Plate to Plate

Eating locally in the Berkshires

Gardening

Colors of the Garden

June 11, 2009 at 9:12 AM by Frances

It’s been a wet, rainy spring and summer, so the greens are really thriving. These mustard greens seem the happiest of everything we’ve planted, so much so that we’ve got more mustard greens than we really know what to do with. I love their frilly leaves, and the bright punch of the green next to [...]

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Urban Gardening in Pittsfield

June 5, 2009 at 12:05 PM by Frances

I’ve been enjoying seeing the progress of the urban garden at Alchemy Initiative, down in Pittsfield, MA, a nearby small city a lot like North Adams. Alchemy Initiative is headed up by textile artist Crispina ffrench; I’ve never met Crispina, but I’m so inspired by the work she does and the goals she has set:

Alchemy [...]

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The Magical Optimism of the Garden

May 7, 2009 at 10:24 AM by Frances

Water-dappled mesclun and arugula in a self-watering windowbox
It’s a drizzly, gray day here in the Berkshires — unfortunately, a familiar weather pattern for spring — and I’m feeling a little subdued and quiet. I thought it might be nice, then, to show you some photos of something else subdued and quiet — our little garden.
I [...]

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Adventures in Gardening

June 17, 2008 at 12:10 PM by Frances

Oh, hello. Is it really halfway through June already?
So, the wee garden I’d worked so hard to cultivate this spring was reduced to a withering heap of green last week when a relentless and brutal heatwave descended over the Berkshires for three days. It was the talk of the town: at the library, the sweaty, [...]

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