Judith Kane

Judith Kane was one of the first people I met when I moved to the Northeast Kingdom in the early 80's. She was and always will be so many things to me...friend, artist, plantswoman, intellectual, writer, poet, cook, seamstress, designer...she had an eye for beauty and knew the power and richness of life, the meaning of generosity, care for others, a good cup of tea and of course a great cocktail too. Watch over us dearest friend, I will miss you in physical form...XO

Below: Jude with Rachel. A new art project about bee habitat started by Jude; she created 24 sculptural pieces which will probably be seen at Perennial Pleasures later this summer.

Stop Raining!

I know Mother Nature knows best, but I'd like to be in the fields. Early weeding and dividing makes life easier. When the sun comes out the lawn will grow inches. I usually like to weed whack lost regions now to gain some control. Oh well, sun soon I hope...there's always work in the greenhouse transplanting.

Starting seeds...

The Stella Natura calendar is perhaps one of the most important items for seed starting. I have used this biodynamic planting calendar for over twenty years, closer to thirty. Some people are perplexed, even confused by the hourly charting of root, flower, leaf, fruit and blackened sections. I intern find it simplifies my life by suggesting the best garden activity for the time. Experimentation is important as it combines with your intuition. This year the first sowing was Saturday, April 15th, a bracketed flower then leaf day. Tomatoes sprout well for me on flower days (blooms lead to fruit) and well, basil, of course, during the leaf time. Channel or finger flats are filled with dampened germinating mix (Moo Start). Popsicle sticks/arts and crafts sticks are my inexpensive markers, typical New England frugal!

Vegetable seeds are from High Mowing (https://www.highmowingseeds.com), flower seeds from Perennial Pleasures (https://perennialpleasures.net), Pinetree Seeds (https://www.superseeds.com), Select Seeds (http://www.selectseeds.com) and Johnny's (http://www.johnnyseeds.com) for a bit of both.