Local Lunch at The Academy

  • Post published:05/12/2010
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Jeannie Bartlett, a senior at The Academy in Charlemont, has many interests including “farms, food, the environment, health and community” which she put together in a delicious way. Local Lunches, her Independent Senior Project, fed Academy students a monthly lunch composed of local ingredients all year. Todd Sumner, Academy Headmaster, explained “Senior projects are intended to extend a student’s classroom learning to provide service, and to apply and implement their learning. Students have to be responsible for a…

The Witches of Oz

  • Post published:03/13/2010
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The Heath Elementary School joined other august institutions of learning like Yale University, Brandeis and Tufts (to name only a few) in working with the innovative Double Edge Theater in Ashfield, an international center for performance. collaboration and training. This year the production was an original adaptation of The Wizard of Oz. This all school performance that involved everyone from kindergarten munchkins and bees, to a very dramatic Wicked Witch of the West (is it possible she was…

Lynden B. Miller

  • Post published:03/03/2010
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The annual Smith College Bulb Show at the Lyman Conservatory will begin with a free lecture by Lynden B. Miller (Smith '60) in the Carroll Room at the Campus Center at 7:30 pm on Friday, March 5.  Miller is a noted public garden designer and will be talking about her new book Parks, Plants and People: Beautifying the Urban Landscape.  She feels that "beautiful parks and gardens are essential urban oases with economic benefits and the power to…

Crop Mobs

  • Post published:03/02/2010
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The New York Times Magazine had a story on Sunday about Crop Mobs down in North Carolina.  The idea is that volunteer 'pop up farmers' can show up at a farm to slave away for a day or afternoon, doing all that labor intensive work that small farms have so much of. I know the Greenfield Garden Club has Weed Mobs before their annual garden tour, but I wonder if any local farms need a Crop Mob?  I'll…

The Art Garden

  • Post published:02/09/2010
  • Post comments:5 Comments

There are all kinds of gardens, perennial gardens, cutting gardens, and vegetable gardens, but right now the only garden that is giving me special pleasure is Jane Wegscheider's Art Garden in Shelburne Falls. The Art Garden is a welcoming and well stocked studio space that is available to the public, including children, to express and develop their creativity. And we don't have to do it alone. Jane is on  hand to teach and demonstrate and inspire - as…

Elsa Bakalar, Gardener and Friend

Last October I joined with friends, and family including Jake and Susan Bakalar, Elsa's nephew and his wife, and 'honorary daughter' Marie Hershkowitz who had been a student of Elsa's, to celebrate Elsa's 91st birthday. It was a jolly affair with a buffet brought by Jake and Susan, cards, stories,  and tributes. And laughter. And champagne. Two weeks ago my husband and I visited Elsa at the nursing home and again had a jolly time. The menu was…

Fish and Flowers

  • Post published:01/23/2010
  • Post comments:1 Comment

The sky was blue and the ice was thick. I did not see any fish being harvested, but the fisher folk looked pretty happy and relaxed.  I peeked at them on my way to the Greenfield Garden Club Annual Meeting, this year at the French King Restaurant. There was a good crowd. The room buzzed with the happy chatter of frustrated gardeners. The food was good and the conversation even better. The Greenfield Garden Club is a terrific…

Know Your Farmers

  • Post published:01/10/2010
  • Post comments:4 Comments

It was 10 degrees, but sunny, when I left Heath for the Valley yesterday, joining the crowds who attended Northampton's First Annual Winterfare Farmer's Market to get to know their farmers. CISA was one of the sponsors. Clarkdale in Deerfield had a table right near the entrance, so Winterfarers were greeted by the smiling faces of Tom, and his son Ben.  I think Ben makes the fifth generation of growing premium fruit on their magnificent farm. I always…

Bloom Day – Everywhere

The Christmas cactus is blooming right on time! However, there isn't much else in flower right now. The Thanksgiving cactus bloom has gone by and the abutilon has a couple of puny blossoms, but not photo worthy because there are so many different kinds of blooms to show this Bloom Day. We visited daughter Betsy and her family this weekend. Her orchids are blooming. She says she regularly gets them to rebloom. She is not known for having…

Christmastime is Wreathtime

  • Post published:11/20/2009
  • Post comments:6 Comments

The Greenfield Garden Club held its wreath-making workshop last evening at Chapley's Garden in Deerfield. Linda Tyler knew what she was doing and helped all the rest of us who didn't. Chapleys provided all manner of greenery from blue spruce to euonymus, rose hips, pine cones and I don't know what all - except that a lot of different and unique wreaths were being created all around me. Karen Helbig and I were working side by side. She was…