The bumbleebees are buzzin' in the wisteria blossoms, and all kinds of bugs are biting me around my eyes, behind my ears and in the middle of my back where I can swat or scratch. It got so bad that in the heat of the day yesterday, I retired to the house for iced tea and a dip into Insectopedia by Hugh Raffles (Knopf $29.95). I was entranced the first time I picked up this book and began…
This ornamental plum, planted around 25 years ago, struggled for many years, but it is finally a real tree. Today in stands in for all the trees that are leafing out at a gratifying rate. I love weeping birch and planting a tiny seedling a number of years ago. It was hardly more than 6 inches tall and was already trying to weep. I kept trying to get it to grow up a bit first but the result…
Jan over at Thanks for 2day is asking us to write about our current and or planned efforts to garden and live sustainably by April 15. There are prizes! And a chance to learn more about each other, and more ways to live a greener life. Check out Jan's blog for all information and don't forget - Earth Day is coming up - for the 40th year! I have been documenting, to some degree, our attempts to live…
When I met Dan Rosenberg, founder and owner of Real Pickles at the newly renovated building on Wells Street I got a shock. Looking into the bright new kitchen I understood the reality of what raw, fermented food means. There is no stove. I have made pickles, which require no cooking, just brine, vinegar and seasoning. Then I’ve spent hours with the canning kettle to finish the preservation process. Rosenberg has built a substantial pickle business in less…
It has been a busy busy week - and not only in my garden. Let me begin with last Tuesday. Pastor Cara Hochhalter of the Charlemont Federated Church with several helpers, husband Jeff, and Deacon Erwin Reynolds behind her, turned a piece of church lawn into a winter squash patch. You'll notice that we are using the lasagna garden method. The squash will be harvested in the fall for the church's food distribution program. The Federated Church is…
If any edible garden is going to be a cost saving endeavor, thought has to be given to preserving the harvest. The labor in harvesting and preserving herbs is not onerous, but it must be done in a timely fashion. Timeliness is essential. Harvest your herbs before they bloom, while they are at their most flavorful. Cut them in the morning, after the dew has dried, but before the heat of the day. For hundreds…
Gray and chilly. Temperatures in the 40s with winds gusting at 14 miles and more. There is still one pile of snow in The Sunken Garden. Still, I got a lot done over the past week. First I found out that the old daffodils growing here when we bought our house in 1979 are Van Sion, a heritage variety. I have Kathy Purdy of Cold Climate Gardening to thank for the ID. Van Sion is a beautiful…
Again! Another 5 inches.
Yesterday, February 2, was the day the whole United States celebrated the groundhog. TV cameras were set to watch Punxsutawney Phil come out of his burrow to determine whether or not spring is upon us, or whether we will have six more weeks of winterIt is recorded that about 90 per cent of the time Phil does see his shadow which means spring is only six weeks away. While the United States, or at least readers of the…
We did have a snowfall that covered the ground already this fall, but this is a March 9 photo of our road this spring. It is the merest reminder of snowfalls that we had in the past. I told one of those stories to my friends at Garden Rant last week and won a Troy Built Snowblower!My story is of an April (yes, April) blizzard in 1982 (and I think I have the year right). It was the…