Musings on horticultural therapy and the soothing effects of plants and nature
One of my granddaughter Charlotte’s favorite videos now is the wonderful E.B.White story, Charlotte’s Web, which tells the story of how the smart spider Charlotte keeps Wilbur the pig off the dinner plate. One of the major characters of the tale is Templeton, a lazy and eventually corpulent rat who gathers words for Charlotte to […]
We spent a wonderful long weekend in Charleston, S.C., reminded that trees are supposed to have leaves and the grass is green. I spent the prior week working to clean the grounds and bought nearly 4 yards of pine bark chips to cover the beds, which emerged from the snow with only hints of their […]
There are a few signs that Spring has arrived in my yard rather than merely the calendar. We had our first BBQ yesterday dragging the grill through the snow. Two-thirds of the back patio has been cleared off though a persistent layer of ice that is shaded by a short wall of stone is hanging […]
With Spring at my front door, I have always looked forward to an early harvest of wintered-over greens that I had planted in the fall. Kale, Swiss Chard, spinach, Miner’s Lettuce, mustard and the like have been ready for the picking and sampling. Tender sprouts of sorrel are ready to taste and enjoy. These late […]
After a long absence, I’ve returned to giving classes at Ann’s Place. It hasn’t been from lack of desire or planning but from a combination of illness, vacation and bad weather that has kept me away for two-and-a-half months. I decide to start out with an easy exercise in making vanilla but as it takes […]
Well not really. Back in the Nutmeg State after nearly a month in Florida I am typing between shoveling expeditions as we are in the midst of yet another Nor’easter. Apparently after I left for warmer climes, Connecticut like much of the country, had been hit by wave after wave of bad weather. In the […]
You rarely appreciate how good you have it until your creature comforts disappear. To a degree, that’s how I now feel as I have returned from a 9-day kayak trip to the Everglades in Florida where I paddled from Flamingo to Everglades City. This is one of those “bucket list” kind of things that people […]
About a week ago, the skies finally opened up to deliver a few inches of much needed rain. For most of October and November we had barely three quarters of an inch of the wet stuff over the past two months reminding me of a similar drought in the Spring of 2012. Mother Nature continues […]
This morning we had our first snow of the season. It was the type of snow event that you can appreciate and enjoy. The shovel remained in the garage as the snow didn’t stick to the driveway or roads. Lovely white flakes floated down coating the bird feeder with a thin cotton like blanket. Titmice, […]
Before the frost, I took stock of my garden and started to bed down and clean up the soil. We have had an unusually warm and dry fall and yet to have a frost by the end of October. But such luck was about to run out as the forecast predicted an evening in the […]