When You Open a Bookby Rory Matthews (age 12)When you open a bookA journey beginsIn which many people can takeWhether they read poetry or novelsEither is fine.Both take you to lands unknownFrom fiction to sci-fiOr drama to actionMaybe Moby Dick or Swiss Family RobinsonOr even a Wrinkle in Time.From one galaxy to anotherOr on a big wooden shipWith mast and allAll you have to doIs open a bookand each page is a journey for you.My grandson Rory has…
Promises of glory at Smith College Bulb Show Mary McClintock, with her Root for Your Favorite Root project, has made me think a lot more about the root vegetables I plant than usual. I’ve also been thinking about root crops in general because many of them are good keepers. They can be stored in the fall without a lot of laborious processing if you have a cool cellar, or can provide the necessary root…
After my time away from home, tending my daughter with her broken ankle and her two sons, I have come back home to find the first real signs of spring. The herb bed next to the piazza in front of the house faces south and is very protected. It doesn't look like much from a distance, but if you get up close . . . Here is autumn crocus sending up leaves as early as spring crocus, but…
Last Saturday was the Western Mass Master Gardeners Spring Symposium. I was honored to share the bill with Julie Moir Messervy who was the keynote speaker. I spoke about my worm farm and she spoke about garden design and her new book Home Outside. Julie had a lot of helpful things to say, but she struck the tone immediately for me in her talk and in her book when she said her aim is to help us create…
Last Saturday was the Western Mass Master Gardeners Spring Symposium. I was honored to share the bill with Julie Moir Messervy who was the keynote speaker. I talked about worm farming and Julie talked about garden design and her new book, Home Outside.Julie had a lot to say, but she set the tone immediately for me in her talk and in her books when she says that her aim is to help us all create our own Pleasure…
I left my daughter, her broken ankle and crutches, in the loving care of her sons and friends for the weekend. I came home to attend the Wesstern Mass Master Gardeners Spring Symposium. I was giving a presentation about my worm farm, but I also was eager to hear landscape designer Julie Moir Messervy speak about her new book Home Outside, and to attend a workshop on garlic growing and cooking. While I was home my husband and I…
I left my daughter and her broken ankle in the loving care of her sons and friends and made it home for the weekend and the wonderful Western Mass Master Gardeners Spring Symposium. I was giving a presentation about my worm farm, but I was eager to hear landscape designer Julie Moir Messervy speak about her new book, Home Outside, and attend a garlic growing and cooking workshop. I'll post more about the Symposium later this week.While I…
I feared my worms had all died during a great winter cold spell. Temperatures in my basement dipped below 50 degrees which I had read was the absolute limit for red wiggler survival. One day I went down to see if I could at least harvest some worm castings for houseplants I was repotting - and I found a worm. More than one worm! I don't know how many there are, but although my photo doesn't show it,…
I feared my worms had all died during a great winter cold spell. Temperatures in my basement dipped below 50 degrees which I had read was the absolute limit for red wiggler survival. One day I went down to see if I could at least harvest some worm castings for houseplants I was repotting - and I found a worm. More than one worm!I don't know how many there are, but although my photo doesn't show it, the…
One year a friend, just returned from London, gave me a copy of the Financial Times that contained an article about rhubarb. Rhubarb season comes earlier in England, but it is one of the first harvests here in New England and the article had all kinds of fascinating information.Robin Lane Fox, Financial Times columnist, explained that rhubarb has been cultivated for about 4500 years. There are records of rhubarb being used medicinally in China since 2700 BC. It…