Text and Drawings by Abraham Storer Although it’s still early in the season, Fiona Mulligan’s Eastham garden is full of green, and her small hillside orchard is dotted with flowering […]
Farm & Garden
What would it look like to grow, harvest, and protect our bounty?
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ON THE LANDSCAPE
The Astonishing Fact That Trees Flower
Wondering at blossoms on winter-hardened wood
I sit in front of the window to write. A small desk is built into its frame, made from an old slab of maple that was milled with a chain […]
ON THE LANDSCAPE
On Pine Needle Paths
In the canopy, and on the ground, pine needles blanket our world
WELLFLEET — Moving down the path that runs along the southern edge of Dyer Pond, I felt the cold northeast air move over the pond and chill my windward side. […]
ON THE LANDSCAPE
The Evanescence of a Spring Frost
On the lawn, meltwater awakens new growth
Snow dusted the grass only a few times this winter, and the birdbath stayed full of water, not ice, for most of the season. There were, however, morning frosts, hard […]
On the Landscape
The Foxes Watch Back
On feeling mutual curiosity in an animal’s gaze
I was driving up a sandy road on the ocean side the other day. I had been surfing in the early morning at a little sandbar. I was salty and […]
ON THE LANDSCAPE
A Gardener’s Fire
Hauling fallen brush into the flames is a ritual that makes way for new growth
When the fires of late winter and spring are lighted, they awaken old memories. All through my childhood, my brothers and I, alongside our parents, would rake and burn for […]
GARDENER’S NOTEBOOK
A Time to Sow
Dave DeWitt on greenhouses, grow bags, and Korean natural farming
Text and Drawings by Abraham Storer Dave DeWitt has been working the same plot of land in the Truro woods since 1987, starting when it was a heather farm, Rock […]
ON THE LANDSCAPE
The Perennial Surprise of the Crocuses
Pushing up from under mounds of snow, these flowers believe in spring
In the early days of February, little shoots of yellow-green began emerging from the soil in my gardens, pushing up along pathways and around the roots of trees in the […]
ON THE LANDSCAPE
Stepping Into the Moonlight
On winter nights, when all that exists is shape and form
When I was 12 years old, I moved into a cabin in my parents’ Wellfleet yard. It was down by the chicken coop, 10 feet by 12, made of pine […]
ON THE LANDSCAPE
Ode to a Nor’easter
In the aftermath of a proper storm, its formative power is felt
A sou’easter blew the tide into Provincetown in December. Then, this past Saturday, a piece of the polar vortex swept by, stunningly cold. These strange storms have me remembering our […]
PROGNOSTICATION
Cape Cod (Mostly) Doesn’t Love a Groundhog, Whistlepig, or Woodchuck
Phil and Ms. G, relying on intuition alone, are often divided on the forecast
On Feb. 2, all eyes are on the groundhog, that burly member of the squirrel family who is known as the predictor of whether we will have six more weeks […]
ON THE LANDSCAPE
In Winter Buds, an Offering
Swaddled on sleeping branches, the gift of next season’s green
Imagine for a moment the view outside your window a few months from now. The sun moves higher across the sky. The trees are waking up. Delicate creased forms break […]
GARDEN PLOT
Seed-Ordering Season: A Beginner’s Guide
Winnowing what’s good for your garden from a pile of plant possibilities
January is the hinge of the garden year. With the garlic long planted and my tools cleaned and sharpened, I look forward to the winter hush as a time of […]
ON THE LANDSCAPE
The Remarkable Life of One Dead Tree
In a cascade of decay, a churning, living system is awakened
On a walk in the Wellfleet woods a few days back I came upon a sort of ghost forest. At the trail’s edge and as far out into the underbrush […]
ON THE LANDSCAPE
A Painter’s Eyes on Nature’s Winter Palette
Against the gray are rare hues best seen up close
Driving north on Route 6 toward Provincetown on a midwinter day some years ago with my radio tuned in to an interview, I heard a painter talking about how she […]
