Each year in late winter, which for us is around April, we begin to think garden thoughts. We’ll sit on stools in the kitchen and map out future plots. We think about the fruit and vegetables that we want on our table and in our larder come fall. Farm catalogs come in the mail and…
Category: Outdoors
How To Retire Like A Boss (by Sam Perley)
While reclining under the dining room table one afternoon I overheard my family talking about certain athletes and performers who decide to retire and then soon afterward, decide to unretire: coming back to a game that they have clearly grown out of. I shook my head and not just to scratch my ears. I just…
The Other Side Of The Fence
“When the grass is waving in the wind” is the standard for when sheep can begin to go out to graze in spring. We have had some very warm weather with cooler nights which has made the grass grow even faster than it might normally this time of year. Around June first is when I…
The Lusty Month Of May
Spring in Vermont doesn’t show up the way it does in some other states with their quiet unveiling of green in the month of April. Here we diddle with mud and brown and snow for about two months, vacillating between boots and Crocs: Mother Nature seemingly unsure about the exact season to put us into….
New Beginnings
Because it has been a cold spring I was somewhat surprised by May. Normally I have been combing seed catalogs with my old lady glasses on, being a plant voyeur long before now. Suddenly it was the weekend before Mother’s Day and I realized a truth that all serious gardeners take to heart; always, always…
Wanting What You Have
I shut the barn door for the final time Monday evening. As the wooden bar thunked into place, three ewes crowded close to be sure that I didn’t have one more feeding in me. I stood in the dark, looking up at the millions of stars and breathed in the temperate spring air. I woke…
For Seasons
The greatest percentage of the joy of living in Vermont comes from the fact that we have four very distinct seasons. Cue Vivaldi. For us it isn’t about the clothes that we wear or the photo-ops that present themselves, it is about who we are because of these seasons. Summer in Vermont is our short,…
Many Ways To Say It
Just outside my studio window, sitting on a ledge, is a robin’s nest. It has been there for several years. Prime real estate, under complete cover, high off the ground, comes fully furnished. A turn-key deal: all you have to add is eggs. I walked past the window a week ago and noticed some new…
In One Year
A week ago Saturday we got another foot of snow. The term for late snow is “sugar snow:” the reasonis that the temperatures edge above freezing during the days and then slink back down to their cold resting places at night: ideal weather for making maple syrup. As we drive down the softened dirt roads…
Daylight Spending
This weekend the clocks will spring ahead (that’s how I remember which way to turn them) and we will begin to gain daylight into the evening hours. The mercury has climbed out of the negative digits and I can feel the increased warmth from the sun. We have had evenings of rain instead of snow…
Finding Your Farm
We climbed into the truck yesterday morning and headed north to Shelburne farms, one of my favorite places on earth. Before leaving we checked temperatures for the day and, knowing that we were going to be in a barn for about three hours, began layering up. There are odd little things that Vermonters take pride…
Bounty
Driving down our dirt road I am beginning to see the first signs of leaves turning. At first one puts it down to only the weakened maples beginning to change, but then I started noticing tinges of orange and yellow dotting entire hillsides. At home and on the farm it is the busy season. We…