There is a truth that is somewhere between death and taxes: if you have one room in your house painted, or perhaps wallpapered, soon you will find another room that would look a smidge better if it too, were painted or papered. Paul and I were at a coffee house in Middlebury this winter and…
Deep, Dark, Secret…Spot
Sitting at the computer in the kitchen having a lesson with a student in Alaska, we talk about how the period of total light has just ended for them and days are back to relatively normal length. Paul quietly opens the front door and stands, arms full of towels, waiting for me to finish so…
Magnificent, Mischievous, Magical, Maniacal Muir
I headed down to the garden this afternoon, vegetable basket in hand. It has been a month since thegarlic scapes were cut and the leaves are now beginning to brown. Time to harvest. I stuff my feet intomy brilliant yellow Crocs and begin walking down Magic Road. Following close behind are all threeBorder Collies; Sam,…
The Bottom of the Well
We are now in the heart of summer: after the solstice but before the dog days. While on vacation at thelake we had cooler than normal temperatures but now that we are home, away from the water, herecomes the heat. I make feeble attempts at meal planning but we end up throwing sandwiches and cansof…
Born Under the Sign Of Water
We are in the heart of summer. We choose our week at the lake to coincide with the Fourth of July, not so much because of the fireworks but because of the other heat. As much as you can count on weather in Vermont (20% max)- that particular week can usually be counted on to…
Peeling
In looking toward holidays or vacations my tendency is to become Rockwellian. I prepare with zeal for the ideal. Months ahead of the vacation walking down long isles in stores I toss small boxes of sparklers, hard packs of playing cards, twelve packs of lime seltzer, chunky bars of chocolate and fancy gin into my…
Barbara
Summer arrived officially with the Solstice although we had been enjoying the warmer temperatures for several weeks. After two years of pretty blank calendar pages I was finally getting out and playing live music, doing book readings, etc. I’d played in my jazz duo, String of Sheeps, for International Make Music Day. It felt amazing…
The Season For Growing
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…
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…
Watching Main Street Go By
Last Saturday evening Paul and I stepped out of our car into the early evening light in downtown Montpelier, the capital city of Vermont. As it always does after a long winter, the summer air felt soft and smelled sweet as we crossed the street to our favorite Nepalese restaurant. We were seated in the…
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…
Stone Walls
The spring before my father died, Josh and I took him back to his family farm site in Worcester for Father’s Day. Nothing left of the house and barns but the cellar holes. My dad was in his mid-eighties and the weather was as well. We could only drive so close to the farm and…
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…