I'm starting to make up my list of Plants to Buy for the spring, and I got stopped right at the first page of the Bluestone Perennials catalog. A is for Achillea or yarrow. I already have "The Pearl" in my garden and I love it. It is pretty in the garden and useful in bouquets. I have another pink yarrow, but I don't know the name. When I first started gardening I was only familiar with the…
Garden Bloggers from all over this great USA, from California to Massachusetts, and from Michigan to Texas and Louisiana AND Canada, are all meeting up in Buffalo, home of the famed Buffalo Garden Walk for the Third Annual Garden Bloggers meet-up from July 8-11. I will be here to compare notes with Kathy Purdy about cold climates, with Carol about dreaming in the garden, with Frances about faire gardens, and with Susan Harris about how sustainably our gardens…
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…
Amy Stewart over at Garden Rant posted about the reality of Meryl's Streep's garden in the new movie, It's Complicated. As the LA Times article said, this garden was not planted or tended in situ. It is a movie set. The plants for this 'potager' were grown in a greenhouse and laid out when it was time for the scene to be shot. Tomatoes were wired to the plants. Some people have complained that this fantasy of a…
Bread is the staff of life. I love making bread in general, especially in winter when the oven helps warm the house, but in preparation for my sprouting workshop at the Northampton Winterfare on Saturday, Jan. 9, I decided to make sprouted wheat whole wheat bread. I got a good recipe from the Sprout People website, and the result is delicious. The recipe made two loaves. One, the prettier one, went into the freezer so I can bring…
This Saturday, Jan. 9, I'll be giving a Sprouting workshop at the first annual Winterfare in Northampton which will be held at the Smith Vocational School, near Cooley Dickinson Hospital. This event is patterned after the Winterfare market that has been held at Greenfield High School and will be celebrating its third annual festival of fresh produce, workshops, bartering, and refreshments. Northampton's Winterfare will be serving delicious soups (bring your own mug) provided by 5 local eateries: Cup…
The recent days have been the coldest (3 degrees) and windiest (40 mile gusts) we have experienced so far this winter. Snow showers every day have kept the landscape pure and white in the Knott Road landscape. We live at the End of the Road, which we always say is not much of a road, but the road crew keeps it in good shape all year long. Knott Road is a spur off Rowe Road which leads from…
My view to the northwest is of an unblemished snowfield. The snow is clean and bright, the sky a brilliant blue. The landscape is as untouched as the new year.. What will I do with 2010? How will I approach my landscape? Recently a friend of mine said he was gearing himself up to buy a tiller for his tractor, usually used for work in the woods and plowing snow. His wife chimed in that he was tired…
Red Brocade by Naomi Shihab Nye The Arabs used to say, When a stranger appears at your door, feed him for three days before asking who he is, where he’s come from, where he’s headed. That way, he’ll have strength enough to answer. Or, by then you’ll be such good friends you don’t care. Lets to back to that. Rice? Pine nuts? Here, take the red brocade pillow. My child will serve water to your horse. No, I…
When we were living in China we were once taken to a temple where we saw a small statue of Guan Yin, the bodhisattva of compassion, with her thousand hands, each of which has an eye in the palm. I thought this was a grotesque image until someone explained that it was a metaphor for her compassion. It is said that Guan Yin has a thousand eyes to see the troubles of the world and a thousand hands…