The Roses at the End of the Road is a collection of essays written about our life at the End of the Road. We found our way to Heath in 1979 and located a tumbledown farmhouse at the end of a town road. My husband checked that fact many times. What people think is our driveway is nearly a quarter mile of town road, plowed and maintained by the town. After the big snowstorm in 1982 when the…
The moss on the piazza in front of the house begins to turn lush and green as we begin the walk into winter. I went on a woodland walk to see if I could find any more moss to photograph, but I found much more. I found moss on one side of the road and on the other, wetter, side of the road. I found moss on a rotting log, I also saw a rivulet running cheerfully through…
Wouldn't we all like to peek into the new year ahead? Sometimes we can look forward to certain events with a fair amount of certainty - a baby due in May? A graduation? A special anniversary? Maybe even a new garden? The 2015 UMass Extension Garden Calendar is a great holiday gift for any gardener who is already thinking how the new year will unfold as s/he promises to be really organized and get chores done on time. The 2015 UMass…
Turkey, squash and pumpkin pie are the Thanksgiving triumvirate. And we will give thanks for all three, as well as the oyster stuffing, creamed onions and all the rest. A groaning board indeed to stand in for all the blessings the year has brought us. Thanksgiving has been a tradition from our founding, but the harvest has been marked with festivities probably since the invention of agriculture. Squash was probably a part of our first thanksgiving meal because…
The road to Thanksgiving leads from our house to our daughter's house. We were trying to beat the big snowstorm but we met it on the way. Fortunately, the snow did not get beyond pretty by the time we arrived. Our assignment for the Family Feast was to bring a farm fresh turkey, cranberry sauce and cranberry bread and my famous Green Apple Mincemeat Pie. Still a lot to do before the rest of the family arrives tomorrow.…
As I‘ve worked to put my gardens to bed this fall I’ve also been thinking about gardens and how they came to take this form, and how any garden takes form. Some people plan a garden in one fell swoop. Or have someone do it for them. But I think for most of us we begin slowly and one step follows another. Which is a good thing because we learn about our site, and about ourselves as…
By the time we had ice on the trees and landscape we had already had our first snowfall - one and a half inches of the white stuff. But that weather all felt like a heat wave. This morning the temperature was a record breaking 16 degrees! AND the Farmer's Almanac predicts a much colder winter in our part of the world! The firewood is almost all stacked. For more (almost) Wordlessness this Wednesday click here.
My visit with my cousin, Travis Marcotte, at the Intervale Center in Burlington, Vermont stunned me with the varied ways an organization could support farmers, the vitality of their conservation effort, the size of a marketing project like a food hub, and the excitement and involvement of a large community. Last week I described two of the IntervaleCenter’s programs: the Farms Program which allows farmers to lease land and equipment at reasonable rates; and the Success in…
This morning I woke to the first snowfall of the year. Just over an inch. Thirty degrees and breezy. A pretty preview of what is to come.
This pot of pansies was all but forgotten until the sun shone on it this afternoon. This large clump of chrysanthemums is still blooming so energetically that it refuses to be forgotten. For more Wordlessnes this Wednesday click here.