{"id":613,"date":"2010-12-03T14:35:00","date_gmt":"2010-12-03T14:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/homegardenjoy.com\/site\/2010\/12\/natural-history-of-a-farm.html"},"modified":"2026-01-28T15:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T20:14:09","slug":"natural-history-of-a-farm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homegardenjoy.com\/site\/2010\/12\/natural-history-of-a-farm.html","title":{"rendered":"Natural History of a Farm"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I’m reading a fascinating book called The Old Place: A Natural History of a Country Garden,<\/i> by Merritt Gibson.\u00a0 It’s a large paperback book filled with illustrations that I purchased at the Pamplin Library fall book sale, a used book among the gardening books that caught my eye.\u00a0 It’s available on sites such as PaperbackBookSwap for a trade but Amazon has it listed at the weird price of $84.50.\u00a0 I say weird because it’s neither rare nor hardcover – just an intriguing book.\u00a0 If you can find a copy online used or at your library, it’s worth a second look.<\/p>\n

The author lives in Nova Scotia, Canada, and has an 18 acre farm that dates back to the late 1800’s.\u00a0 The best part of her farm is the mixture of habitats.\u00a0 She’s got an old house, stable and pasture, but she also has riverfront and tidal marsh areas, woodlands and more.<\/p>\n

Each chapter of the book takes you on a nature walk to examine the plants, insects, birds and natural habitat of The Old Place, the name of her farm.\u00a0 I love taking the imaginary walk with the author.\u00a0 What I love best is that her suggestions for nature watching are exactly what my own mother taught me many, many years ago.<\/p>\n

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As a child, I used to always note certain parts of our tiny urban\/suburban garden and the gardens on my way to school.\u00a0 I used to watch the privet hedge that separated our property from Mr. Hoffman’s; sparrows would nest there.\u00a0 I’d watch for the first blush of tender green shoots on the oaks and maples, the tinge of autumn gold. On my way to school was a wonderful house set on a corner that had a post and rail fence around the property. The owner had planted a different rose at every post and trained various climbers up and onto the fence.\u00a0 I remember one luscious white rose. The blossoms had such a strong scent. In June, I’d stop and inhale the rose fragrance, delighting in the early morning light playing among the roses.<\/p>\n

Gibson describes similar experiences on her farm, and she has wonderful suggestions for noting the natural world on your little corner of the world, whether you live on a farm, garden in an urban backyard or a suburban habitat.\u00a0 The suggestions she gives that I want to incorporate in my life include:<\/p>\n