Long winters like the one we are experiencing this year in Quebec’s Eastern Townships make life difficult for animals. Deep snow that persists for months makes it hard for deer to find food in the woods and as time passes they come closer and closer to barns and houses. Yesterday I glanced out a window, disrupting two…
Making history visible on the land is the concept that guides the projects I undertake at Glen Villa, my landscape and garden in Quebec. Recognizing and honouring what happened on the land before I came onto the scene is my way of hearing the voices of the past. It’s my way of listening to what the land has to…
This final post of 2018, written on the last day of the year, brings the garden at Glen Villa to a close — for now, at least. August is high summer in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. Insects make their presence known. NOTE: Thanks to Mark A. for identifying this as a damselfly. …
The meadows and fields at Glen Villa are white with snow in December, but in June and July, they are alive with colour. Closer to the house, colours appear in smaller doses. The Aqueduct is satisfyingly colourful throughout the summer. Animals played their part…
On a surprisingly mild winter’s day — not at all typical for Quebec in December — I’m remembering the garden at Glen Villa as it looked earlier this year. January brought lots of snow. February brought snow and gloomy skies. In March, skies began to brighten. April conformed…
For the last eighteen months or more I’ve been working on an art installation that stretches along a 3-4 km trail at Glen Villa, my garden in Quebec. The trail moves in and out of fields and forests, and each environment has its own character. When I started the project, the idea behind it wasn’t entirely clear.…
Autumn is spectacular in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. Unfortunately I’ve had little time to enjoy it this year, because earlier this month we sold our condominium in Montreal where we’ve lived for the last 22 years. Cleaning and sorting and disposing of the contents has taken a lot of time and effort. In fact, it’s…
I head to England today, where I’ll be hosting my final garden tour. I’m sad about this ending, but at the same time, I’m happy to remember the people and places that have formed such a rewarding part of my life. And as I keep reminding myself, ends are also beginning. Before leaving for England, I took a…
This is a bumper year for mushrooms. On a short stretch of path in the woods, I spotted six different types. I didn’t pick any or examine them carefully, and without noting the specifics of their gills and stalks, I can’t identify them with certainty. Mushroom identification is tricky in the best of cases, and without being…
Last week we added two new bridges on the Timelines trail. They aren’t large constructions but both allow us to keep our feet dry. The first bridge, near the end of the avenue of crabapple trees, avoids the ditch at the end of a culvert that goes underneath a road that connects our village of North Hatley…