Ten years have passed, and still I remember the sensation of floating above the Pioneer Valley, as if tethered to a hawk. Hot-air ballooning is a dawn-and-dusk sport, when the air temperature is right for launching. In the late-afternoon light, we rose above the Connecticut River, just outside Northampton, Massachusetts. Within moments, our balloonist, Paul […]
In 1935, Kodak introduced modern color film and along the way sparked a foliage-photography revolution. Nothing brought out the hunger to capture beauty like a real New England autumn–the time when “the red gods call,” as Yankee writer Ben Rice wrote more than 60 years ago, quoting Kipling. During her 15-year-career as Yankee’s photo editor, […]
The popularity of the lawn rake coincided with the post-World War II boom in suburban living. Here’s a brief history of the rake — fall’s most essential tool.
The creation of the Quabbin Reservoir in central Massachusetts came with a cost: The sites of four communities in the Swift River Valley were drowned out of existence when it was built in the 1930s. In their place came two huge earthen dams and a new body of fresh drinking water for metro-Boston residents: a […]
Autumn is, of course, pumpkin season. And nowhere is it longed for and worshiped more than in Maine at the Damariscotta Pumpkinfest & Regatta, a multiday celebration during which the almighty gourd is honored, smashed, painted, and eaten. The 2012 festivities begin September 29-30 with two giant-pumpkin weigh-offs and picks up again October 4-8 with […]
Landmark Trust USA manages these 626 pristine acres in southern Vermont, where a team of orchardists tends some 90 varieties of low-spray heirloom and unusual apples. This beautiful property served as the location for the orchard scenes in The Cider House Rules. There’s a farm stand, plus classes on pruning and grafting, pie baking, and […]
In the heart of America’s first fruit bowl, this beautiful winery and restaurant is also home to a spectacular antique-apple orchard stocked with rare finds, such as ‘Pink Pearl’, ‘Ashmead’s Kernel’, and ‘Esopus Spitzenberg’–nearly 100 in all; call ahead to make an appointment. Tack a wine tasting and dinner onto your day and you have […]
Possibly the most beautiful orchard view in New England, with vistas as far as the White Mountains. When you turn your attention back to the trees, you’ll find 80-plus apple cultivars tended by owners Tim and Amy Bassett. One variety especially worth noting: ‘Hampshire’, a tree that sprang up from seed on this very farm […]
Steve Wood and Louisa Spencer operate two businesses on their land in west-central New Hampshire: Poverty Lane Orchards, where they grow dozens of antique and unusual apple varieties, and Farnum Hill Ciders, where they make complex ciders from the aforementioned apples. Both are worth exploring for their nuance and quality. 98 Poverty Lane, Lebanon, NH. […]
Paul and Jo-Ann Desrochers grow vegetables, peaches, plums, and nectarines, but they have a special love of heirloom apples–nearly 90 varieties, all grown without pesticides. You’ll find ‘Westfield Seek-No-Further’ (a Massachusetts native), ‘Newtown Pippin’, and the wondrous ‘Hidden Rose’, whose bland green-brown skin gives way to bright fuchsia flesh that tastes of raspberries. Open Saturday […]
Photo/Art by Brenda Darroch At this hilltop orchard in southwestern New Hampshire, you’ll find more than 50 apple varieties in neat rows, drawing your eye toward sweeping views of the Connecticut River Valley. Manager Homer Dunn adds more old breeds each year; the roster now includes ‘Belle de Boskoop’, ‘Reine des Reinettes’, and ‘Hudson’s Golden […]
‘Ashmead’s Kernel’, ‘Roxbury Russet’, ‘Belle de Boskoop’, ‘Pink Pearl’, ‘Winter Banana’ … The names of antique and rare apple varieties are part poetry, part history lesson. Many go back centuries, some as far as the Renaissance. The tiny ‘Lady’ apple, also known as the ‘Pomme d’Api’, was first recorded under that name in 1628, but […]
