“Right plant, right place.” This mantra, good for muttering to oneself at the nursery so as not to waste money on temptations that, though beautiful, have absolutely no business being […]
Farm & Garden
What would it look like to grow, harvest, and protect our bounty?
Browse all Farm & Garden stories below or dive into a topic:
THE DIRT
Down on the Worm Farm
Jole Bell’s red wigglers turn kitchen scraps and old newspapers into ‘black gold’
A trio of plastic bins occupies a shady corner of a parcel of land in Truro where Jole Bell rents three garden plots from Meryl Gartside, the owner of Blue […]
AQUACULTURE
Time to Wake the Oysters
With days ever so slightly warmer, farmers return bags of bivalves to the water
WELLFLEET — Oysters don’t hibernate, but when winter sets in and water temperatures dip below 48 degrees Fahrenheit, they enter something like a dormant state, which allows them to conserve […]
CULTIVATION
The Bold and Patient Art of Bonsai
David Gavelek teaches a class that’s part horticulture, part art, and part engineering
Six bonsai trees in clay pots stand in a lineup under the fluorescent lights of the cafeteria at the Truro Central School, awaiting critique. The bonsai, all larches and junipers, […]
GROWING WILD
Starting Native Seeds From Scratch
It’s not too late to coax purple poppy mallows and pussytoes through hibernation
The bounty of our native flora, with all its beauty and ecological benefit, is available to home gardeners at quite an inexpensive price — if we can just figure out […]
FARMING ON PAPER
Gardeners Put In Their Orders for 2025 Season
In January, some growers dream in spreadsheets and catalogs — others just dream
For lazy gardeners like me, January is a quiet time. The garlic is tucked in for its winter nap, and a few hours of mulching work in the fall means […]
ON THE LANDSCAPE
A Piece of the Forest’s Winter Fabric
Emerging from the woven woods, a deer forces a pause
I was on my daily pilgrimage to the ocean, driving north along the bluff above the water in Wellfleet. It was the dimming end of a silver-skied November day, and […]
ON THE LANDSCAPE
Immersed in a Sea of Little Bluestem
Looking at the subtle beauty of a native grass becomes a form of meditation
There is a meadow in Eastham just off the side of the highway that pulls my attention every time I pass by. The field is the site of the old […]
PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTEBOOK
Treasure Hunting for Rubies in the Bog
An Outer Cape tradition provides a bountiful cranberry harvest and an after-school treasure hunt
There is something wonderfully primitive about foraging food. It feels like the way it should always be. There are no signs or sounds of civilization out in the dunes. Just […]
SEASIDE GARDENER
The Hoarfrost Cometh
Lulled into a false sense of seasonal security, a gardener loses a few favorite plants to the cold
One of the things I love most about living here is being more in tune with nature’s rhythms. Watching tides, Moon phases, storm systems, and bird migrations, I’ve learned to […]
SEASIDE GARDENER
Ending on a High Note
Don’t give up on your garden at the end of summer. That’s when the best is yet to come.
In contrast to its slow, gray springs, the Outer Cape is famous for its benevolent autumns. Just as the earliest crocuses and daffodils give me hope during what one friend […]
BACKYARD FARMER
Poultry and Their Politics
An amateur analysis of ‘chicken business’
It’s a hen-peck-hen world out there. By “out there,” I refer to the front garden of our house in Wellfleet, where our three hens are placidly sipping from a puddle. […]
ROAD TRIP
Pick Your Own Sweet Memories
A search for local apples leads up-Cape to Crow Farm in Sandwich
Apple trees were big when I was a kid. On annual apple-picking excursions with my family, I would clamber into the branches of trees in New Jersey and sometimes in […]
ON THE FLATS
Meet the Farmers of Mayo Beach
Growers respond to nature and science as they consider the future of shellfishing
WELLFLEET — Jake Puffer beckons a group of touring visitors closer, asking if they want to peek inside the ridges of his farm’s oyster hats. Disks dipped in lime, sand, […]
ON THE FLATS
Meet the Farmers of Mayo Beach
Growers respond to nature and science as they consider the future of shellfishing
WELLFLEET — Jake Puffer beckons a group of touring visitors closer, asking if they want to peek inside the ridges of his farm’s oyster hats. Disks dipped in lime, sand, […]
