and newts seemed to be in good shape. The sundews, too. We still don't know how those tiny, pond-edge carniverous plants, close around bugs to eat them. Since the weather was supposed…
The past week was cold, wet and windy. Not much time out in the garden, although I did pick the last of the lettuce in the herb bed, and lots of sugar snap peas. We eat them raw. On the cloudy, cold and windy Fourth of July we went to a neighbor's BBQ where we huddled in the kitchen, only nipping out to the fire and hot dogs occasionally. We all know that kitchens are the best for…
The Western New England Iris Society is having its annual Iris show at the Community House in Shelburne on Sunday, July 5 from 1-4 pm. This is an opportunity to see a variety of beautiful Japanese irises and learn about their needs and culture. Japanese irises have a flatter more horizontal flower and bloom slightly later than Siberian and bearded irises. I always thought they required a wet site to thrive, but Kathy Puckett told me this…
Kathy Puckett is a collector. She has hundreds of orchids and hundreds of daylilies. She has lilies and roses and peonies. But right now she is celebrating her Siberian irises. Blue, purple, yellow and white. Great clumps of healthy gorgeous plants. When I asked if she had a favorite flower family (it was obvious she could never choose a favorite individual flower) she hesitated. “I love them all for different reasons. Sometimes I love the flower, or…
A little Madness in the Spring Is wholesome even for the King, But God be with the Clown-- Who ponders this tremendous scene-- This whole Experiment in Green-- As if it were his own! Emily Dickinson We had our moment of madness at Sunday's Rose Viewing, and I am not fool - or clown - enough to believe the roses are all my own. With the help of my friend and Dickinson scholar, Martha Ackmann, I…