When I was a little girl, my favorite flowers were pansies. I loved their cheerful colors and happy little “faces.” I am still charmed by them. My husband and I have a yearly spring tradition, a “pansy run” to a local nursery. A few years ago my mother moved in with us. We soon learned […]

I grew up surrounded by rocky soil, harsh winds, infrequent rains. Colorado has great sunshine and grows happy tomatoes, but my mom was raised in the rich black soils of Minnesota. She gave up on a real garden and settled for growing strawberries. I was drafted into the Wonderful World of Weeding. It wasn’t an […]

As my seeds for the season’s gardens cover the entire kitchen table, I think of my neighbor who started it all for me. I grew up in Round Pond, and Big Willie was my neighbor. He was a farmer. When I was 10 years old, he hired me to help him with his vegetable stand, […]

My mother grew up on a potato farm in Aroostook County. They grew vegetables for their own use. They had cows and chickens, so they sold eggs and butter. My father, also from The County, lived in town, but his family grew all kinds of vegetables in their backyard. Gardens are in my blood, but […]