I always look forward to reading Verlyn Klinkenborg’s editorial notebook page in the Sunday NY Times. He writes of wind howling at night, gardens and long walks with his dog in country fields. This past sunday he told of the oldest farm in the country going out of business; the  Tuttle Farm near Dover, NH. [...]

Bee up Image ©RoxanaVilla Bees need protection. You may be aware of Colony Collapse Disorder, but you may not know that scientists haven’t yet figured out what’s causing it. I watched a PBS program last week about the bee population having been completely decimated in some parts of China, from pollution and chemical exposure; they [...]

I spent the morning and early afternoon at an Amish farm in Honeybrook, PA, which should be 25 minutes from me, but ended up being a 40 minute circular goose chase. I found the place with no help from Google or Mapquest, after first stopping to ask a gas station attendant, and finally an Amish [...]

It’s not always evident to the home gardener how much time goes into actual picking. Life is dictated by weather and gathering the fruits of one’s labor – which becomes just more laborious. I’ve been out almost daily to pick strawberries since late May. Over the past week it’s been so wet that I missed [...]

My Historic Commission (West Whiteland township) hosted a regional meeting last night for the Chester County Historic Preservation Network (CCHPN) to meet other members of historic districts in our region, and discuss tactics for preservation.  Highlights – the 1840 former manor house that once hosted fox hunts, was the historic residence of our host, refreshments [...]

We had a great turnout of interns from Blooming Glen and Sankanac Farms and one interested future farmer for our first SAITA workshop at North Slope in Lambertville, NJ. The farmer and owner, Mike Rassweiler, was well prepared with handouts and a soil testing exercise on his 50 Acre farm in central NJ. Check his [...]

So did anyone think this would ever happen? Alice Waters has been pushing for it for decades, as you can see from her 1995 letter to Clinton and Gore. The White House garden plan is very good news for us organic fanatics. Check out the garden map, courtesy of the NYTimes. And for the upcoming UK [...]

My new garden plot has been covered since early last summer with heavy black pastic and a thick mulch of the year’s NYTimes sunday papers. With our warm weekend, I was able to get out to see how things were going out there. Holy cow, do I have an amazing amount of worms! Our best [...]

We’re in the middle of a winter storm with predictions of up to 10″ of snow….but that probably won’t happen. It’s blowing white outside and feels like one of those old-time blizzards in Nova Scotia  - with drifts that used to block the front door. Nobody’s driving on our road. I’m happy as long as [...]

This past Saturday, I went to a well attended and inspiring meeting at the Chester County Historical Society, ‘The Future of Open Space in Chester County’. Anne Pickering of the Daily Local Newspaper moderated a panel discussion between members of the French and Pickering Conservation Trust, Brandywine Conservancy, Chester County Planning Commission and Natural Lands Trust, [...]