Christmas celebrations end for us on January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany. The wise men have finally arrived, the last gifts have been given and the party is over. But maybe not quite. When I take the Christmas tree down, I put it outside and decorate it for the birds. The ornaments are simple, but tasty, peanut butter smeared into pine cones and then rolled in bird seed. A tie can be ribbon, yarn or twine, no…
High Line in New York City 5-3-10 Annik LaFarge, author of On the High Line: A Walk Through America's Most Unique Urban Park, which will be available in April, is also writing a blog http://livinthehighline.com/ In the blog he writes about many other elevated/railroad gardens including The Bridge of Flowers. I visited the High Line in 2010 and it is a fabulous space, but it has to be said that the Shelburne Falls Bridge of Flowers predates the High…
In the ‘olden days’ garden catalogs did not arrive until after the new year, the first sign that spring will eventually return. Now my mailbox is already full of garden catalogs describing all kinds of plants, books and tools, every company hoping for some of those holiday dollars that are so important to business in these difficult days. The catalogs are really tempting because many gardeners are like me, greedy for a new plant, or a new…
The Harvard Forest is located in Petersham. That is the first thing I learned about the Harvard Forest, which actually belongs to and is cared for by Harvard University. It is not located in the town of Harvard. I first heard of the Harvard Forest and the Fisher Museum when I met John O’Keefe a year ago after he had retired from his position at the Harvard Forest. Recently I called O’Keefe because I wanted to know why…
When I walked through the garden the other day I realized how many red berries I have in the fall. Three years ago I noticed for the first time that my holly, ‘Blue Princess,’ and my cotoneasters had finally started producing berries. That berry production has gotten more prolific and beautiful each year. Hollies are dioecious plants, which means they need separate male and female plants to cross pollinate and produce fruits. While there are many holly cultivars…
I live in a ruraltown of 750 souls in the western corner of Massachusetts that sits on the Vermont border. On the Fourth of July in 1981 I happened to meet two other friends at the spinning wheel in the town museum. We were celebrating the holiday, but got to complaining that we never went out to dinner, we couldn't afford to, and besides there were no good restaurants closer than 40 miles. Actually there were no restaurants…
Holz hausen, a German system of building a fast drying wood pile. Click here to see an artful woodpile in Hawley. Click here to see more Wordlessness on Wednesday. OK. Almost wordless.
Our house is surrounded by fields, and the fields are surrounded by woodlands. Trees are an important part of the New England Landscape and I just learned that Massachusetts is about to join Connecticut, Vermont, Maine and 34 other states in an online organization called The American Grove. Their website is full of useful information about planting trees, even coming at how to choose a tree in an unusual way. We have planted trees for our each of…
In yesterday's NY Times Mark Bittman asked the question, Is Junk Food Really Cheaper? Can you really feed a family for less at McDonalds than at your own table filled with home cooked food. In spite of the protestations that a bag of chips is cheaper than a head of broccoli and other such, the answer is NO! A meal for a family of four at McDonald's will come to between $23 and $28. How many groceries can…
Last Friday a group of Herb Society of American members, and I, toured the Franklin County Community Development Corporation to see how foods and libations are being prepared in their commercial kitchens and special facilities. I've already described our tearful demonstration of the making of horseradish sauce. We also went across the street from the CDC to visit with Real Pickles founder Dan Rosenberg. Rosenberg used the CDC facilities for several years until he was successful enough to…