I’ve been having a hard time enjoying spring this year. It’s just all too weird. It started way too early and managed to launch us into the dog days of summer overnight. Hard as I’ve worked to find the silver lining and just enjoy it, I just can’t.
Everything’s out of order. Continue reading
I knelt on the cool, black dirt to dig a hole with a deformed, old teaspoon. In the solemn tones I’d heard spoken, but not fully understood, I prayed for the life lost. I wondered in silence if I’d killed this one myself with either love or neglect. I wondered if another one would come my way. I placed the box in the hole and pulled dirt over it with my hands. I wondered if it was almost lunchtime.
I grew up in a time when kids roamed the neighborhood, creating their own kind of fun. Sometimes that fun was with my sisters or the kids next door and beyond. Often it was all by myself, or in the company of my dog or a cat or two.
At four, my world was an area spanning a few houses and yards in each direction Continue reading
I love watermelon, especially once summer really arrives. The problem is, I live at a latitude 43 degrees north, with a short growing season that doesn’t favor watermelon. With most other fruits and vegetables, I try to hold out for delicious, fresh local options, but I always seem to cave in to my watermelon craving at about the time summer heat settles in for real.
A couple of days ago, I had one such powerful craving. In an effort to make one stop, rather than two, I set my sights on buying an organic watermelon at the local food coop. Continue reading
Summer is happening, in spite of me.
I wasn’t ready for it this year, and I’ve had a hard time keeping up with its crazy pace so far. More accurately, I haven’t kept up at all. The lesson I’m presented with has something to do with understanding my humble place in the universe and accepting that the planet is spinning away, even without my help. I’m 80 percent out of commission this summer, and I’ve had to adjust my expectations continually. Continue reading
Many thanks to those of you who entered the Ben Hewitt book giveaway. Herbalist Wendy Stevens, from Weare, New Hampshire will be the lucky recipient of Ben’s two books, Making Supper Safe and The Town That Food Saved. Appropriately, the books will be exchanged at the Weare Farmers Market, tomorrow evening.
I asked readers to share their observations of their own local food season and to comment on something that they observe that gives them hope. Continue reading
First came the scent of mud. Moving quickly to the scent of trees in bud, grass emerging from winter dormancy, soil coming alive—the fresh smell that can be characterized as nothing other than green. It’s a scent made more intense by spring rain. Continue reading
Here in the northeast, winters are long and hard. By all accounts, last winter was tougher and longer than most. Most agree that it’s now, finally, behind us. After nearly six months of snow–86 inches of it–we’re ready to exchange our snow shovels for garden spades. Not a moment too soon. Continue reading
This post relates to the Week Three readings and discussion in our local Menu for the Future course. Whether you’re participating here in Concord, following along from afar or simply have thoughts on this topic—please comment!
We’re a group of eaters, with not a farmer among us. Yet, at the third week of our Menu for the Future course, we dug into organic farming details that aren’t usually part of mainstream consumer discussions about eating organically. Many of us are gardeners, so seeing ourselves as farmers of a sort was fairly easy to do. A group comfortable with the topic at hand, to be sure.
It’s that time of year, when gardeners’ thoughts turn to spring planting. Sorting through last year’s leftover seeds, leafing through seed and plant catalogs that seem to arrive daily and maybe even placing orders all offer the hope of hastening winter’s retreat.
This year, in these parts, it could be a long retreat. With somewhere upwards of 28 inches of snow on the ground, my garden sleeps, enjoying protection from the winter winds. My house is cozy and warm, too. Winter offers the opportunity to focus on other things that aren’t so easy to get to during the long days of summer, when the list of outdoor chores grows as fast as the garden weeds. Continue reading
My city of Concord, New Hampshire, is built on land in the fertile valley of the Merrimack River. Like cities and towns throughout the country, farms have disappeared at an alarming rate, giving way to houses, strip malls and office parks. Throughout New Hampshire, at the peak of its agricultural history, 50 percent of the land was in agricultural use. Today, only 5 to 7 percent.
Once built upon, that fertile soil is likely lost to farming forever.
Spearheaded by the Capital City Organic Gardeners, a group of concerned residents are looking into forming an agricultural commission in the city. Continue reading
