I’m a Fan of Bantam Hens
Tiny roosters watching over tiny hens I like having bantam hens for the same reason that I like having girl children: pretty. A joy to watch. It was [...]
Michele Owens, Ranter Emeritus
Henry, Off the Leash
I've had Henry, a big handsome alpha dog, for the last two years. People say he's badly trained. I'm not sure. Like the other members of my household, Henry definitely [...]
Carrots and Potatoes: Half-Assed, Lazy, and Extremely Successful
The one real contribution I hope to make to the literature of vegetable gardening is my total shamelessness. I've been growing so much food for so long that failures of [...]
For Kids to Eat Them, Vegetables Should Taste Good!
The New York Times ran a piece this week about the results of federal legislation mandating healthier school lunches beginning this year. Because of puritanical restrictions on fat and salt, [...]
A Barren Year for my Hens
More successful in 2010 I've had hens for 5 or 6 years now, and don't plan on ever living without them again. They're fluffy and pretty. Their scratch-and-peck [...]
Dr. Reganold Responds to Stanford Study Comparing Organic and Non-Organic Foods
More nutritious because of the holes? Possibly. Rant readers, please welcome Dr. John Reganold of Washington State University, who has done groundbreaking work demonstrating the value of organic [...]
For your health, grow food, then eat It!
Heavy for a gardener, but not for a 52 year-old American Friend of Rant Christopher C of Outside Clyde is the rare exception that proves the rule: He grows [...]
George Ball and Heronswood on a Story that Ends Well
Heronswood, the revered botanical garden created in Kingston, Washington by plant collector Dan Hinkley and his partner, architect Robert Jones, as an adjunct to the nursery they founded in 1987, [...]
My last Victorian house
It's a fair bet that I own my last Victorian house. Never again. In future, I intend to suffer only over pieces of architecture worth suffering over. Some people are [...]
With a new trellis, I guess I live here
I have a really brilliant and beautiful friend in Saratoga Springs, an English professor at Skidmore College, who said the greatest thing about second homes after her own attempt to [...]
What’s good taste? White Flower Farm style v. kitchen style
It's been many years since I paid any attention to White Flower Farm. I used to order a bareroot rose or shrub from them now and then. Early in my [...]
Expert on gardening and climate change on whether new USDA hardiness map is already out of date
Meet David W. Wolfe, Cornell plant scientist and expert on the impacts of climate change on agriculture. Wolfe is also the author of an absolutely delightful book about the soil, Tales [...]