This morning’s breakfast fruit, mixed with yoghurt and granola, included raspberries, Asian pear, Bosc pear, a tasty heirloom apple planted three years ago whose variety I cannot remember, and a very yellow peach, all picked here. There is something lovely... Read More ›

For those of you not close by enough to know how it came down, please rest assured that tropical cyclone Ida did not flood or damage the farm. Our rainfall total over the course of the storm was, I would... Read More ›

Last week I told of my observing my elderly neighbor in Sag Harbor, Mrs. Thayer, waving a white flag for help during Hurricane Gloria, only to find, when I ran across the street, that it was in fact a dust... Read More ›

You are going to think I am overly preoccupied with grandmothers, but since yesterday I’ve been thinking a lot about my third grandmother, Winifred Thayer. This grandmother was acquired through adoption, not blood, and unlike in most adoptions, I was... Read More ›

Mail from National Grid, my electric utility provider, is never the first letter I open. I don’t look forward to reading it. This week’s communication, however, made me smile. It was an “energy report” which advised me that, as compared... Read More ›

Those of you who have come to pick up orders on the screened porch know the drill. You put your money in the plastic pineapple, make change as required, and leave on the table any items like empty egg cartons... Read More ›

Since last week, I’ve been seeing bad omens. First, my Turkish pole beans, which seemed to thrive for the last three weeks, all wilted and died. Then, over the space of two days, all the leaves on one of my... Read More ›

Prompted by reading my extended kvetch last week about rabbits eating my pea vines, lettuce, cabbages, brussels sprouts, and broccoli, my old friend Tom sent me the following message: “Colin Thubron, in his little book on Cyprus (pre-invasion), writes about... Read More ›

For the last several days it’s been my delight to have my friend Paul as a guest. I find myself inviting a small coterie of friends repeatedly for extended stays not just because I enjoy their company, but also because... Read More ›

I used to be a regular reader of the CDC’S Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, back in the early AIDS epidemic years. Every seven days, a cold, clinical gut punch which at that time almost always confirmed your worst fears... Read More ›