Last fall, a young man who lives nearby knocked on my door. He wanted to know whether he could keep his hives in my field. He explained that his bees, living on the side lawn of his house, near the woods, had died. He didn’t know why. He thought they might do better in my […]
garden
Inside Yankee: September/October
Imagine most people would say that love is the most potent four-letter word in our language. I agree. But home isn’t far behind. Home carries so many images for each of us. I didn’t realize until I saw this September/October issue spread across the walls of our conference room, where art director Lori Pedrick hangs […]
Are there trees and shrubs that flower in the fall that I can use in my landscape? — R.M., Lincoln, MA A good number of herbaceous perennials (soft-stem plants that die to the ground in winter) bloom during the fall in New England — including Aconitum, Aster, Chrysanthemum, Sedum, and Filipendula, among others — but […]
“I grew up on a farm in New Hampshire,” says Frank McClelland, “so I couldn’t imagine not having a garden, let alone not teaching my children about how things grow.” For almost two decades, Frank has been chef and owner of Boston’s L’Espalier restaurant, a fine-dining spot that has long set the standard for elegance […]
Snow Emergency
Excerpt from “Snow Emergency,” Yankee Magazine, January 1990. Snow has fallen, snow on snow: the words of the bleak midwinter carol fulfill themselves. The newspapers have been full of the snow, the newspapers thrown on lawns and porches have been buried under it. TV has warned and advised against it and hourly reports its progress. […]
International Picnics
I’ve been on the road for about a week, with more miles ahead of me. I sometimes tell people I don’t write for a living, I drive. I once calculated that I had driven a million miles in the course of my work for Yankee and that was some time ago. If I have to […]
In 1962 Waine Morse decided to build a make-believe store beside his vegetable garden in Greenfield, MA, to house his burgeoning collection of Americana. He couldn’t stop. Excerpt from “’The Man Who Build a Town in His Backyard,” Yankee Magazine, December 1989. It didn’t start out to be like this, a whole village, a toy […]
Wethersfield, CT, and Onions
Yankee classic from August 1993 Plan a weekend visit to Wethersfield today. In those days, you could smell Wethersfield before you could see it. Outsiders dubbed the Connecticut village “Oniontown,” with a crosshatch of affection and derision, for this was home of the world-famous Wethersfield red onion, and its pungent scent stung the air. Wethersfield […]
“For the last 19 years,” says June LaCombe, Maine’s one-woman outdoor sculpture campaign, “I have been trying to get sculpture out of the white box of the gallery and back into people’s lives where it belongs.” June LaCombe is not just an art dealer; she is an art believer. She curates exhibitions of outdoor sculpture […]
Monadnock: It’s Never Lonely at the Top
Yankee classic from August 1991 Those who first climbed Mount Monadnock for fun in the early 1800s probably went in search of those blueberries of which Thoreau wrote. Hikers today can still scale Monadnock’s slopes and return with buckets brimming with berries. There may be easier places to find that azure fruit, but perhaps none […]
Make basil and prosciutto wraps and eggplant salad the way the famed chef of TV’s “Ciao Italia,” Mary Ann Esposito, does — with fresh ingredients from her garden. Or maybe it’s his garden, since her husband, Guy, is the family gardener. Click below to download the file to your computer and then print it out. […]
Blue Heaven
On hot mornings like this one, I start early when it’s still (relatively) cool. Last weekend, I planted the vegetable garden, and later, morning glories on the porch posts. I need to keep these well watered, at least for their first week, and more if the heat continues. I only have one faucet, which is […]