A tease is the first melt of the season. With a month of snow gone, one can fantasize that daffodils, tulips and other greens will soon grow out giving way to cherry blossoms. But it is unlikely. The daffodils, in fact, have started to emerge, their enlarged buds poking through the soil. They will not […]
Everything old is new again
As a teacher or mentor, after a while certain classes become old hat through repetition. Such is becoming the case with some of the activities I schedule with my clients at Ann’s Place. Last week we made fragrant sachets to kick off this year’s therapy. The winter is often a challenging time to be “horticultural” […]
Baby it’s cold outside
With eggnog cartons long discarded and snow piled on the peonies, winter has settled in. There was no doubt of it this morning with a waking temperature of 4 degrees under a clear sky. Wood needed to be split and piled but I waited until it reached the balmy temperature of 20 before venturing outside. […]
A smelly start
When I start a horticultural therapy session, I always try to break the ice with something unexpected. It can be some freshly picked berries from nearby bushes that the birds and animals have missed or slug-free greens that I just pulled from my garden. This time of year, however, the pickings are quite slim. When […]
Getting flat
I feel blessed living in the Northeast after Sandy as we only lost power for a week without major damage. Over 100 feet of fence did come toppling down but half of it was rotted and needed to be replaced anyway. So for the last few weeks I have been in storm clean-up mode like […]
A snowy remembrance
We must have done something really bad in the Northeast and even worse in my home town as Ridgefield seems to be the epicenter of nasty weather events over the last two years. We had just gotten over Sandy and had 100% power restored in the town when we got word that a Nor’easter was […]
Generating silence
As I go outside at 2 am to arm myself with a few logs to fuel the wood stove, there is an absence of silence. I am greeted by the roar of generators instead of the occasional owl screech or a soft rustle caused by wind. The evening is being interrupted by noise and needles […]
The immutable force of hurricanes and squirrels
I’ve been feeling rather smug with myself as over the past week as I have seen little evidence of squirrels able to thwart my bird feeding setup that sits somewhere between a Rube Goldberg contraption and a bizarre kinetic sculpture created by a youth with too many body piercings and too little (or much) sporadically […]
Flowers For Sandy
When I went outside this morning for the paper you wouldn’t have guessed that a Frankenstorm with the friendly name of Sandy is barreling down to whack the Northeast. Early morning in Ridgefield was partly sunny at a warm 54 degrees with the smell of rotting leaves being blown around by a light wind. With […]
Squirrels 97, Erik 1 (so far)
Educated as an engineer and having a father that was pretty handy, I take pride in my ability to fix or build most anything. When I didn’t have any money as a college student, I did my own brakes and rebuilt carburetors. As a young father with only a little money, I repaired TVs and […]