Goldthread Herb Farm

  • Post published:06/12/2010
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“I have a good imagination,” William Siff told me as we sat in the shade overlooking the new Learning Garden in the midst of fields of medicinal herbs. He said he didn’t imagine the Goldthread Herbal Apothecary with its farm, workshops and national speaking engagements all at once, “But they are all a part of the same focus. “As a move towards sustainable living herbal medicine is a powerful vehicle. As a society we know a lot about…

The Green in Vogue

  • Post published:03/10/2010
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In preparing for a Fashion in the Garden posting I have been reading the spring issue of Vogue magazine. Strictly business you understand. Besides, Tina Fey was on the cover. Although I wasn't looking for it, there was a little feature on page 370, The Green List, with John Patrick's (whoever he may be) five latest (fashion everywhere) faves.  There is seedlibrary.org for heirloom seeds; Emiliano Godoy, an industrial designer who focuses on sustainability; Magnus Larsson, a Swedish…

Fish and Flowers

  • Post published:01/23/2010
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The sky was blue and the ice was thick. I did not see any fish being harvested, but the fisher folk looked pretty happy and relaxed.  I peeked at them on my way to the Greenfield Garden Club Annual Meeting, this year at the French King Restaurant. There was a good crowd. The room buzzed with the happy chatter of frustrated gardeners. The food was good and the conversation even better. The Greenfield Garden Club is a terrific…

The Landscape and Art

  • Post published:12/08/2009
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The artist Robert Strong Woodward spent most of his life in Buckland - and in a wheelchair. At the age of 21 he was injured in a hunting accident in California where he was living. Paralyzed from the waist down he returned to New England where he was born, studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and then moved to Buckland. It was his intent to make his living as an artist. He was…

Christmastime is Wreathtime

  • Post published:11/20/2009
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The Greenfield Garden Club held its wreath-making workshop last evening at Chapley's Garden in Deerfield. Linda Tyler knew what she was doing and helped all the rest of us who didn't. Chapleys provided all manner of greenery from blue spruce to euonymus, rose hips, pine cones and I don't know what all - except that a lot of different and unique wreaths were being created all around me. Karen Helbig and I were working side by side. She was…

Truffle?!

  • Post published:11/19/2009
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Ted Watt has worked with the children of the Heath Elementary School for years, teaching them about the land and the world they live in. One of the blessings of the school landscape is a woodland where the childrren have studied the seasons and phases of life of many woodland creatures and plants. On their most recent exploration of the woods they  found - drumroll please - a truffle. I know nothing about truffles, except that they are a…

Heath School Garden

  • Post published:10/17/2009
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             ‘Mary, Mary, quite contrary,              How does your garden grow?             With silver bells and cockleshells,             And pretty maids all in a row.’               Illustrations of this familiar nursery rhyme tend to show proper young ladies in beribboned batiste holding colorful watering cans with clean hands, but while the students at the Heath Elementary School do all they can to make their garden grow, there is no sign of batiste.             Real modern children favor denim…

Blooms and the Big E

  • Post published:10/02/2009
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The wind and the rain have knocked the dahlias down, but the colds, night time temps in the 40s, don't seem to bother them at all. The cosmos are bowed down as well, but just as beautiful and healthy. We are at the beginning of the bloom season for Boltonia. The plants have very sturdy stems, about 4 feet tall, and the flowers are small and fringey. Great for autumn bouquets. This rose is also standing tall and…