Category: Uncategorized

By Mike Patterson

Gardening is something that I never really thought that I would get into. Looking at flowers and planting have been something that have never really been prevalent in my life. However in taking this class I have started to gain an appreciation for nature and the beauty that plants have and all the different qualities they possess. A couple of years ago I would never even have considered going to visit a garden while on vacation. But this time around that is not the case. This summer I am going to be taking a two week long vacation traveling to different parts of the United States. One of the stops that we are going to is Virginia. I was looking at things to do in Virginia and one thing I stumbled on was the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond, Virginia.

From the moment I saw the garden I was immediately impressed. It has a classic look but with a modern twist. The garden has a beautiful orchid collection along with a butterfly garden. The garden has a little bit for everyone including art exhibits, live music, and a variety of tours that you can go on. After reading the description of the garden and looking at different photos I was hooked. Visiting the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden became a must on our summer trip to do list. I never would have thought that going to a garden would actually be something that I would want to do on a vacation. Normally I want to go to amusement parks or stay on the beach. Visiting a garden never really crossed my mind. Throughout the past couple of months I have gained a deeper appreciation for the beauty of nature and gardening.

I am looking forward to my summer vacation and experiencing the beauty of the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. It has a lot to offer people of all ages so I believe that it will be a great experience for our vacation. 

Cheers! Cheers! Spring is here!

By: Kyannah Hernandez

Rising under the avalanche of winter weathers, spring begins to sprout. 

Our community has several signs of spring, whether it be flowers blooming, animals leaving and arriving, or simple sunshine. 

According to Bird Watcher’s Digest, animals and flora to keep an eye out for are Woodcock, Peepers, Juncos, Ducks, Owls, and lastly, Tree and Flower Buds. One main sign would be that distinct spring smell, Bird Watcher’s Digest described the smell of spring as 

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”earthy spring smell that the land produces in late February and early March. It’s equal parts rain and soil, grass and ozone, creating a perfume that no amount of chemical wizardry can replicate.”

Bird Watcher’s Digest

Known for its gloomy, showered down days; April is the primary month that introduces warmth in our New England area.

Being born in spring has added a sense of peace in my life. As I walk out into the Merrimack campus, just after 4:00pm- you will witness the geese who do not clean after themselves. You can see them near Austin Hall, by McQuade Library or even spread out around the Sak. 

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Spring is a season of peace and tranquility, a truce against the harsh winter and the coming summer. A chance of blurred pasts and new beginnings; spring is beautiful. 

According to the Weather Channel, a common sign of spring would be the nature of:

“flowers start to bloom in parks, gardens and woods.”

Throughout the community, a flower is springing out of the soil; birds are flocking toward the north to take advantage of the increased insect populations. As birds follow food, when winter comes and food options decrease, birds travel back south until the chain commences again. 

Spring is all around us, it can be down the street or in your very own backyard. If you see it, take it in because when spring goes it’ll be a year before we’ll see these marvelous signs once more. 

Remember to Smile as bright as Earth’s Sun and Enjoy Spring!!

Do you ever want to start gardening, but feel like you don’t have the skills to keep up with one on your own? The aero garden is the perfect solution! Living closer to the city, having space for a garden has always been a challenge. Most of the yards in my neighborhood are shared among neighbors and usually tend to be very small. My mom and I always wanted to try and grow our own vegetables, but always struggled with finding the room and proper sunlight. After a few failed attempts, my mom came across the aero garden. 

The aero garden allows one to grow plants using aeroponic technology. The plants are grown without soil and it uses just the air and water to grow plants. The kit has a base that you can pour water and the nutrients into and it has lights so that the plants can grow indoors. This was a huge benefit because we could grow tomatoes all year round and we could start a little garden in our kitchen! If you get the seed kits that come with it, they can start to germinate within 24 hours. Not only can you start a garden whenever and wherever, but they even start to grow super fast. The aero garden is so convenient and made it possible for my mom and I to actually start a successful mini garden. The aerogarden makes a basically perfect environment for the plants by having their roots grow towards the air and the water in the basin. It gives the roots a lot of humidity and lets them grow quicker than they would in the ground. The device adjusts the water and nutrient levels and amount of light based on the plant, so it doesn’t take an expert to be able to grow what you want! It has been perfect for my mom and I because we aren’t at home a lot and have busy schedules and it has made it so easy for us to grow our tomatoes. Although expensive, I think the convenience and quality of the plants is beyond worth it. 

By: Hannah Brennan

By Drew MacInnis

Throughout my life I have spent a lot of time in Boston, and this fall I was able to get an apartment in Cambridge. Although there are so many different places to go and things to do in the city, there is nothing more relaxing than going to the Boston Public Garden when the flowers are in bloom and the swan boats are in the water.

It is such an incredible sight and immediately calms me down and puts a smile on my face. Obviously the creation of the Public Garden did not happen overnight, so I did some research to see how it got to where it is now.

Similar to many other aspects of Boston the Public Garden was way ahead of its time. It was created in 1839 and was the first botanical garden that was open to the public in the entire country. Between 1839 and 1856 the area was not owned by the city of Boston and was primarily worked on by a man named Horace Gray until he could no longer fund his plans. Once the city of Boston obtained the rights to the land, they held a design competition with the winner getting his vision created. A gentleman by the name of George Meacham won the competition at only twenty five years of age and in less than twenty years his plan was created, and is still primarily the layout of the Public Garden today.

The Public Garden is twenty four acres and with so much space to cover there is extensive planning that takes place. With Boston having very harsh winters, a lot of the raising and growing of the plants took place elsewhere. When the garden first started most of the plants were grown throughout Boston in various greenhouses. During that time there was also a lot of experimentation going on with what plants look the best and stay alive the longest. There would be new seeds shipped in from all over the world, with some making it to the garden and some not. The Public Garden is something that has evolved over time through the hard work of so many people and thanks to them I am able to escape the craziness of the city to a beautiful natural landscape filled with life.

Sources:

• https://www.nps.gov/places/boston-public-garden.htm#:~:text=In%201839%2C%20a%20group%20of,garden%20in%20the%20United%20States.
• https://friendsofthepublicgarden.org/2019/10/16/the-art-of-planting-the-gardeners-of-bostons-public-garden-october-16-2019/

Images:

• https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2015/04/17/boston-public-garden-app/
• https://lostnewengland.com/tag/boston-public-garden/page/2/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCa2KjjLcCo&ab_channel=TomBerrigan

By: Cameron Casella

It was a muggy summer morning in June of 2019 when I received a call from Father on my way into work. We talked as if it was a normal Wednesday. At the end of the conversation he told me him and my Mother were taking a day trip to Maine. I asked where and why they were going when he replied “it’s a secret”. After hanging up the phone I thought of every possible case on why they were making this day trip to Maine, to come to no conclusion. Throughout the work day I could not get this thought out of my head. When I returned home from work that day I sat down at the dinner table but something felt different something felt off. My parents seemed overly joyed and something was up. Over dinner my parents broke the news to me that they had just purchased 100 acres of land in Bridgton, Maine located just about 70 miles to the south east of the capital of Augusta. A small town with a population of 5,000 residents with just about 3 gas stations, 1 Grocery store and about 5 family owned and operated businesses.

That night at the dinner table I asked my parents overwhelmed with happiness “why”? A simple question that was very bland but could be answered a thousand different ways. My parents had always discussed having land and cabin in the woods as it had been a dream of my Fathers for awhile. But to me 100 acres of land just seemed absurdly overwhelming . With a smirk on my Father’s face he replied with a simple analogy “a place to get away and re-charge the batteries”. It took me awhile to realize what this really meant. The point he was trying to make is that this land is a place for us as a family to escape to and grow. A place where we could just relax and have fun and make memories. A place where there is no hustle and bustle of a suburb town and a place where you can just reflect on your thoughts in the beautiful outdoor’s and the great scenery that Maine provides.

On June 20th of 2019 I took my first trip up to the property with my parents to walk the land and see it all for my self for the first time. As we walked around I could see the happiness on both of my parents faces, especially my Father’s. It looks as if he was like a little kid on a playground for the first time. This was the big boy playground. He discussed plans for a cabin, barn, koi ponds, Dirt bike and ATV trails and so much more. You could tell he was really happy with his decision to buy the property. I asked him if he saw this as a long term investment as most people buy large chunks of land to sell for profit. I was surprised by his answer thinking that he would reply with a yes but it wasn’t. He said that he wanted this land to be in the “Casella” name for years to come. Him saying this sent chills down my spine as I began to imagine all the memories that were gonna be made on this land for years to come and the generations that will be using this place for years upon years all because of this purchase made by my parents. Fast forward two year after many long weeks, weekends and a lot of blood sweat and tears my parent’s and I have successfully logged 5 acres, Built a 3 bedroom 1.5 bath log home, Built a 2 car garage/ barn, (1) 45 gallon koi pond, and cut many different trails for hiking, dirt biking, Atving and all different kinds of entertainment. It is still a work in progress but the memories have started and I am still in awe of it all. I am greatly appreciative of this opportunity and am so lucky to call Bridgeton my second home for the rest of my life.

By: Gordon Pham

Last week when I was in my Garden Memoirs class, each person got to grow their own type of seed. I chose a seed that was tolerant to the cold and that it was a vegetable that could be cooked to make different recipes like salads, soups or they can be eaten as greens for dinners.

When I received my seeds, I did not know when was the best time to grow the seeds. I did research that they can be planted at the end of winter before spring time. The first thing was to find a container that would hold hold soil and have holes to not overflow the soil.

Some of the containers that I chose was either too big or too small. The first container I picked was a plastic food container and thought that it would be perfect for growing seeds. I felt that this container would be too deep or too wide for the seeds.

Then I chose to plant the seeds in a small plastic pot that was not too big and not too wide. The pot also had small holes on the bottom to help drain too much water from getting into the soil. The seeds started sprouting after 5 days and started to see flowering. I made sure that the plant received enough sunlight, water, and fresh air.

Written by: Hannah Gibbs

When my parents bought our house, it came with an extra lot of land to the side of it. This gave me, my brother, and our neighborhood friends ample room to play outside while growing up. This also meant my parents could start the process of turning a large portion of the backyard into a flourishing garden over the years.

Placed in the sunniest part of our yard, my parents made a gardening space that they have continued to grow over the past 20 years! My mom always dreamed of walking out into her backyard to pick fresh produce grown by herself and my dad for my brother and myself. The previous owners of our house had chickens, and their manure left rich nutrients in the soil of our garden, which was great for growing our plants.

We have grown tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, soybeans, zucchini, various squashes, decorative gourds, eggplant, green beans, snow peas, broccoli, cauliflower, and the list goes on. This past year we even grew our first mini pumpkin! My favorite part of the garden is our blueberry and raspberry bushes. They are the best berries I’ve ever had. One of my favorite memories growing up is coming home, in the beginning of July, every year from our vacation in Maine and running straight to the blueberry bush for perfectly ripened blueberries. 

Another memory that my brother and I share from growing up was using a metal detector in our yard. Digging up our yard and getting dirt everywhere eventually led to us finding old cow tags deep in our soil along with buried gardening shovels. This led us to believe our yard used to be a farm back in the day, which we were so excited about. I will always have these lasting memories of the history of our yard and garden growing up. Also, I will forever be so grateful for what our garden provides us during the warmer months, and the commitment my parents have to continuing our garden each year. It definitely created a connection to the food we eat, knowing it came from our very own yard, and from the love of my parents.

Seed starting is a beautiful transition for us in New England to begin to look ahead into the warm spring from our cold and dreary winter. Starting seeds is a fun and extremely affordable hobby for those who want a connection to our environment. Seed starting is something I have been doing over the past years since I was a young child about the age of 8. Now that I am older and passionate about seeing progress in my seeds I have become much more interested in what exactly I can grow and how to do so. In our Garden Memoirs class we have been able to access an inside look at some farmers and other classmates’ skills of what they grow and have experienced. With this course being offered at Merrimack I think it is a great option to take and should be advocated more vocally to students. I have learned that at our college we even have access to the Merrimack garden on campus for when we are all back on campus. This year in particular with the worldwide events going on around the world I have been more inspired to get to planting than ever before. Seed starting allows us to learn the importance of growth and progress. Growth is slow and steady and this is important in life as well that we as people can learn through these little seeds growing as well. My seeds that I was able to plant during class time have now sprouted! My seeds are showing major amounts of growth and health and it is only March. We started our seeds in plastic containers with coverings to act as a greenhouse. As they begin to grow and get stronger they can be brought outside and transported to pots or in the ground as the warm weather comes in as the Spring progresses. This experience in our Garden Memoirs class has opened my eyes to what the garden has to offer and it has exceeded my expectations! 

Written by Colby Paolo