The never ending winter continues with temperatures hovering around zero and another snow storm on the horizon. I have contracted an EXTREME case of cabin fever, for which I have found no immediate cure. I have begun to send the weather forecasters hate mail and I have officially placed a bounty on the head of…
Winter storm Juno is barreling toward the Northeast and we wait with anticipation. At the moment, we’re poised to get 1 to 30 inches of snow, depending on which weatherman you listen to (obviously, we don’t take much stock in the weather forecast around here). So, with boots and snow shovels at the ready, we…
The clematis is one of those old-timey flowers that makes me think of farmhouses, white picket fences and the television show The Waltons. I have a vine that faithfully grows outside my back door. It is the first flower on the farm to herald the coming of spring and produces flowers that range in color…
It’s been TWO degrees here for days. One day the temperature crept up to a balmy FIVE degrees. That was followed by two nights of -10 degrees. At this point, it doesn’t matter what the thermometer says – it’s COOOOLD! Everything is frozen solid and it hurts to breathe when you’re outside. It’s time to…
Acres and acres of pasture and this is the result…
Bacterial wilt is caused by both the striped and spotted cucumber beetle, which carries a bacteria called Erwinia tracheiphila. First the leaves will wilt and shrivel, then it will spread to the branches and vines. Eventually the whole plant will kick the bucket. And it all seemingly happens overnight! This year, I planted three types of…
There are several old standbys that I plant in my garden every year. One of my favorites is the Sugar Snap Pea – it’s a great producer throughout the entire gardening season. The Sugar Snap Pea is easy to grow and produces sweet, tender pods that are great to eat right out of the garden.…
In all my years of gardening, I’ve never had much trouble with pests. That is until this summer when the beetles arrived. What I didn’t realize, as I was preparing the garden soil in the spring, was that all the disgusting white grubby things I was finding were Japanese beetle larva. BLECK! Now I’ve become…
The Farmers in the Dell 