Going home to New Jersey
Working at Green Chimneys is full of paradoxes. One of the biggest ones that I don’t understand is the rationale behind the rule that staff are not allowed to discuss the entire life cycle of animals, particularly when they die. On a farm, life and death is common. Animals get sick and die, chickens that […]
Stalling out
We have started to settle into a new regime with new digs between a donkey and a camel. The stalls are rather spacious though the smell of dung lingers until acclimation sets in. Tables are set up and we have started to decorate. Our berths now are dedicated to “Man-O-Melon” and “Peabiscuit,” our vegan view […]
Charlotte Rose Monday
Perhaps it is fitting that my granddaughter Charlotte Rose was born last Monday, which was Rosenmontag (Rose Monday). This day before the beginning of Lent is the highlight of the German celebration of carnival very similar to the Mardi Gras celebration held in New Orleans (and other cities in the U.S.) on Fat Tuesday. For […]
The big melt
A big rain storm capping off two weeks of mild weather and a tiny bit of snow has given us hope that winter will end soon and soil will emerge from under the snow. The snow pack has dropped from over three feet to just over one foot in our back yard. But the back […]
Baby it’s cold outside
Even to those hearty New Englanders who are renowned for shrugging off a foot or two of snow, this winter has been trying. With nary a day during the month of January above freezing, the icicles are over 10 feet long hanging like formidable spears ready to impale a passer by. But there are few […]
January snow showers bring no flowers
January in New England does not bring to mind gardening, except to those die-hards impatiently waiting for the first hard melt. These frosty days January is a time where we fanaticize about gardens to come stimulated by the appearance of seed and gardening catalogues in the mail box. For us, it’s Christmas in January with […]
Digging out the garden
With over three feet of snow in less than a week, there is little time to think about gardening. My wife and I are from the school that likes to make many small trips outside to incrementally shovel rather than waiting for all the snow to fall so that it must be removed in one […]
Starting from scratch
There was nothing but barberry as far as the eye could see. Dead trees, thick vines, large boulders were scattered around an inhospitable landscape. This is what I have to work with to create a therapeutic space. It should be fun. (I have to admit I’m a bit behind on my writing. Unlike the photo […]