Deep into summer, beekeeping on the Outer Cape is mostly a waiting game. The queen has been laying since April; the hive population is perhaps 60,000. Though we’re in a […]
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:
GARDEN VARIETY
A Jeweler’s Hidden Gems
Gunter Hanelt tries out Hügelkulture in Truro
TRURO — On a sunny hill overlooking Cold Storage Beach in North Truro, Gunter Hanelt, a jeweler by profession, tends to more organic treasures. His overflowing vegetable garden boasts sugar-snap […]
OUTER CAPE PORTRAIT
Ingenuity on the Flats
NANCY CIVETTA / SHELLFISH CONSTABLE / WELLFLEET In early July, things are different on Wellfleet’s shellfish flats. Even as restaurants begin to open more fully across the commonwealth and country, […]
GROWING SEASON
Farmers Markets Are Back, for Food and Connection
Pre-ordering online helps with needed distancing
After a pre-season full of uncertainty and adjustment, welcome seeds of normalcy are sprouting at the Provincetown and Truro farmers markets, though at both, new restrictions and guidelines have reconfigured […]
VIEW FROM THE HIVE
Swarming Is a Sign of Success
When honey bees take to the woods, they’re driven by a collective purpose
A honey bee colony’s plans and those of its beekeeper often diverge, and those disparate intentions of bee and keeper can confuse and confound the objectives of both. At no […]
ON THE LANDSCAPE
Finding the Woods on a Search for a Bird
Following a hermit thrush call, an encounter with mystery
There is a little bird that lives in the woods. It nests low to the ground, at the edges of clearings. It is about the size of a sparrow. The […]
MOVEMENT
Growing Stronger
Six rules for avoiding garden variety injuries
Gardening is good for the soul. But if you don’t pay attention to good body mechanics, it can be hard on your back — or your knees, wrists, and elbows. […]
SIGNS OF SPRING
Farmers Markets Open, Gingerly
A push for online ordering, but SNAP customers must pay in person
This season, the Wellfleet Farmers Market is going to be one of those places where life’s new rules seem weirdest. The place to go to get your hands-on local produce […]
RESILIENCE
The Role of Local Farms Gets Attention
With supply chains faltering, the right to farm here is raised
Even with the new emphasis on handwashing, some people can’t wait to get their hands dirty again.
SOIL BUILDERS
Salt Hay, Biochar, and Other Secrets
Healthy soil is less about fertilizer, more about microbes
Outer Cape gardeners can get restless counting the days until they can safely set out their tomato seedlings. But seasoned local growers have some advice on what to do right […]
VIEW FROM THE HIVE
Apitherapy for Anxiety
Honey bees head out for pollen, offering humans a chance for contemplation
Connecting with nature is one benign, widely practiced, and evidently very effective way of coping with anxiety. In Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, Ishmael, instead of “stepping into the street, and methodically […]
ON THE LANDSCAPE
Beyond the Lawn
Rethinking America’s most wonderful, ridiculous monoculture
The lawn. A tightly cropped, cleanly edged area of neat green. An outdoor carpet for lying on and looking at. A lawn is deeply ingrained in our culture as an […]
RESILIENCE
It’s Good to Garden Now
Local suppliers are finding new ways to make sheltering better for us all
TRURO — For the people who grow vegetables and manicure lawns, it’s definitely not a garden variety spring, as the coronavirus closes retail garden centers and seed catalogs are selling […]
WATERCOLOR
Queen Hen
Queen Hen by Traci Harmon Hay
View from the Hive
Bees in Boxes
Built to make tending and harvesting easy
Probably the most common image that comes to mind when someone mentions honey bees are those tidy (classically white) wooden hive boxes set out in a field, orchard, or country […]
