This Month’s Featured Articles…
Aesthetics and Ecology Align at Innisfree
It’s rare to find the peace one gets from walking through a garden on a perfect day. … Lester Collins, famed landscape architect of the 20th Century responsible for Innisfree Garden in Millbrook, NY, probably understood the sense of tranquility and calm that can only be gained from God’s green Earth and a beautiful bloom. Raised a Quaker in New Jersey, Collins found like minds in the husband-and-wife/artist-gardener duo of Walter and Marion Beck. The Becks commissioned Collins in 1938 while he was still a [...]
Environmental economist, eco-consultant, and sustainability strategist Pamela Peeters’ remarkable path to becoming a true Eco Hero
Photo above: Pamela speaks at the "Dubai Innovation Center" during COP28 on her educational projects. Photograph taken by Martin Nweeia. “My mother told me I was always pointing at the sun and trees. I always found great joy being in nature. When I was 12, that joy grew so large that I created my first environmental magazine with my best friend,” environmental economist, eco-consultant, and sustainability strategist Pamela Peeters remembers. It was from a very young age, then, that the Belgian-born Sharon, CT, resident learned [...]
The Loeb and lunch: A stay-cation with profound benefits
Photo above: Two of four pieces from the Springside collection by British artist Henry C. Gritten. Springside was Matthew Vassar's estate. Paris. Rome. London. Barcelona. Even New York, Boston, Philadelphia, or Washington, DC. All are great escapes for lovers of culture, and all should be visited. Often. But when time is tight and you don’t want to mess with planes, trains, and Ubers, why not visit the first-rate offerings in one’s own back yard? The Hudson Valley is loaded with them – museums, galleries, theaters, [...]
Modern farming: Talking environmental changes, adapting to challenges, and connection to the land with four farms in the region
Above photo courtesy of Maitri Farm It’s no secret that farming is becoming harder and harder. It’s never been an easy job, but between climate change, the unprecedented environmental changes that come along with it, and constant changes in funding and grant availability, farming seems to be increasingly difficult in recent years. According to the US Department of Agriculture, in 2022, nearly 22.1 million full- and part-time jobs related to the agricultural and food sectors – 10.4 percent of total US employment. But direct on-farm [...]
The Miracle on Barn Hill: Retired elementary school teacher Donna Fazzino discusses self-publishing her first children’s book
Photo above: Donna with Lindsey when she was in third grade, 2010-2011. Since she was young, Donna Fazzino always had a knack for reading and writing. Drawing upon her passion for the language arts, she pursued a career as a teacher in Connecticut’s Region #1 School District, teaching elementary grade levels and talented and gifted programs at Sharon Center School and Salisbury Central School. “I loved reading aloud to my students, as well as teaching the craft of writing,” Donna explains. “There were such wonderful [...]
