Gardening is both utilitarian and pleasurable.  We know it and our founding fathers knew it, too.  Andrea Wulf’s book, The Founding Gardeners,  is a story of two countries, the gardens and the gardeners/statesmen.  The story moves from America to England, and back again, just as the plants and seeds of Philadephia farmer and plantsman John […]

Sharing recipes has long been a connecting point for families, friends, and neighbors.  And yet the recipe box has disappeared from kitchen counters.  Why?  Food network shows suggest that we are cooking with great enthusiasm and yet the fast food industry has taken over  our town roads and highway exit zones.   Why don’t we […]

Hewell’s Pottery in Gillsville, Georgia celebrates more than 150 years of turning and burning.  Seventh generation now produces garden terracotta worth the trip.  You can also find Hewell pots at Goodness Grows Nursery in Lexington, GA.  Handmade terracotta is more frost resistant than machine molded.  and it looks, handmade. We drove to Goodness Grows yesterday.  […]

These wagon wheels were found a few years ago when the farmhouse was being restored.  Hidden within the concrete of the front porch.  They had been used along with plow points to strengthen the concrete.  Nothing wasted.  Reuse and Recycle before slogans were created.  We removed the concrete porch and rebuilt the porch floor as […]

Pansies are instant gratification.  There’s room in the garden for pansies.  Bulb planting asks that we plan ahead, anticipate, and then enjoy years of delight lasting long after the digging and perhaps long after the digger is gone.  The ghosts of old homesteads reside among the daffodils  in now empty fields.  A testament to a […]