Someone I was recently reading (I cannot remember who--Berry? Wirzba?) lamented the decline of local knowledge among modern westerners. "Most people," whoever-it-was said, "cannot recognize even a hundred plant species…

So, my cabbage is almost ready. I'll have about eight heads in a week or so. That's, uh, a lot of cabbage. Plus, my CSA has been including a head or two of cabbage in the last three boxes. I'm in dire need of sug…

Things are looking perkier and perkier in the garden this week. My mini roses are now in bloom, having survived the merciless destruction last summer that came from certain basketballers not noticing that there were pla…

I'm starting really, really, really to like my yard. When we bought the house, its entire floral output consisted of azaleas and rhododendrons, with a few half-hearted daffodils in the spring. I've never really cared f…

Dear Nicolas-- Guess what!! I was eating breakfast early this morning. I was staring out the window--not looking at anything, just sort of spacing--when all of a sudden, I saw something. Can you guess what it was? I…