Living

Christmas Decor | Bright White Nights

Shades of silver, gray, and white echo winter and ice, while black reminds us that this is the time of year when nights are longest. Snowflakes made of paper, beads, and resin dangle in the air. Although this cozy living room has no fireplace, the shelf serves as a floating mantel and focal point. Warmth […]

Living

Sparkly Winter Wreath | Christmas Decor

Instructions to Make a Sparkly Winter Wreath 1. Wrap a Styrofoam wreath form with silver fabric ribbon. 2. Using a hot-glue gun, attach clear glass florist’s beads in rows, starting from the inside of the circle. 3. Tie on ribbon for hanging. 4. Embellish with objects that add sparkle: small ornaments, a rhine-stone brooch, little […]

Gardens

Real Solutions: Prepare Your Garden for Winter

Get your landscaping ready for New England’s bitter months by reading our tips to prepare your garden for winter. Our canna lilies and dahlias bloomed fabulously this summer, but I understand they’re not hardy enough to survive our winter outdoors. What do you recommend? — D.C., Antrim, NH Cannas, dahlias, elephant ears (Colocasia), gladiolus, caladium, […]

Rhode Island

Block Island, RI: Photo Essay

Malcolm Greenaway’s photographs of Block Island capture rare scenes that only a few people will ever witness in person. He shoots with the eye of a photographer and the soul of a philosopher, in places and under conditions that even islanders miss. I know Block Island well, though not quite as intimately as Malcolm, who […]

Desserts

Holiday Cookie Exchange: 25 Years Later

Sometime around Thanksgiving, Mary Bevilacqua starts thinking about the Exchange. She decides whom she’ll invite and sends out invitations. She makes up the menu for the meal, and then, most important, she wonders what the cookie will be this year: Lemon snowballs? Nutmeg logs? Chocolate-peppermint bars? The Wellesley Cookie Exchange has been part of Mary’s […]

Yankee

Orphan Holidays | Mary’s Farm

Remembering a heartwarming holiday edition of “Mary’s Farm,” where Edie Clark reflects on the powers of cooking and friendship.

Gardens

Garden Question: Why Doesn’t My Fall Daisy Bloom?

My two-foot daisy plant bloomed each fall for five or six years but stopped two years ago. The plant comes up green and seemingly healthy, but no blossoms — not even one bud. Can you tell me why this has happened and how to solve the problem? C.M., Rockland, MA The symptoms you describe may […]

Vermont

Farmers Diner | (Tod) Murphy’s Law: Buy Local, Eat Local, and Prosper

How local is the Farmers Diner? The first thing you see when you walk in the door of this Quechee,Vermont, restaurant is a jukebox, glinting like any diner jukebox. Some Willie Nelson, some John Cougar Mellencamp. But half the albums are by Vermonters. Phish, sure. But it’s Grace Potter and the Nocturnals who get the […]

Magazine

Rhode Island in Foliage Season

Okay, her palette is more subdued. But like her big New England sisters, our state also dresses up for autumn. Preferring not to flaunt her charms, Little Rhody holds them close. No mountainsides streaming red, maybe, but layers of rich color that warrant up-close inspection are what you’ll find here. In the southern part of […]

Yankee

Artisanal Cheese Makers

In September, the hills of western Massachusetts surrounding Hillman Farm are blazing with autumn color. Carolyn and Joe Hillman’s herd of 50 Alpine goats are outside grazing, as they are for most of the year. This pasturing of goats is largely responsible for the nuances of flavor found in the Hillmans’ Harvest Wheel, a raw […]