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Perfect Days

Posted in The Garden with tags asparagus, blue salvia, Fall, gardens, maple leaves, rain on September 28, 2009 by distantgardens

The hill towns, higher elevations and some of the northern areas of Western Massachusetts have had their first frost, but here in the lower Connecticut River Valley almost everything is still green. And while the flowers aren’t as abundant, there are many still blossoming and the trees are just beginning to turn.

The chilly, frost threatened, temperatures of last week became warm and humid over the weekend and we had a welcome warm rain that lasted an entire day – the first rain of the Fall.

Maple Leaf and Rain Drops

The first days of any new season are not so different than those of the preceding one, Nature doesn’t care how we delineate the beginning and ending of a season. Those are our rules, and our names, with some astrological “where is the Sun positioned” mathematical equations thrown behind them to sound “official.”

Instead, everything in Nature is a subtle, ongoing process of infinite motion where even the word “change” makes no sense – how can something change if there was never a point at which it stopped and “became” anything? We create those measurements and those points in time in an attempt to comprehend the extraordinarily complex universe we are part of.

And so, if not for the red, orange, and yellow leaves scattered on the ground yesterday, you could have almost convinced yourself that it was a Summer rain. At a quick glance, the trees on our street are still green, but of course the almost imperceptible color shifts are happening – leaf by falling red leaf.

Maple Leaves

So while the leaves begin to mark the transition into “Fall,” plants like the Blue Salvia will still be in blossom, without concern for what the season might be, until the cooling temperatures send them into dormancy.

Blue Salvia (Blue Salvia Farinacea)

And Hadley’s vast fields of its famous asparagus will also stay green for a while longer, gathering moisture and sunlight so as to be able to produce the next crop of tender asparagus shoots.

Asparagus in the Fall Rain

And the season will unfold, as it always does, in an infinitely complex and connected progression of moments that make up life as we know it. And with all that, how could these days be anything but perfect?

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There Are Still Flowers Out There

Posted in Fall Flowers, The Garden with tags Clover, Dahlia, Fall, flowers, gardens, Zinnia on September 25, 2009 by distantgardens

If the beautiful Fall foliage isn’t enough to get you excited about Fall, remember that there are all kinds of flowers still blossoming out there as well! It’s not like summer ends and everything in the garden dies off. Dahlias, morning glories, moon flowers, zinnias, Japanese anemone, asters, cosmos, and passion flowers are just a few of the flowering plants that continue to open new blossoms.

The traditional Fall flowers like marigolds and mums are out there, too. And there are beautiful Fall crocuses and even late-blooming day lilies. All of this will continue until the first real freeze and “hard” frost.

To prove the point, and give you a little Friday eye candy, here is a summer-colored assortment of pink blossoms from yesterday morning’s garden foray!

Pink Dahlia Opening

Pink Zinnia

Pink and Orange Dahlia

(Common!) Pink Clover

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Sunday Meditation: The Last Petals of the Season

Posted in Sundays, The Garden with tags Fall, first frost, gardens on September 20, 2009 by distantgardens

Last night we had the first frost warning here in Western Massachusetts which means that most of the summer’s tender flowers will soon be gone. It’s a perfect Fall day, so get out and enjoy them while you can.
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The Last White Phlox of the Season

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North Amherst Community Farm & Simple Gifts Farm

Posted in Local Organic Farms, The Garden, Vegetables with tags CSA, gardens, MA, organic farm, Pioneer Valley on August 7, 2009 by distantgardens

Simple Gifts Farm, in North Amherst, MA, is one of many organic farms here in the Pioneer Valley, but it has a unique relationship to the local community: it operates on farmland that was purchased by members of the community who came together and founded a non-profit organization, the North Amherst Community Farm (NACF), whose sole mission is to preserve the original farm. The 37.8 acre property, one of the few remaining farms in North Amherst, was owned & operated for many generations by the Dziekanowski family. It was purchased by NACF in 2006 after an intensive, grass roots fund raising effort.

NACF’s vision is to continue to “cultivate the farm as a unique community resource…while maintaining the integrity of the wildlife corridor and the natural landscape.” You can find out more about NACF’s ongoing work to improve the property as well as ways to help support their efforts on their Web site.
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Simple Gifts Farm

Simple Gifts Farm, operating in close association with NACF, began operating in the winter 0f 2006. Proprietors, and seasoned farmers, Jeremy Baker-Plotkin and David Tepfer, lease the land from NACF and operate a wonderful organic farm and 100 member CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program.

Hot Houses at Simple Gifts Farm

By participating in CSA programs, if you’re not familiar, members can help support local farms by buying “shares” each season. Shares entitle members to receive part of the farm’s harvest, usually on weekly basis, and may include fresh seasonal fruits, vegetables, eggs, dairy products, meat or whatever crops are grown on that particular farm. It’s a great way to support small farms in your community and provide the freshest seasonal foods for your family! And it’s fun, particularly if you have kids, to go right to the farm to pick up your groceries.

Simple Gifts Farms 2009 CSA shares sold out quickly, but you can sign up for the 2010 waiting list by emailing them.

CSA Pick Up Day at Simple Gifts Farm

If you missed out on a Simple Gifts Farm CSA share for this season, you can also purchase their products each Saturday at the Amherst Farmers Market and at local stores including Whole Foods.

Part of the Landscaping Crew at Simple Gifts Farm

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Staying True to Daylilies

Posted in The Garden with tags Daylilies, gardens, wildflowers on August 3, 2009 by distantgardens

Several weeks ago I wrote about gardeners’ fickle summer romances with whichever flowers happen to be in blossom at the time (ok, my fickle summer romances….). And, at that time, simple “common daylilies,” the orange lilies that seem to grow everywhere here in the Northeast, were my one true love of the season.

I loved the elegant structure of their lush petals and the intensity of their orange colors. I loved coming upon long fields of them along the banks of the Connecticut and photographing them shaking off steamy water drops from a just-passed summer thunder storm.

Well, I’ve had too many crushes to count since then…on water lilies and globe thistles, Queen Anne’s Lace and irises, echinacea and moon flowers, sunflowers, bean & pea blossoms, clematis and morning glories, black & brown-eyed susans and hosta…just to name a few.

But there’s still something about orange daylilies. Amazingly, they’re still blossoming long after the irises have passed, and the echinacea cones are fading and the green bean blossoms are giving way to, well, green beans.

Maybe we forget about daylilies because they’re so plentiful and so long-lasting, and we just expect them to be there. One patch of wild daylilies along the river will fade away just as a fresh, new patch is beginning to blossom as if it’s spring all over again. Other flowers demand our attention because we know they’ll only be around for a short time. But daylilies give us a wonderously coreographed dance of orange light that lasts the entire summer.

What I know, is that as the early summer blossoms fade away and we move into that hot baked-in-August-yellow-lawn and harvest time, I’ll keep returning to the daylilies for hits of color and beauty. As a gardener and a painter, Monet might have found inspiration in his beloved water lilies, but his gardens at Giverny were also filled with orange day lilies. I think he understood.