My wife, when she fell ill, was advised by the physicians to chew on gooseberries in order to gain some vital energies.  She kept salted gooseberries in a bottle and chewed on them occasionally. There is something very special about this fruit; may be it […]

My father, Michele, was born in a small town in Italy called Bitetto, about 20 miles from Bari. He eventually bought a house in Canarsie, Brooklyn, that had a plot of land where he could do some gardening. He loved gardening and planted a lot […]

Which came first, Bogart or the books? I really can’t remember, but Raymond Chandler has been a fixture in my life since I was a teenager. The 1970s British paperback of his novel The Big Sleep (first published in 1939) featured a still from Howard […]

Summers in California are marked by hands with deep purple liquid running along palm lines and in between the fingers, dripping off the sides and trailing down the wrists, tiny brown hairs stuck to fingers and palms. Every time I look at a pair of […]

[English Translation below] Mon grand-père Paul vivait à Haute-Rivoire, un petit village dans les monts du Lyonnais. A chaque fois que j’allais les voir, lui et ma grand-mère ces dernières années, je repartais avec un sac plein de légumes de son potager : des choux […]

I spent my elementary school vacations at my best friend’s home in Los Angeles, California. We grew up in Historic Filipinotown, an enclave home to the city’s first wave of immigrants from the Philippines. Her home had avocado and orange trees, abundant kudzu, and plenty […]

  SOCIAL BOTANY   politics is the authoritative allocation of values in society David Easton   Our nasturtiums, jalapeños, radishes would morph more savory were politics master gardening. Patient curious egos know temperate watering, care with weeds and pests, fertilizers, how best to harvest our […]

  From where I sit, wedged into a corner of the sectional, I notice the plant on the end table, somehow still flowering in the ceramic pot painted by my youngest for Mother’s Day, last month. It’s a plant I can’t identify, nor can I, […]

A Marigold of Mother As far as I recall, my mother has been planting tagetes [marigold] every Summer in Sardinia. On top of the cupboard, there is a little jar full of their seeds. I can picture her reaching for them, early in the morning […]

An Apiary in Hull? After I retired I attended a bee-keeping school and got my first hive the following spring. My apiary is located at the old family home which is four towns away. I live in a condominium on the ocean overlooking the Boston […]