Whether your family is vacationing or “stay-cationing” in the Berkshires over the February school vacation, there are events to keep you entertained and inspired all week long!
The summer of 2016 was the first time in my 25 years of making my home on the Taconic Plateau that I witnessed dry streambeds, shrunken ponds and even the rich top layer of my deep garden beds become dust.
When I posited that harvesting rainwater and conserving water use is in order, Brian Fuchs of the National Drought Mitigation Center countered, “Conservation should be practiced all the time. We don’t know when a drought might be on the horizon.”
Soon the great bird backed down the post in pulses, turned its body and leaped onto a branch near the middle of the bush where it proceeded to feed on the red fruit.
By day’s end, 15 inches of snow had whitewashed whatever we’d wished to accomplish in the garden before winter. Snow accentuated every landscape and architectural feature, creating new beauty.
The U.S. Drought Monitor map shows “extreme drought” conditions mostly in eastern Massachusetts and southeastern New Hampshire, and those areas are under voluntary or mandatory water use restrictions. While there are no restrictions in the Berkshires, some people have been forced to conserve.
