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Old seed storage system on left,new system in the middle and jars for the home-grown seeds on the right. ‘Tis the season of seeds! A time to organize and order seeds for the up-coming season while other garden-related tasks are at a standstill and before the seed companies get too busy. My [...] Chester and Baruk cozifying with the potted rosemary and cacti during a December snow storm. In June,when trees are in full leaf,flowers abound and breezes pass through the permeable boundary between indoors and out,I occasionally pause to remind myself that in less than six months all will be radically transformed. Our Technicolor world will [...] Transplants in peat pots ready for fall. August —the best of the summer months,when the weather more often than not cooperates for outdoor fun,the biting bugs diminish and the great season of bountiful harvests begins. But I can already feel the hours of daylight diminishing rapidly. Crickets now dominate the evening [...] Snow pea blossoms (dwarf grey sugar) on eve of summer solstice 2010. Summer solstice,the longest day,reaches it’s apex at 7:28 a.m.,Monday,June 21st. This point in the revolution of our tiny planet around the sun is notable in Zone 4,not only for the luxuriously extended hours of daylight and the way it makes plants leap with growth,but [...] Dandelions ready to cook Nan would look out at the bright dandelions in the pasture near her home and remember fondly how her mother and grandmother would fill their aprons with the greens in spring. She spoke longingly of the how delicious they were, simmered in a big pot for hours,seasoned with salt pork. I knew Nan [...] Newest generation of foragers –Brynna with wild leeks Since late November until just last week,walks in the woods and fields have been a little dull. Animal tracking can keep the brain cells active on winter walks,but for us non-hunters and foragers,the flush of green on the forest floor stimulates a powerful and primitive excitement —an [...] Boiling last of the maple sap on an 80 degree day,drinking maple mojitos and listening to Bachata tunes. Red maple blossoms and golden stems of willow,wash the hillsides with a faint echo of fall colors. Hoop house ignites with green growth. Duckies snarfling for slimy goodies in the [...] In the great,northeastern tomato die-off of 2009,when late blight,riding the cool,moisture-laden air of an exceptionally rainy summer,infected nearly every tomato plant in the region,two tomato varieties emerged as my heroes,enabling us to eat fresh tomatoes until Thanksgiving and even preserve some. Juliet,the blight-resistant ”sweet plum cluster”tomato that has long been a favorite [...] Duck egg laid between two bales of straw. A month or two ago,feathers began to accumulate in the straw and leaf bedding, deposited by our two duckies who winter in the hoop house. That signalled the start of their spring molt and the promise of eggs. But first they needed to grow out their feather wardrobe for new fashion season. Only when [...] Yesterday, the warm air inspired me to prune the grape vines and other fruiting vines and trees. While a very pleasant task,pruning these trees and vines always always makes me reflect on my inadequacies as a gardener. My failures include the 10 year old grape vines that didn’t bother to produce at all last year and only grudingly before,and the 17 year [...] | ||||||
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