July, Gardner’s Bane
Through the Garden Gate Text and Illustration By Leslie Watkins The meadow vole, Microtus pennsylvanicus, is a relentless, destructive, ubiquitous pest in gardens, both ornamental and vegetable. Often mistaken for moles who can be beneficial eating grubs, worms and other root eaters, the vole is smaller and vegetarian. If you notice one of your plants […]
A Tale of Two Halves
Norfolk’s May Weather By Russell Russ Norfolk’s May weather this year can be summed up as being a month with a split personality. The first half of May was cold with some snow. April’s cooler than normal weather spilled over into early May. The second half of the month turned much more seasonable with warm […]
Moonlight Serenade
Celestial Sphere by Matthew Johnson When one looks up at our moon, consider the number of moons that continue to be discovered in our solar system. The inner planets─Mercury and Venus─ both lack a moon. Our Earth has one moon, Mars has two moons-Deimos and Phobos. From there the number of moons increases. Uranus has […]
Sourdough Adventures in Confinement
Notes from a French Kitchen By Marie-Christine Perry As strange as it is for Frenchwomen to tackle bread making, seeing as we are never more than a half block away from a great bakery in French towns and even small villages have their own bakers with pain au levain available everywhere, I had dabbled in trying my […]
No Springtime Yet
Norfolk’s April Weather By Russell Russ April can have traits of both winter and spring. It is historically a month of transition between the two seasons. This year, much to the dismay of many, April was more like winter than spring. Winter indeed was giving a good effort to hold on as long as it […]
June, Jewels
Text and Illustration by Leslie Watkins June 1 is an important date in the Icebox of Connecticut for two reasons. It means that the danger of frost is past and it’s safe to set out tender plantings. It’s also a time that welcomes the return of one of our most beloved garden visitors, the ruby-throated […]
Coronavirus: What is to be done?
By Richard Kessin By Richard Kessin We live in evolutionary competition with microbes—bacteria and viruses. There is no guarantee that we will be the survivors. The aphorism from Joshua Lederberg, a founder of molecular biology, is remarkable for its humility and for the challenge it defines. Before the germ theory of disease, which appeared in […]
Springtime Wild Edibles
By Marie-Christine Perry Before our kitchen gardens start brimming with the first fruits and vegetables, we can turn to foraging to have a few options for fresh greens, flowers and roots as we take walks through woods and meadows. Foraging for wild edibles is a great pleasure, but one must exercise caution. The first rule of foraging […]
Twilight Over Norfolk
By Matthew Johnson Twilight is the time when the celestial sphere is partially illuminated. This occurs only before sunrise and after sunset. There are three ranges of twilight, defined according to the sun’s position below the horizon. Civil twilight occurs when the sun’s upper limb is below the horizon and its center 6 degrees or […]
May, Down and Dirty Gardening
Through the Garden Gate Text and Illustration by Leslie Watkins Have you ever wished you had a vegetable garden but didn’t have the time? Well, now’s your chance. It’s not too late to break ground. All you need is a spade, preferably one with a straight edge, a hoe, some muscle, a tarp and any […]
