Gardens

May 16, 2013May 16, 2013 / handmadebyjo / 1 Comment

The first edible plant to arrive in my garden is rhubarb. We eagerly look forward to it thinking about pies all winter long. I have found no really effective way to preserve rhubarb that allows me to bake with it in the off season so we enjoy as much as we can while we can.

This particular rhubarb came from Bill’s grandfather’s property. After he died and we were cleaning out the house for sale I walked the yard to see if there was anything I could transplant. His back yard was very shaded and there was a very anemic patch of rhubarb in the back corner of the garage. I dug it up and brought it to Rowe. I planted it in front of a huge rock – it faces west. The plants are shaded until noon during the growing season and I’ve found that really works well, it keeps it from bolting early in the season. Last year I made a rhubarb pie in September and it was awesome. I always thought if you didn’t get it in the spring that was it.

Being able to go out and pick something edible this time of year is a blessing. Gives you hope for the rest of the season even if you haven’t planted anything yet. I have garlic that looks amazing this year but I know I didn’t plant enough. I will be tilling the garden this weekend barring any bad weather. I will set it up in anticipation of the ground warming to a temperature where I can plant most of my vegetables. We had three nights below freezing this past week so I make it a rule to never plant before Memorial Day.

I’ve had a vegetable garden for about 8 years now in varying sizes and layouts. I’m getting a grip on what grows and what will not and have had gardens through summers dry and hot, cool and rainy. I think everyone should have a garden where they can grow something of their own to eat. Our healthy choices are being taken away from us at a breathless pace. I don’t believe if you go into a grocery store right now that you can have any clue where your food comes from or what goes into it. You are being lied to on a daily basis about what’s organic or natural. I figure if it says that on a package than it’s probably not. Start using your farmers gardens. They are springing up everywhere this time of year. There may not be a lot of variety but soon there will be. You’ll know that your veggies and herbs haven’t spent days in a truck coming to you from parts unknown.

The other thing I would add is if you plan on ever growing any of your food now is the time to start. Gardens are slow motion works in progress, they can take years. What works one year may not the next but those experiences are what help you to be a better gardener. So many people I talk to think they can just put one in one year and it’ll be fine so they wait until they think they “really” need it. Don’t wait, do it now, even if it’s just pots of tomatoes and basil.

Bed and Chicken Dinners

May 14, 2013May 14, 2013 / handmadebyjo / 2 Comments

During the early 20th century Fort Pelham Farm was a bed and breakfast of sorts as well as serving home cooked meals. This is a brochure that Olive had in her scrapbook and I thought I’d share it.

The brochure itself is small, maybe 3″ x 5″ on a textured yellow stock and gives quite a bit of information on a small space.

As I was reading it this morning I was thinking how nice it would be to have a view of the hopper from the house. It is completely grown in now so the only view we now have is trees. Although I have noticed that part of the view just down the road (when the leaves are off of the trees) includes the windmills in Savoy which I can’t say that I’m a fan of. So maybe it’s better that we have the trees that way I’m not angry that someone has invaded my space albeit from afar.

The back of the brochure probably fascinates me the most. “Modern electric power plant”? Need a little more research into that. Running water, modern bathroom? Hmmmm . . . Then there is the way the entire upstairs is set up. You have to be pretty comfortable with strangers to all be staying in the rooms upstairs. There is no hallway between any rooms so you need to walk through other peoples bedrooms to get anywhere near the stairways. I’m making an assumption that what is now the upstairs bathroom was once a bedroom. I do remember my father talking about a water holding tank in the attic over the ell which they used for water pressure. Their water was spring fed and there was a huge cistern in the cellar as well.

Then there are those dinners. We donated a sign for chicken dinners to the Rowe Historical Society a number of years back. I have photographs of what is now the living room set up for dining. It’s difficult for me to imagine cooking for a crowd in the kind of kitchen they were using at the time. And what kind of flock of chickens did they have? Must have been substantial unless they bought dressed hens somewhere else which I’m kind of doubting. I also looked up the value of $3.00 in 1900 just to get a little perspective. It amounted to $79.10. They were making fairly good money with their little endeavor – almost $400 per person per week. You just have to consider that it was a seasonal retreat for people.

The photo above is of the dining room. The floors and layout are still the same and I have to tell you that I wouldn’t mind having the rocking chair in the foreground.

I look at these photographs and am amazed at how little the house has changed. When we do something to it we try to keep within the character of the house. It’s really too beautifully built to mess with. We have returned to eating in that room, dividing it into different living spaces. It’s a wonderful place to entertain friends and family. Now I just need to figure out how to charge $26.27 for a creamed chicken dinner.

Homeowner’s ADD

May 13, 2013May 13, 2013 / handmadebyjo / 1 Comment

I’m not fond of this time of the year. I’ve come down with a bad case of homeowner’s ADD. I have a theory that everyone has Attention Deficit Disorder but for me it’s really apparent at certain times of the year.

Part of the problem with the home owning part is the house in Rowe does not have heat upstairs (or power for that matter) so any projects that I want to do have to be done in spring, summer and early fall (or just bundle up while you’re doing it). Last week I had a conversation with brothers-in-law Mike. He’s working on a house just up the road from ours and swears that whoever built the one he’s in built ours. There is the same intricate woodwork. We talked about stripping paint. I have used all kinds of methods of stripping paint, all involving some rather harsh chemicals but he’s been using a heat gun. Hmmmmm . . .

I had Bill get a heat gun because I have a small room that once had carpet glued to it. The carpet was removed years ago but the mastic stayed. This room is above the living room and I had visions of using a chemical remover and having it leak through the floor onto the new ceiling below – not good. I tried using this head gun to get the mastic off and it was BRILLIANT. You can only remove a little at a time but once you’re rolling it goes fairly quickly. The disadvantage is that I have to sit on the floor in order to do it. It’s hard on the back so I can only do it for an hour or two before I have to give it up.

The weather this past weekend was really not conducive to working outdoors. When the sun came out I tried to pull weeds in some of my flower beds but the black flies were so thick that it wasn’t pleasant at all. I would come in out of the clouds, both rain and flies, and run down my mental list of the wants and needs indoors. Most of them run into the wants like the floor upstairs but then there is the matter of turning what was once a bathroom into a pantry. This involves removing the toilet and sink and all respective piping (after removing all of the junk that’s accumulated in there for the past year). That little project is rather pressing at the moment because we will soon be coming into preserving season and I want that finished before it starts. I need an inventory of canning supplies as well as making sense of a large closet that’s been used for a pantry for a number of years. Making sense of it is being kind, I can’t find anything in it and every time I cook something I waste a lot of time digging around looking for that special something I KNOW is in there somewhere.

The wood shop has been cleaned up in the past week and I was thinking about that side table that I really need to make for the living room. That sounded like more fun than stripping floors and moving toilets. I restrained myself because I knew if I went out to the shop I would never come back in and those inside projects would be still calling my name.

The thing is that I also spent a good deal of time weaving and rug hooking this weekend – going from one to the other. I think I need medication.

But does this look like fun to you? Good thing it’s a very small room.

Pear Blossoms

May 11, 2013May 11, 2013 / handmadebyjo / Leave a comment

I wait eagerly for this each year. The pear tree blossoming in the back forty. It is always so beautiful, this year more so because I finally got down there to prune it. Bill and I drove the tractor down next to the tree and took turns lifting each other in the bucket at different angles to cut off the suckers. This tree has never been pruned and was rather overrun. I used the lopping shears and he used his smallest chain saw. It was more than a little scary being 15+ feet off of the ground and moving into a tree. I think Bill’s ride was probably a little scarier since I don’t drive the tractor that often. My ride was fairly smooth backwards and forwards, up and down. Bill’s on the other hand . . . let’s just say next time he’ll probably opt for a ladder. At Old Sturbridge Village they always said to prune your fruit trees so a cat tossed into it wouldn’t hit any branches. Fruit trees like a lot of air. With any luck we will have more than the one pear we got last year. The spring has been more “normal” this year with a more gradual warmup so the blossoms didn’t come out too early. As long as we get some pollinators out there we should be okay.

The patches of what looks like white in the field are bluets. We always put off mowing the field until these have gone by, the patches get bigger every year. They are like clouds in the grass.

It’s a drizzly, rainy day today but everything is looking wonderfully green and lush. Something about it just soothes the soul after such a long, cold winter.

Pay it Forward

May 7, 2013May 7, 2013 / handmadebyjo / Leave a comment

All along the Mohawk Trail through the town of Charlemont someone planted daffodils years ago. It’s probably a 10 mile stretch of the road on the north side where there are clumps of various types of these flowers. I look forward to seeing them every year and am always sad to see them go.

Daffodils also grow in what seems to be random places. You drive by what may once have been someone’s home, now gone and there are daffodils blossoming on what may have once been their front yard. I find the resiliency of these flowers amazing. Not only do they come back year after year they multiply. A few turn into hundreds.

This is one of the things I’ve learned about gardening over the years – it’s slow. Whenever you are planting perennials, shrubs or trees you always have to think years down the road. Don’t plant things too close together or you will end up digging them up. Take into consideration the spread of some plants before you plant them. I have echinacea that takes up a good part of a garden now, that was the intent. It has other things growing with it but I love that sea of pink in the summer.

Bill thinks the idea of planting new maple trees in the front yard of the house as pointless because we won’t live to enjoy the shade. I say plant them now so my grandchildren will have beautiful trees shading the front of the house in the summer like they did when I was a child.

Perennial gardens are gifts to future generations in my opinion. Some of the gardens I have in Rowe were planted by my mother, most of the plants cames from her friends and aquaintances. She planted them for herself and to beautify the property but as a gardener you know that she probably knew that the garden would go on long after she was gone. I love being able to go through my flower gardens and know where the peony came from or the dark purple iris. They came from people I loved dearly that are no longer with us. I love my gardens because I remember a day spent with Bill or my sister sweating with a shovel or moving stones. Year after year I will walk down the stone path and see how my flowers are filling in. A few years from now I won’t have to worry about the weeds because the perennials will have taken over. A few years after that I will be dividing things up and giving them away – to people I care about. It’s all about paying it forward.

New View

May 3, 2013May 3, 2013 / handmadebyjo / Leave a comment

I took a walk yesterday out through the woodlot. It’s been dry this spring so I was able to get to it without the use of waders. This is the second year we haven’t had beavers on the property although their handywork is ever present. Without them there their ponds get a little smaller, their paths are beginning to grow in. They had a pretty extensive network that is now being slowly reabsorbed into the earth.

I walked along one of the boundary walls so I could see how extensive this pond was. I could only see the marsh reeds from the house and once the leaves are on the trees the only notion you have that it’s there are the birds. Different birds live around these little ponds, that’s why I love having them here. I had thought I could see a beaver house from the other side of this pond but as I discovered in my little hike there wasn’t one. This must have just been another one of their engineering projects while they lived in the pond behind Hoover Damn.

The best part about this little hike was the view – I’ve never seen the house from this vantage point. Timing is everything, once the leaves come out there really won’t be a view of the buildings, at least not this clear a one. So what started out as a walk in the woods on a glorious spring day had the added benefits of a beautiful new photograph, a renewed sense of well being and 2 really muddy dogs.

Retreat

May 2, 2013May 3, 2013 / handmadebyjo / Leave a comment

I’ve been in Rowe for the past few days, needed a retreat of sorts. The weather is beyond beautiful and there is so much that I wanted to get done. What I’ve found is that I’ve been most distracted by the quiet – in a good way. The lack of activity all around you helps to bring you back to yourself, it helps to restore your soul. Very few cars go by, very few planes fly over, there aren’t any people that I run into that I don’t already know. My shelves are stocked if I want to make myself something to eat. There is no schedule. The only thing you really have time to do is think. It’s as if your entire day is spent in meditation. It’s a good thing.

Sophie likes to spend her day on the pillows on the sofa. As you can see she has no trouble relaxing at all.

Dog Heaven

April 29, 2013April 29, 2013 / handmadebyjo / 2 Comments

As I’m sitting at the computer writing this Chester is curled up in his bed beside me. This is typical for a Monday, we refer to it as the hangover.

Brush was burned this past Saturday with our three dogs and Malcolm all there to make the most of the greening grass and sunshine. There is nothing they like more than to be in the back forty doing whatever they find to do. It is always more fun if their people are out their with them. There’s always the chance there will be a game of fetch.

It wasn’t so long ago that none of these dogs got along. We were always on alert for the next sign of a fight. The fights were ugly, blood was always drawn, always over a stick or toy. The blood didn’t necessarily belong to a dog either. This past weekend was one of those weekends where everyone got along. There is nothing they love more than being free to go anywhere without a leash. They just ran and ran and ran. They all took a dip in the swamp – Chester more than once. Malcolm had to have a bath and the burdock picked out of his fur before he could get into the car to head back to Boston.

A lot was accomplished – we are all feeling it today. Unfortunately Chester is the only one who gets to sleep it off.

April 26, 2013April 26, 2013 / handmadebyjo / 4 Comments

The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely, or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. As long as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.

Anne Frank wrote those words when she was 14 years old. She must have been an old soul, so much wisdom, so young.

It’s been almost two weeks since I’ve been to Rowe. I need to see the stars and get away from traffic, take a walk in the woods.

The pear tree needs trimming although it’s later to do it than it should be, it still needs to be done. The raspberries need trimming, the beds need to be semi cleaned out, mulched. There are brush piles to be burned, wood to be split, gardens to be spruced up. I need to check into what I have for seed potatoes and get some onion sets. The Ball jars need to be inventoried. Just the beginning of the busiest time of the year – now until October. Always too much to do and just enough. I love having an outdoor to do list. There’s always an excuse to be out there.

So even though I will be working I will also be alone with the heavens, nature and God. I will return to my work week renewed and refreshed.

Thrive Where You’re Planted

April 22, 2013April 22, 2013 / handmadebyjo / Leave a comment

During the Blizzard of ’78 my sister was in the hospital for some emergency surgery. Her later to be mother-in-law sent her a pot of daffodils – there were a dozen in the pot as I recall. Once they had died back they were planted in a border garden around the patio. Over the years they have naturalized to the point of hundreds. They are all over New England at this point. Everywhere I have had a garden they are now too numerous to count. They have been given away to friends and family in MA, VT, NH and CT. They are now in full bloom in Enfield, around the front of the house, along the driveway, in the perennial garden in the back yard. They are scattered all down the bank going into the back forty in Rowe. These amuse me most of all. For years my mother’s mulch pile was over that bank. There was a stone wall there many years ago and it was completely grown in with trees. She would dig up things that she no longer wanted or bulbs were perhaps pulled along with the weeds – over the bank they would all go.

I have planted many plants in a perennial garden only to watch them migrate to where they really want to be. They will self seed in a sunnier or wetter spot and the original will die back. It’s no use trying to get them to grow where you want them to, they just grow where they are happy. That’s how I feel at times about being caught between Enfield and Rowe, suburban and rural, noisy and quiet. I just want to be where it’s sunny and quiet. Then I think about those daffodils. They speak volumes about thriving where you are. It doesn’t mattered the soil type, the sunlight, the moisture – they all seem to like where they are and continue to multiply year after year. In my head I know that’s how it should be – thrive where you are – but some days (especially sunny spring ones) I just want to be in a quiet spot. Maybe transplanting daffodils.

Happy Earth Day – go dig in the dirt!

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