Personal Projects
The Vermont Garden
At the beginning of the Covid-19 Pandemic in spring 2020, all of my work in New York was suspended. I was fortunate to be able to go stay with family at my parents home in Vermont, and while there, with lots of time on my hands, I decided to expand the garden that we already had on site. Lumber and other building materials were hard to come by, so (with a little help from a kind neighbor and his tractor) I collected local stone and used it to build a series of raised beds. In these we planted potatoes, greens, beans, and leeks.
Stone raised beds
Finished terraced beds
As the summer went on, I continued working, building a series of terraced gardens of stacked stone along the slope below the existing garden. Here we planted tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, and herbs, taking advantage of the warmer microclimate that the terraces created. Further down the slope we planted a number of berry bushes, including blueberry, blackcurrant, aronia, and honeyberry.
The project has continued (albeit at a slower pace, now that I am back in NYC). Last year, we planted a number of fruit and nut trees on the property (including some experimental hazelnuts, thanks to Prof. James Simon and the team and Rutgers!), and this year we hope to expand the garden further and add a fence to reduce pressure from the hungry local deer.