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Not every husband would have the thoughtfulness, foresight, and — let’s face it — courage to get his wife a scythe for Christmas. Jen, lucky, tried out her scythe this afternoon. After watching a few instructional videos on YouTube, she cleared phragmites from our volunteer willow next to the pond. Daisy looked on in amazement.

We celebrated the new year in the Kaimal/Lawson’s kitchen. Clockwise are Maya, Jen, Sarah R., Anna, Lucy, Guy, Sophie, and Sarah P. For dinner, Maya made two kormas from her new cookbook, to be published this spring, and we contributed Hopping John. The girls reminisced about the Rhinebeck Fireballs’ epic, Miracle on Ice-caliber victory over […]

We had a happy Christmas with Jen’s folks. Sarah’s stocking was brimming, including with this new hat. Sarah spent many late nights crocheting to create this beautiful blanket for her grandparents. Jen was a bit less certain about my gift for her, a new scythe, with both grass and brush blades.

Sarah returned home yesterday for winter break from Colgate, after briefly being snowed in following her last final Friday. Today we were able to snag one of the nine remaining xmas trees at the Phantom Gardener, just in time for the first night of Hanukkah.

The Dutchess County Fair offers not only chances at glory, but also cash prizes.

Tomato production is in high gear, and it’s all we can do to keep up. How many BLTs and caprese salads are too many? We will find out. Jen stays hydrated as she tends her garden.

Jen retained her marmalade crown at the 176th Dutchess County Fair. Her peach-lemon marmalade is loved by all. Sarah, debuting in the 18-and-older category, crocheted her way to glory with this beautiful blanket. I eked out the bronze in sweet pickles.

Saturday was perhaps the observable height of the blackberry season. Here, Jen fills a gallon bag with them. Jam will follow. It’s also high season for wineberries, which, although invasive — possibly pestiferous — are sweet, and easy to gather. We collected a gallon of those too.

Flowers tend to bloom, and fruit tends to ripen, all at once. If you miss a weekend or two, you might miss something altogether. This weekend, we had a couple of days of the sort referred to in meteorological circles as stinkeroos. Still, if the fruit is ripe, the jam must be made — and […]

It’s high season for Jen’s ever-expanding collection of peonies. These are the most fragrant of all. A surprising contribution to the beauty of spring flowers: fava beans, whose flowers look like irises. Jen looks after them all.