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I’m not sure snowdrops count as harbingers of spring, since, as their name suggests, they appear in winter. The bee at center bottom looks promising however. Ring-necked Ducks, on the other hand, are reliable harbingers, appearing on the pond for a couple of weeks each early spring. They came early this year. They were so […]

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.

We are sad to return to New York today after three weeks at the farm. Springtime is all around, well represented by this young cherry tree blooming by the pond. Daffodils are blooming everywhere, and so is our star magnolia (which we refer to as the cameo magnolia because it is very small).

Still, signs of spring abound, including this unusual assortment of ducks (two Mallard males and a female; one Ring-necked Duck). The snowdrops were up, as were a few crocuses. The Canada Geese are returning. And Jen gave Sarah a spring haircut.

The world is far from perfect, making this weekend’s splendid, cool weather a relief. Here are the last of the peonies.

Daisy, battling an ear infection, has been off her feed. Picking up the slack, this diabolically industrious chipmunk devoured not yet ripe blackberries for which Jen had other plans. Jen was consoled by her stargazer lilies, blooming in front of the house. While Sarah was at the town pool, we took a walk and were […]

We returned from an impromptu long (seven-day) weekend in Croatia, where we toured walled cities and Roman ruins and sampled the general pleasures of the Adriatic.  Some kind of hot air balloon confab was held in Rhinebeck this weekend.  Jen caught this balloon over East Market Street while she was buying a loaf of bread. […]

Our Feverfew is enjoying a moment in the late summer garden. Also enjoying a moment: our rhubarb, as well as Jen, whose birthday was Friday.   She celebrated (after a nice birthday supper at Le Petit Bistro) by combining the rhubarb with blackberries to make Rhu-Berry jam.  Jen entered that, together with four other jams, in […]

Here, via Jen’s iPhone camera, is one of our blooming poppies, in traditional kit. We also have non-traditional poppies, such as this white one. Here’s a wacky pink one. In forestry news, I got my new chain saw stuck in a log while clearing a downed elm.  Fortunately Chuck Kelso stopped by to help me […]