WiseAcre Gardens

Who needs spring and the flowers it brings when you have snow.

Hidden, a stump and some wood blocks lay under snowy peaks

Meanwhile a Snowy Angel waits for spring

A snow cone topping off a rustic table

I’ll tell you who! Me and this maple tree are both spitting up snow.

I need something completely different

True Love

It’s Love at First Sight

Then comes the whirlwind romance

…followed by the rest of your life

You Know: It’s better than a desperate search for a warm shelter

before the inevitable Winter sets in.

A WiseAcre look at love. But we all know how wonderful Love really is. Now go and give your sweetheart a kiss.

click on the earth to go to the post that started it all

Or where in the world am I coming from? 

Welcome to St. Lawrence County, NY.

 Locally the area is called the North Country. The southern section of the county is inside the “Blue Line” or in other words part of the Adirondack Park. The northern border is the St. Lawrence Seaway.  Most visitors call the area in between “a desolate nowhere”.  But they really don’t know what they’re saying.

I’m from a place where old appliances are mistaken for yard art. Perennials to buy are hard to find. Winter is long and cold and often without snow. Temps can drop to -40 F. so forget the maps that say we’re in Zone 4 – better to say 3 and be safe rather than sorry after those ‘tender” plants die.  But we do have some of the world’s best soil. Can you say Madrid sandy Loam? On the other hand there are the clay flats in the St. Lawrence valley. Can you say yuck to the muck? Great for a farmer if the soil dries out enough to get a tractor out without getting it sucked down out of sight.

Talk about deer! how about an average of 3 deer related accdents daily? I once counted 53 deer in one of my hay fields. Turkeys roam in flocks of 40 – 60. We even have Moose moving back to the area. Planting a garden is risky business even in the villages.

Cows out number people.

Downstate residents don’t even know where we are. In fact when I visit other parts of the state I have to say CANADA in order for them to have a clue where I’m from. We have more cows than people. We do have a Wal-mart and Home Depot but they really were built for Canadians, we’re too poor to shop there. Jobs are for the lucky. If it wasn’t for the Universities and government we’d all be eating tree bark.

But as far as I’m concered – there isn’t a better place to live. On a more serious side the text below is something I wrote for a website I designed for the county chamber of commerce.  That site is now gone (the chamber redesigned the site after a couple of years when I could no longer maintain it)  The chamber site is: North Country Guide  I still have a working draft of the old site up at northcountryguide  It’s a bit broken since I’ve started to rewrite it again for my own use but you are welcome to look and compare the professional to the homegrown versions.

This is a place that is rugged and wild yet cosmopolitan and “home” to people from all over the globe. We have a long heritage that is tied to agriculture, forestry, mining, and education. Diversity is the best word to describe both the natural and social resources that New York’s north country has to offer.
  The St. Lawrence River, it’s river valley, and the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains define the landscapes. This area is large enough to be included in two of New York State’s 11 Regions. While offering some of the most remote wilderness in the Eastern United States, visitors are only a hour away from two of the World’s most popular cities,  Montreal and Ottawa.  

The common thread weaving the county together is water.
Nearly every community is set along one of the many small rivers that drain the Adirondack Mountains. The educational and governmental heart lies in the center of the county, dairy farms are sprinkled throughout the county, and the southern portion of the county is the gateway to the 6 million acre Adirondack Park.  St. Lawrence County truly does have something for everyone. The area has attracted visitors from all walks of life and many never leave. A high ratio of ‘transplants’ have found the North County and help make it a great place to visit and a better place to live.  

Images of the Old West can be found at the Frederick Remington Museum and even Buffalo can be seen grazing in pastures. Local farms welcome visitors on ‘Agri-Tours’ and our Amish and Mohawk citizens also invite you to explore their cultures and visit their shops and museums. And don’t forget the Maple Syrup, the area is one of the largest producers in the country. And did I say FISHING? World class by any stretch of the imagination. 

Naturally Fun for 200 Years, the county celebrated its incorporation during 2002. Travelers used to bring the trunks and stay for months.  Why not do the same now?

 If you have any plans on going nowhere this is the place.