The idea of using a straw bale as a planting medium attracted me a number of years ago. I bought a two straw bales, gave them a good soaking, punched holes in the bales with my Japanese hori hori knife, put a cup or so of compost into the hole, and then put my tomato seedlings in the holes. I watered the bale and watched the tomatoes grow. They grew slowly, and produced a very few tomatoes. I…
Vines have become more important to me over time. Vines have become more important to me over time. When we built a south facing patio in front of our Heath house in 1990 we also planned a kind of loggia structure that would hold a wisteria vine to shade and cool the patio. to shade and cool the patio. That shade would also alter the quality of light in our living room and even keep that space a…
Few of us hear much about castor oil anymore, but my childhood memory is that it was a common laxative and I never imagined there was a castor bean plant and it was one of the very poisonous plants Even as an adult I never gave a thought as to where castor oil came from so it was with great shock that when I admired a beautiful big plant with dark red-tinged leaves and prickly red seed cases…
Culinary herbs bring flavor and savor to a meal, that bit of piquance that can turn a bland dish into something delectable. They all have their own stories as well. I enjoy thinking of women from time immemorial harvesting their herbs and preparing meals and medicinal potions for their families. Herb gardens have an ancient history and we moderns can still grow a handful of the herbs we use most often. Simon and Garfunkel aside, parsley, sage, rosemary…
The first time I learned about compost piles was when a homesteading friend gave me a subscription to Rodale’s Organic Farming and Gardening magazine while we were still living in New York City. We had a tiny backyard in Manhattan, but we never did very much with it because of our fear of heavy metals in the soil. Adverse health effects caused by heavy metals are a real threat if you grow edibles. We moved to Heath 37…
Sunrise Farms welcome the sweet life when it's time to boil up the maple syrup. These days we are more likely to see little hoses (called lines in the vernacular) snaking through the snowy woodlands than tin buckets hanging off the maple trees. Maple sugaring has changed over the years and I got to see the whole process at Sunrise Farms in Colrain. The Lively family, mom and dad Marilyn and Rocky, with sons Erik and Jordan welcomed…
The United States has been built by people of every class, color and nationality, people who had a burning desire to learn, to spread new information, and to make people’s lives better, no matter their class, color or nationality. Sometimes their stories surprise us, but then they inspire us to find ways that we might improve our communities, our country, and even the world. George Washington Carver (1860s - January 5, 1943) was just such a man. He…
I have trees, caterpillars and butterflies and other pollinators in my backyard. Trees provide us with many environmental services. The obvious benefit is cooling shade. When we visited friends in Sacremento we learned that the Sacremento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) was putting trees on residential properties to cool the houses and lower the cost of power. Other benefits are not so obvious. They filter our air, take in carbon and breathe out oxygen. They filter water to protect…
Many of us will decide that gardening in small spaces is something we must, and wish to do. A number of years ago I watched a television show about centenarians, and the likely reasons they were living such long and healthy lives. The interview with one man, a devoted gardener, particularly struck me. He lived in a house on a large piece of property that included a woodlot that he tended, and vegetable and ornamental gardens. As he…
Climate change is much in the news. There are questions about whether climate change, the warming of the atmosphere and oceans, is responsible for the recent violent weather. The number of particularly violent storms seems to be increasing. There was Hurricane Katrina in 2005; a 2008 storm in Haiti that wiped out 70% of the island’s crops; Sandy in 2012 was the worst storm to ever hit New York City’ and hurricanes Maria and Harvey in Puerto Rico…