Hello, Fellow Readers, Before the first frost, I harvested the green tomatoes, leaving some for the critters to feed. A lesson I learned from Ed of Bridgewater, NJ, who gave me hand-me-down tomatoes, leading to a refresher on ripening indoors and an easy-peasy way to freeze the overab

Hello, Fellow Readers, These are nutty times. Far nuttier than usual in my neck of the woods. The Shagbark Hickory nuts are overabundant and golf ball and size, so much so that walking amongst them is risky for ankle stability. It’s called masting when there’s an excess of

Hello, fellow readers, Saving snapping turtles lifts spirits. While walking Jolee, I saw a baby snapping turtle on the side of the road and a momma snapper a week later. I hope you enjoy the story. I walked a quarter of a mile with the quarter-sized baby snapper to a feeder stream, mu

Hello, fellow readers, I always enjoy hiking along the Appalachian Trail with a longtime friend from Boonton, NJ. While meandering the rocky terrain peppered with hemlock and Spruce, Barbara asked why some trees remain evergreen and others don’t. Good question. Let’s ask t

Hello, fellow readers, What a joy to visit Liberty Farm’s Sussex County Sunflower Maze in Sandyston, NJ, who invited us for a special day bringing happiness. It’s their 14th year of growing the maze. Raj Sinha started growing sunflowers when the New Jersey Audubon Society

Hello, fellow readers. As we approach the homestretch of the gardening season, many gardens grow tired. Mine especially so as the poor things suffer from neglect. Busy tending to other folks’ gardens is my not-so-perfect excuse. Thankfully, there are late-season bloomers I rely

Hello fellow readers, We went from a drought spring where we were behind in rainfall to a summer unfolding with too much rain. Trees came down after last week’s storms and flooding, wreaking havoc. Many of them, the Ash trees now dead from the Emerald Ash borer. After the skies

Hello fellow readers; Independence Day is a day to celebrate and cherish the freedoms our forefathers fought for and to thank those that serve to protect our freedoms today. Along with the July 4th festivities comes watermelon. Remember the seed-spitting contests? Maybe young uns don&

Hello Fellow Readers, Green beans aren’t only green anymore. And tomatoes come in all sorts of shades and mottled blends of colors. There are even tomatoes that stay green when they’re ripe. Charlotte of Stone Church, PA, asked if the funky vegetables are genetically modif

Hello fellow readers, In the late afternoon, I heard a young fawn crying and thought Jolee was out and about interrupting the flow of things. Translated, I thought perhaps she was intruding upon the sleeping fawn. But Jolee was inside basking in the sun coming in from the storm door,