Telling the Bees
by Elizabeth Spence My husband used to keep bees in our Tatamagouche garden. They lived joyfully in their little hives, going about their daily chores pollinating, making honey, buzzing around, occasionally stinging. And then, one day, obeying the call of nature as they do every so often, they swarmed. Out onto a tree branch, then […]
“Look To The Crocus” A Poem by Marion McCready
Painting by Cathy Dalton by Elizabeth Spence In my research for my article on the crocus, I found this astoundingly beautiful poem about the flower by Scottish poet, Marion McCready. The imagery is out of this world! I think the most effective way to read the poem is to read one sentence at a time […]
Announcing the Haiku Winner!
We had many entries for our haiku poetry competition, and all were very impressive indeed. The judges met over afternoon tea and spent a really long time going through each entry with a fine-tooth comb. We read them all out loud several times! The winning entry is by Marie Law of Truro. It is called […]
Remembrance: The Poppy
Photo by George Klass By Elizabeth Spence We all know John McCrae’s poem, In Flanders Fields, where “the poppies blow,” written during the First World War (1914-1918). McCrae was a Canadian military officer and surgeon at the front in France and was deeply affected by the sight of red poppies growing amongst the graves of […]
We Are Content
By Trish Rubin Slowly, the gardens are being prepared for their winter rest. They gave us so much this growing season and now it’s time to settle in for the long winter’s respite. These pictures, mostly, are of my section of the garden with the broccoli and cabbage from John’s. We have slightly different gardening techinques […]
The Roots of Sisterhood
by Jennifer Langille Every now and then, a book comes along that sweeps you off your feet and stirs something deep in you. About a year ago, I had the pleasure of reading Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass. This remarkable book delves into creation stories with Mother Earth and the teachings of plants, exploring the […]
Petrichor: Euphoria in the Garden
By Jennifer Langille with Elizabeth Spence Jennifer writes: It was a fresh July evening, and I was on my kneeling pad, weeding the vegetable garden. FAT (finger-and-thumb) weeding has always been my preferred method. Direct hands-on. Personal involvement. The birds were singing their summer tune and I was blissfully lost in my task. The automatic […]
My Grandma’s Yard
by Michelle Robinson Our back yard won’t win prizes. It could really use a fix. In winter we don’t notice when the snow piles up and sticks. But springtime’s busy springing and our back yard’s springing, too — Buds and shoots and . . . who knows what that is, but it sure grew. This […]
A Potted History of Gardening
A Potted History of Gardening: Back to Nature by Elizabeth Spence We have been making gardens in one form or another for thousands and thousands of years. Prehistoric farmers set up their forest gardens for growing food. They cultivated plants and trees – not always in forests – but in ways that functioned like forests. […]