Every year, Worship of Tools Day is celebrated on March 11. Often not very large, often held directly in your hands, tools are the key to a good life. Where would we be if we couldn’t create things by hammering nails into wood? How would we dig holes without shovels? Think of all the things you own ...

In “Super Troopers,” Thorny and Rabbit chug it straight from the bottle. In the movie “Elf,” Buddy pours it all over his spaghetti. Americans love maple syrup in all its sticky sweetness as well as other maple products from cotton candy to maple crème to those yummy little maple candies. Do you have...

Gardeners in cold climates have learned to extend the growing season by building greenhouses. As early as 30 CE, reports of greenhouses appeared in the writings of the famous Pliny the Elder, Roman savant and scientific authority of his time. Pliny described specularia as garden beds fitted with whe...

It’s midwinter and you reach into your paper bag of carefully stored garlic. You pull out a bulb and see a sprout emerging from the top. There is nothing wrong. It is the nature of garlic cloves to sprout at this time of year. The problem is that over the next weeks the cloves will use up all their ...

Popular species of perennial flowering plants vary widely in their attractiveness to pollinators, but homeowners and landscape managers who select certain perennial cultivars can support a diverse community of pollinators in their own backyards, according to a new study from a team of Penn State res...

Any living organism that is normally found in one specific region and is introduced to another region with incredibly negative effects on the new environment is bad news. Invasive species take that negativity a step further by outcompeting native species, taking away the nutrients, water and even su...

Occasionally my seven-year-old granddaughter comes in to work with me. One day she asked if she could set up her own desk so she could do some work too. We used an empty desk and got her set up with some office supplies, printed out a sign that said “Kenza’s Desk” and put up a few decorations. She i...

Watching the first flowering bulbs appear from the thawing ground in spring is one of my favorite times of the year. Luckily we don’t have to wait all winter to have spring blooms. A great way to do this at home is by forcing bulbs. Forcing bulbs means tricking the plants into thinking it is time to...

It’s never a bad time to learn a new skill, and as we settle into month three of winter, maybe you should try your hand at canning. January is Canned Food Month, and while some people’s first thoughts are the cans at the grocery store, we know you, Country Culture maven. You’re a home canner. But ma...

National Seed Swap Day was made official in 2006 and falls on the last Saturday in January. According to Seed Savers Exchange ( www.seedsavers.org ), humans have been swapping seeds for over 10,000 years. During 2020, as more people were staying at home, many turned to gardening and now many new gar...

As winter goes on, the monochromatic landscape can get dull. One way to extend fall color through this long, snowy season is to plant shrubs with red berries. There are many native shrubs that sport beautiful, red berries. One of my favorite shrubs is “Red Sprite” winterberry. Some winterberries can...

Forsythia in February? Impossible, you say! Not so. A vase full of flowers from the garden won’t take much more effort than harvesting some branches to force them to bloom. A good time to take cuttings for forcing is when you’re doing your annual winter pruning. If pruning isn’t on your winter to-do...

While rosemary is not a perennial in Vermont, you can still grow and enjoy fresh rosemary all year. Just plant it in a container. Bring it outside in warmer weather and inside before the first frost. Why rosemary? It is attractive, resembling a small pine tree, and has a pleasant scent, is easy to g...

Green, red, kidney, lima or soy are just a few of the different kinds of beans recognized on National Bean Day – Jan. 6. This day celebrates the bean in all sizes, shapes and colors. Humans have been cultivating beans (legumes) since the early seventh millennium BCE. And today, just as throughout th...

Hung in doorways to spread holiday cheer, mistletoe is rich in mythology and tradition. Mistletoe comes from the Old English word “mistiltan,” in which “mistil” means “dung” and “tan” means “twig.” This reference to bird droppings is certainly counter-intuitive to mistletoe’s romantic symbolism. Ame...