The children of the Erving Elementary Preschool were so proud of the sunflowers they grew that they sent representatives to the Recorder/Greenfield Garden Club Sunflower Contest in August. When the children returned to Erving they carried back prize ribbons for the heaviest sunflower head and for the third tallest. But their garden is about more than glory. The preschool class of 3 and 4 year olds, led by teacher Mary Glabach with the assistance of Kristin Lilly, Becky…
One of my favorite poets, John Donne, made a little money from time to time writing epithalamions, wedding songs for the nobles who wanted to add a little extra dash to their nuptials. Hiring a poet is all very well, if you don't have a truly talented, loving and insightful friend. Fortunately for our friend Rebecca, one of her best friends wrote and read what I consider an epithalamion at her wedding. I will not give you the…
I drove over hill and over dale until I found the white house with the green roof - and a welcoming table in the garden. Prettier than the table, and with a smile that said more about welcome than a pretty table, Carol greeted me under centuries old maples and led me into the garden. Those who are familiar with the Flower Hill Farm landscape through Carol's gorgeous photographs, can imagine the gardens that meander downhill, and the…
Did you know that growing and exhibiting giant vegetables is a popular competitive sport? I don't have photos of Art Kaczenski's 2010 Second Place Winner at the Big E's Giant Pumpkin competition, but once again he took second place with a giant pumpkin weighing 993 pounds. His wife Amanda Kaczenski took third place this year with a giant pumpkin weighing 927 pounds. The First Prize winner was Daniel Boyce of Vermont with a giant pumpkin weighing 1,254 pounds,…
Last week I spent the most delightful, and inspirational, afternoon in a sister blogger's garden. Can you tell where I am? I know many of you are familiar with this talented woman with a quick camera finger, and her varied gardens through her popular blog. I will only say this for now. We were both surprised to find how close we live to each other. We will reveal all on Thursday.
Thinking there might be a Flower Boy or two, the bride's attendants were billed as Flower Children, but the boys did not appear, or at least not in the procession. I didn't get a photo until they were sitting at the bride and groom's feet as they listened to tales of Amperands, jars of blueberries, roots and fruitfulness, and other things that made the 10 year old boys among the attendees squirm. But to take a step back. When…
More about this beautiful celebration tomorrow, once we have regained our romantic senses.
According to my records we had 4 inches of rain in August, more than half of that on August 22 and 23. No rain so far in September, at least not here in Heath. The result is incredibly dry soil, and a hose that ran dry last week while I was filling the chicken waterers. Granted, I had watered the vegetable garden with a sprinkler for 45 minutes before that, but this has never happened in the 30…
When photographers ask me the best season for visiting the Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls, I say there is no Best Season. The joy of the Bridge is the ever changing and ever beautiful array of flowers from April through October. Right now, if you enter the Bridge on the Shelburne side, you will not only have the variety of color and texture on the Bridge, look up and you will see the glory of the hillside…
When my grandson Rory visited this summer he helped with chores, like getting woodchips for the paths in the potager. We were amazed to find something unexpected hiding in the pile. Mushrooms! At first we only saw the fine white roots but Rory kept digging very carefully and we came upon several groups of mushrooms. I don't know anything about mushrooms, so I don't know if these are edible. We didn't test them out. I've written about mushrooms…