Our friends (L-R) Dick Bohme on the one-string bass, Dennis Avery on the dobros , Al Canali on guitar and Karen Hogness on mandolin comprise Small Change. One of the great benefits of living in Greenfield is the concert series held in the Energy Park on Miles Street which is only 5 minutes from our house. We found out about this concert series the morning that Small Change was to perform. Of course we were there. But we…
This post is a little off the subject, but as a member of the Bridge of Flowers committee I can't help blowing the Bridge's horn. The famed magazine Architectural Digest has opened their on-line article about elevated gardens around the world with our beautiful Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls. They even noted that our Bridge is probably the first renovated Bridge in the United States. Our Bridge of Flowers now attracts thousands of visitors every year…
The Fifth Annual Bee Fest will be held at the Second Congregational Church on Bank Row in Greenfield on Saturday, June 6 at 10 am. The event includes the Langstroth Lecture from 10-11 m - honoring the Reverend Lorenzo Langstroth who once served at the church and who discovered 'bee space' and created the modern bee hive with movable frames. There will also be activities for children including a Honey Bee Tea Party and a Bee Parade through…
Who wouldn’t want friends who like to play in the dirt? Who are always learning new things? Who like to get out and about and see new beautiful places? Who everyday notice and appreciate the glorious world around them? Who are always thinking of ways to make their community more beautiful? A group of people who all wanted friends like that decades ago and formed the Greenfield Garden Club and happily had their regular meetings in the…
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…
The Roses at the End of the Road is a collection of essays written about our life at the End of the Road. We found our way to Heath in 1979 and located a tumbledown farmhouse at the end of a town road. My husband checked that fact many times. What people think is our driveway is nearly a quarter mile of town road, plowed and maintained by the town. After the big snowstorm in 1982 when the…
When I arrived last Thursday afternoon the scene at the school gardens of the Discovery School at Four Corners were enjoying controlled chaos. Several teachers were staying after school to divide and pot up perennials from the butterfly garden. “Is this Echinacea or a rudbeckia?” one teacher asked and her spade bit into the center of the clump. “Don’t pot the dill! It an annual,” another shouted. “Are you sure these are all bee balm?” another asked…
I was walking across the Bridge of Flowers this morning and it is clear this is high Dahlia season. I don't know the names of these varieties, but I am going to look through the Swan Island Dahlia catalog and see if I can get names for some of these. Some dahlias have a more tender hue. China Doll is a dahlia that everyone loves. Dahlias come in so many forms and sizes. Do you think 'Shaggy' is…
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…
These Van Sion antique daffodils are strong growers. So strong that they persist in blooming in a rose bush no matter how many time I try to dig them out. No matter. I am glad to see them blooming. They are the earliest of my daffs, but a few others are coming into bloom. And if daffodils are blooming in Heath it must be time for plant sales. The first plant sale is organized by The Greenfield Garden…