WE DO THIS ON FACEBOOK DAILY: I read something that grabs my attention, and pass it on. Easy: I just insert a link and a comment, click, go. But I realize only about 8,000 so far of you “like” the A Way to Garden Facebook page (care to join us there?), and that I must make an effort to share my random “bookmarks” more regularly with the wider group. And so… [read more…]
nature
I share this piece of land I call my garden with an astonishing range of creatures tiny to large: from insects to black bear. I'm (mostly) glad for their company, and always learn something from every encounter.
links: sane food, ancient seed, a tiny chameleon
February 23, 2012 at 7:29 am
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1, 2, 3, go: join the great backyard bird count
February 17, 2012 at 8:00 am
LOOKING FOR ME THIS LONG WEEKEND? I’ll be counting birds (and I hope that Mr. Ruffed Grouse of last week, like the one above, will come calling again). The Great Backyard Bird Count began at 7 o’clock this morning for a four-day run through the 20th. Here’s how you can help give researchers a better snapshot of this year’s winter birds in this important “citizen science” project: [read more…]
no partridge in pear; will grouse in magnolia do?
February 11, 2012 at 9:59 am
I COULD BE ENTERTAINED for all the rest of my days without moving from my chair here, looking out the four windows within my view. Yesterday’s performer: a male ruffed grouse in the magnolia by the kitchen window, just walking along the horizontal branches like they’d lead him where he wanted to go. The snapshot was taken through glass and a window screen, so not so detailed, but fun, anyhow, no? I hope he intends to drum his wings from a log in the nearby woods this spring and find a girlfriend. (Have you ever heard that sound?) I added a video to the jump page: [read more…]
groundhog day: john burroughs on a flabby beast
February 2, 2012 at 1:16 pm
IHAVE LITTLE (NOTHING?) GOOD TO SAY about woodchucks, Marmota monax, even on their namesake Groundhog Day today. The only American animal with a holiday named for it simply makes me crazy by using my garden as a banquet table in any year he manages to get a foothold. My favorite nature writer, John Burroughs (1837-1921), didn’t have much use for the beasts, either—though he did name one of his Catskill Mountain houses Woodchuck Lodge. [read more…]
facing monsanto: q&a with fedco’s c.r. lawn
January 30, 2012 at 11:48 am
ON THE EVE OF OPENING ARGUMENTS in Organic Seed Growers & Trade Association, et al. v. Monsanto, which will be heard tomorrow in Federal court in Manhattan and challenges the chemical giant’s patents on genetically modified seed, I asked C.R. Lawn, founder of Fedco Seeds (one of 83 co-plaintiffs in the case) and an organic farmer, market gardener and seedsman for more than 30 years, to help me grasp what’s at stake, and tell me what I—what we—can do as gardeners and consumers to help. This is not an easy subject to explain simply, so besides his answers, I’ve gathered some video clips and links that may help you get better informed. At the very least: Skip to the bulleted “to-do” list near the end and DO THEM! [read more…]
facing monsanto: q&a with fedco’s c.r. lawn
January 30, 2012 at 11:48 am
ON THE EVE OF OPENING ARGUMENTS in Organic Seed Growers & Trade Association, et al. v. Monsanto, which will be heard tomorrow in Federal court in Manhattan and challenges the chemical giant’s patents on genetically modified seed, I asked C.R. Lawn, founder of Fedco Seeds (one of 83 co-plaintiffs in the case) and an organic farmer, market gardener and seedsman for more than 30 years, to help me grasp what’s at stake, and tell me what I—what we—can do as gardeners and consumers to help. This is not an easy subject to explain simply, so besides his answers, I’ve gathered some video clips and links that may help you get better informed. At the very least: Skip to the bulleted “to-do” list near the end and DO THEM! [read more…]
can scotts really be a partner to the environment?
January 25, 2012 at 1:08 pm
ITRY TO KEEP MY MOUTH SHUT about specific companies and their products, except to recommend ones that I find useful or exemplary. Nothing good to say? I usually stay silent. But not today. Reading news of Scotts Miracle-Gro’s new partnership with the National Wildlife Federation—talk about strange, or shall we say deadly, bedfellows?—has gotten the better side of my good manners. How the partners in this greenwashing of an environmental villain plan to spin the reality that the manufacture and use of toxic chemicals can in any way be seen as a boon to wildlife, I do not know. [UPDATES: On Sunday, NWF came to its senses and canceled the deal. All links for coverage on the jump. Hooray!] [read more…]
a new take on full-moon gardening
January 9, 2012 at 10:12 am
I WAITED TO SHOW YOU the art of French photographer Laurent Laveder until the full moon this morning, which seemed the right timing to admire the work of a man who likes to make magic with it. Laveder has been doing astrophotography since the last appearance of Halley’s Comet in 1986, including playful images like the one above. A distinct take on gardening by the phases of the moon, no? (Image copyright Laurent Laveder; more can be seen at PixHeaven, where you can purchase photos, or on his website, where I particularly love the section called Nuit, or Night.)
what you fancied: 2011′s top 11 stories
December 27, 2011 at 10:52 am
CAN YOU GUESS what the top 11 new stories of 2011 were on A Way to Garden? As was the case last year, not even one featured the increasingly cushy life of Jack the Demon Cat, now operating under the assumed name Jack the Mama’s Boy–and just completing his first full year of nonstop sleepovers and on-demand feeding courtesy of his personal valet. Speaking of eating, a lot of this year’s top posts involved garden-fresh ingredients. Here’s what else: [read more…]
