There are a lot of different ways to sow seeds directly into a garden bed. Sometimes I use a hoe to form a shallow trench, then drop the seeds in. Other times I use my finger to poke a hole into the soil before dropping in the seed. I find as I get older, my finger has… Continue reading
The Good Life
Sit back, relax and enjoy some of the finer things in life
Shakespeare in 37 languages
It’s truly a voyage of imagination this spring at the Globe Theatre in London, where actors from all over the world are performing some of Shakespeare’s most famous works in their native languages. How about Hamlet in Lithuanian (that would be Hamletas)? Or Much Ado About Nothing in French (Beaucoup de Bruit Pour Rien)? Some… Continue reading
Dogwood surprise
We have a wild area on our property that we keep for birds . It’s about an acre in size and is home to a wide variety of wildlife. This spring, for the first time, we noticed a wonderful dogwood tree hidden in a rarely visited corner tucked in on the south side of a pine tree.… Continue reading
Conservation District trees
The trees I ordered from our Conservation District arrived Friday. I drove over to pick them up first thing in the morning and got there just as they opened the doors. My package contained 50 trees — 25 white pine and 25 white cedar– so it was small enough to carry in one hand. The tree… Continue reading
Theories of composting
There are several different ways of making compost. The one we always hear about and read in the gardening magazines is the hot method. This method involves adding the right kinds of plant materials in proper amounts to provide the proper nitrogen to carbon ratio. That ratio speeds up the decomposition rate which in turn raises the… Continue reading
Explore the Civil War online
One of the most remarkable excursions of my childhood was a two-hour drive east of Memphis to Shiloh National Battlefield. It was my first visit to a Civil War battlefield. I am not sure what I expected, but I was immediately struck by the peacefulness of the rural Tennessee landscape. Take away the stone monuments to Confederate and… Continue reading
Titanic at the Grand
If you’ve stayed at the Grand Hotel, you’ve experienced that sensation of feeling like you’re on a ship – but on land. So, it’s no surprise that the majestic hotel could play host to an event celebrating the history and opulence of the Titanic, the doomed passenger liner that sank after striking an iceberg on… Continue reading
Starting early in the battle against weeds
Like thousands of other gardeners, I’ve been taking advantage of the warm weather. I haven’t actually planted anything but, I did get a large part of our upper vegetable garden prepared with some help from our chickens Last fall, I let the chickens clean up all of the left-over garden debris. They pecked and ate… Continue reading
Need a challenge? Try a 150-mile bike ride across Michigan
Start your bicycle training now. And save a little money by registering before Sunday for the 150-mile One Day Ride Across Michigan. The endurance event also known as ODRAM will challenge your biking mettle with a coast-to-coast ride from Montague to Bay City — in a single day on Saturday, Aug. 18. Riders typically start… Continue reading
Warm weather worries
The warm spell in our area has broken all of the weather records. You don’t have to be an experienced gardener to see that everything is way ahead of schedule with all of the spring flowers blooming. We’re so far ahead of schedule that the National Weather Service has decided that the growing season has started . They even plan to issue frost and… Continue reading