Northeastern Forests I recently finished reading The Hidden Life of Trees, a profoundly interesting book that taught me something new about the forests and the tress around me than I’d ever thought possible. The relationship of trees to the fungal network they’re connected to, the way the support each other with sugar through that network. …
There’s a tiny brook that flows from Searles Pond near Holy Family Hospital and feeds into the Spicket River just before it in turn feeds the Merrimack River in Lawrence. It’s name betrays a violent history, long before Lawrence and Methuen become heavily developed urban environments. Google has led me a couple of times to…
Straightening the Spicket The Spicket River flows from New Hampshire into the Merrimack River in Lawrence, Massachusetts. The river has changed over the years, particularly during the explosive development of Lawrence and Methuen in the Industrial Revolution. By the late 1880’s the City of Lawrence had enough of the typhoid breeding ground that the river…
Boomtown: Lawrence, Massachusetts In 1845 the land along the Merrimack River that would soon be called Lawrence had a population of 104. Five years later the population had exploded to 8,358. By 1920 the population had swelled to a high of 94, 270. All these people arrived in Lawrence as the river was dammed, canals were…
Sensory Awareness While walking through the garden early this morning deadheading flowers and pulling weeds my left hand brushed up against the leaves of the potted Jasmine and the water resting on the leaves from the overnight rain ran down the back of my hand. I didn’t see the water, nor did I see the…
Dragonflies and Cormorants Today was a day of heavy rain in much of New England. During a break in the rain I took a walk around the garden to assess things. When you get a couple of inches of rain quickly it tends to knock down some plants and tree branches. While I was looking…
Hummingbird Moths The late July garden is buzzing with activity. Even as the Bee Balm fades, the hummingbirds and bees are all over it, as well as the other flowers in the garden. And there’s another visitor frequenting the garden lately; the Hummingbird Moth (Clearwing Moth). This moth looks and flies like a smaller hummingbird,…
The Albany Plan of Union Ben Franklin looked around the colonies and saw that they were each operating independently from each other. With the looming threat of the French and Indian War presenting a clear and present danger to all of the colonies, it made sense to form alliances for each of the colonies to…
Filling the Void Looking out into the woods behind my house you might see a thick stand of trees, deep green leaves, and dappled sunlight. I see the void. That dappled sunlight shines through a clearing made when a massive oak tree snapped in two during a storm earlier this year. The morning after it…
Past Peak It’s hard to believe, but the flowers in the garden are past peak. While still beautiful, it’s clear that the vibrant burst of color seen just days ago is waining. In particular, the Yucca and Tiger Lillies have faded slightly, and some of the bee balm is starting to fade as well, though…