Table Set for Forever

  • Post published:12/08/2008
  • Post comments:3 Comments

Jane Beatrice Wegscheider's prize winning portable, multi-media, installation piece honoring individual and collective efforts at sustainability is built around this mosaic topped dining table that has lots of room for a convivial gathering. Currently it is on exhibit at the Northampton Town Hall, but it will be traveling throughout our region.The prize was granted by the Pioneer Valley (Mass.) Sustainability Network, which is comprised of numerous private, municipal and non-profit organizations and networks devoted to bridging the gap…

Happy Anniversary to Me!

On December 6 last year I launched the Commonweeder blog. I had only discovered garden blogs a short time before and I was fascinated by a subject that was commented on at length (I can't remember which blog) about whether older experienced gardeners were too old to blog or read blogs - and thus help younger gardeners. Well, of course, I never feel too old to do anything I want to do, so I began a new life…

Muse Day – December 2008

  • Post published:12/01/2008
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Sonnet 73 by William ShakespeareThat time of year thou mayst in me beholdWhen yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hangUpon those boughs which shake against the cold,Bare ruin'd choirs where late the sweet birds sang.In me thou see'st the twilight of such dayAs after sunset fadeth in the west;Which by and by black night doeth take awayDeath's second self, that seals up all in rest.In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire,That on the ashes of…

Skywatch and Thanksgiving

  • Post published:11/28/2008
  • Post comments:6 Comments

Yesterday we went to middle daughter's house for the family feast. Lots of family was there and nine year old Amanda took charge of the camera and she kept clicking away all day. The day is well documented: the basketball games on the driveway, dodgeball (?) on the lawn, chatting on the deck, cooking in the kitchen, eating in the dining room, football on the living room TV and Bibi, the French bulldog everywhere.The day was mild which…

Gardener’s Latin

  • Post published:11/24/2008
  • Post comments:4 Comments

A gardening friend once told me that what he loved about gardening (besides playing in the dirt) was that it led you down the roads of history and literature and science. Gardening can lead you anywhere.One place it can lead is to a modest study of Latin. I was proud that I got through high school without studying Latin, but becoming a gardener made me mourn that lost opportunity. I have been making up for it ever since.Recently…

A Final Harvest

  • Post published:11/23/2008
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The sun was shining when I went out to the garden, but temperatures were in the teens. It was past time to pick the last Brussels sprouts. I like to serve these, freshly picked, at Thanksgiving, but this year we will have them tonight, and give thanks for as long a season as we have had.

All Praise the Potato

  • Post published:11/21/2008
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As we prepare for our Thanksgiving feats I cannot imagine one table that will include potatoes. In my family we always have mashed potatoes and candied sweet potatoes.We don’t often think about the value of the potato; it is so basic to our diet. Many think of meat and potatoes as the beginning of any menu, but it was not always so.The potato originated in Peru 4,000 or 7,000 or possibly even 14,000 years ago. The Spanish conquistadors…

Bloom Day November 2008

  • Post published:11/15/2008
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Do buds count? My abutilon, parlor maple is hardly ever without a coral flower or two, but not today.And the Thanksgiving cactus knows it isn't quite Thanksgiving.The cyclamen is doing its best. One bloom for bloom day.

Now I’m Ready for Snow!

  • Post published:11/09/2008
  • Post comments:4 Comments

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…

Fallscaping: Extending Your Garden Season into Autumn

  • Post published:11/05/2008
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A few golden trees at the edge of the field are tossing in the rainy wind today, but in general, most of the autumn color is gone from my garden. I was happy that the asters and dahlias stayed in bloom for so long. I’m happy with the rich red of my sourwood, of the sweetspire, the burgundy cotinus and the now-bare blueberries. It struck me that I have a pretty good fall garden.However, upon spending a few…