Jeromie Whalen realized that the old guard of Democratic leaders were not up to the task of securing our future. He knew that politics as usual was not enough in the face of the right-wing threat that faced all of them.
While cool weather prevails, make it a priority to plant onion sets or plantlets, shell and snap peas, lettuce, arugula, spinach and radish, all direct seeded.
In the wild and in the garden, the season is about a month later than last year, when I noted that spring arrived a month earlier than the year before.
You’ll know Arcturus by remembering to “arc to Arcturus” – simply follow the curve of the Dipper’s handle until you arrive at a big, orange star, the second brightest star in northern skies, second only to Sirius the Dog Star.
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.
On this, the vernal equinox, let’s pause together to notice sunrise due east on the horizon and the higher arc our star draws as it climbs and then descends to its due west position on the skyline.
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.”
When clock time springs ahead an hour, not-so-early risers may look out a southwest-facing window at dawn to find star-like Jupiter rather low to the horizon.
As winter turns toward spring, I’m inspired to dig deep into my pantry and pull out dried seeds that may have been there for many seasons; to look them over and turn them into the fresh food I crave – by sprouting.
During the months on either side of the spring and autumn equinoxes, there’s an elusive phenomenon, the zodiacal light, a glowing cone of light that is visible only in very clear and very dark skies.
Every morning during the span of this post, it is worth the effort to be at a location with a west-southwest view an hour before sunrise to see the pairing of Jupiter with Virgo’s brightest star, bluish Spica.
Mt. Washington is going from almost no Internet and sporadic cell service to faster speeds than even Great Barrington, the nearest large hub town, which is served by cable but not at speeds high enough to support a thriving, 21st-century economy.
A commotion of flapping colors, shapes and sizes approaches and persists as birds take turns digging into the high-energy food we provide, whether the most modest or lavish spread.
Perseus evades the casual stargazer and is not well known because the star pattern lacks brilliant stars that create outstanding stick figures like Orion that are visible even in cities.
