Musings on horticultural therapy and the soothing effects of plants and nature
As I mentioned in a prior post, we had planned to replace the pine in front of our house with a fir tree that was planted over a decade ago in memory of my mother-in-law, Stella. Watching men-in-trees remove huge limbs and drop the better part of a 75-foot pine makes for good tree TV […]
As I mentioned in my prior post, I will be growing a new lawn that will be simple to care for. But before the new lawn goes in, the old lawn and plantings of years past must go out. Or be trampled, crushed, mauled, etc. by the Kubota equivalent of WMDs. To preserve as much […]
As I mentioned in a prior post, my approach to lawn care is decidedly low-tech: manual reel mowers, scythes, etc. This slavish desire to follow a Luddite path, however, does not mean that I hate new technology but rather am a firm believer in the credo, “less is more.” Following along those lines, I have […]
Every tree displays its beauty differently. The American Chestnut’s magnificent canopy. The Sugar Maple’s autumn color. The stark bark of a Quaking Aspen or Himalayan white birch. One of my wife’s favorites is the white pine. It is a lovely tree that grows straight and fast with fragrant, long cones and soft fluffy needles. When […]
This summer’s incessant rains have been bad for many crops. Our strawberries matured as either red, flavorless mushy masses or tasteless slug bait. I expect the local crop of peaches to look more like inflated softballs and feel like a Nerf ball than they should when conditions are right. On the other hand, our raspberries […]
One of the anachronisms that I have enjoyed over the years has been a local farm that worked on the honor system. The Hickories is a lovely farm now run by Dina and Rob who sell a wide variety of veg and fruit at their farm stand as well as through a Community Support Agriculture […]