Win a Garden Starter Kit from Timber Press

  • Post published:02/17/2011
  • Post comments:1 Comment

Having told you all what an informative and inspiring book Andrea Bellamy has written, Sugar Snaps and Strawberries, I want you to know that Timber Press is now holding a contest that will have three lucky winners. First Prize winner will receive - A garden starter kit with all you need to start your own vegetable garden wherever you live, including: A copy of Sugar Snaps and Strawberries A gardening container, watering can, gloves, and a garden journal from…

Two Garden Styles – Two Books

  • Post published:02/12/2011
  • Post comments:7 Comments

Every gardener is an individual with different dreams, desires, skills, interests – and constraints. Thus every garden is unique reflecting those differences.  William Robinson (1838-1935) was a British gardener who propounded a new flower garden aesthetic, away from hundreds of annuals being bedded out each season, to a wilder, more informal planting of perennials, shrubs and trees, many of them natives. He wrote several books, most notably the influential  The Wild Garden. That book went through several editions.…

Winterfare and Ice

  • Post published:02/08/2011
  • Post comments:2 Comments

Saturday dawn cold with another storm promised. I dashed right out to the Greenfield Winterfare to stock up, and I wasn't the only one. Every booth was busy. These young women from Wheatberry Farm and Bakery were selling the wheatberries AND delicious muffins. Ben and Adrie Lester, the founders of Wheatberry are also founders of The Pioneer Valley Heritage Grain CSA. At the Simple Gifts booth I bought lots of roots - and make a shredded vegetable slaw…

Winterfare in Greenfield

  • Post published:02/03/2011
  • Post comments:3 Comments

It didn't take long to use up all the wonderful fresh veggies I bought at the Northampton Winterfare, but the Greenfield Winterfare, a winter farmer's market is coming up on Saturday, February 5  from 10 am - 2 pm at Greenfield High School on Lenox Avenue. In addition to all delicious food, bread, fruit, veggies, meat, yogurt, jam, pickles, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, there will be a variety of workshops on canning, growing grain, seed saving and more. There…

Sustainable Living in the Hills

  • Post published:01/29/2011
  • Post comments:2 Comments

Nancy and Haynes Turkle have been concerned about the environment and the ways we affect it for a long time. Nancy’s graphic design company even worked for the Department of Environmental Protection for 15 years creating educational recycling materials. During their 20 years living in Groton they were involved in many community activities including helping to found a community garden. As the garden thrived so did  cooperation between the members of the garden and the wider community. They…

Jere Gettle and Comstock, Ferre Seeds

  • Post published:01/17/2011
  • Post comments:7 Comments

Fourteen years ago, at the age of 17, Jere Gettle put together his first list of heirloom seeds and mailed it to 550 gardeners. Now he oversees a veritable empire consisting of the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company, the Bakersville Pioneer Village complete with seed store, bakery, restaurant, jail, herbal apothecary, music barns with monthly festivals and more in Missouri, and the Petaluma Seed Bank in California, which opened last spring. Most recently he bought the Comstock, Ferre…

Beauty Heart Radish

  • Post published:01/14/2011
  • Post comments:1 Comment

One of the New Plants for 2011 profiled in the new issue of The American Gardener published by the American Horticultural Society is a Watermelon Radish from Renee's Garden.  I am ashamed to say that when I first came across this beautiful vegetable in Beijing I insisted on calling it a turnip. Who ever heard of a radish as big as a baseball?  My Chinese colleagues insisted on calling it a radish, but in spite of the fact…

Winterfares Coming Up

  • Post published:01/10/2011
  • Post comments:2 Comments

Have you been longing for fresh greens and the chance to meet the farmers in our area?  Long no more. It is time for Winterfares!  This Saturday the winter farmer's market will be held at the Smith Vocational School in Northampton on January 15 from 10 am to 2 pm.  Fresh greens, apples, honey, yogurt, root veggies, local grain, bread, the Soup Cafe (bring your own cup) and workshops.  This is a delicious and healthy event - pure…

Review and Renew in 2011

  • Post published:01/08/2011
  • Post comments:8 Comments

Janus, the Roman god whose two faces could look backward to the past, and forward to the future, gave his name to the month of January. He is a god of doorways, and the special patron of all new beginnings,  a perfect symbol for the new year, when all things seem possible and sure of success. The month of January is a good time for the gardener to look backward to review the events of the past year,…

Hen House #2 – Mine

  • Post published:12/07/2010
  • Post comments:7 Comments

When we moved into our house I was thrilled that there was also a hen house in the back yard.  The building is about 30 feet long, divided into three sections. We store the feed, kept in metal garbage cans, as well as bales of shavings, in the first section. We also brood our chicks in that section when they arrive around the first of June. There is a chicken door that allows the chicks to go outdoors into a…