Category: working in the garden

Boston, Massachusetts

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“‘City farmer’ tends garden in the Fenway, administered by the 600-member Fenway Civic Association. Four hundred twenty-five personal gardens are tilled on these five acres in Metropolitan Boston, [Massachusetts],” May 1973, by Ernst Halberstadt, via U.S. National Archives Commons on flickr.

This photo was taken for DOCUMERICA, an early photography program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 

From 1972 to 1977, the EPA hired over 100 photographers to “document subjects of environmental concern.” They created an archive of about 20,000 images. In addition to recording damage to the nation’s landscapes, the project captured “the era’s trends, fashions, problems, and achievements,” according to the Archives, which held an exhibit of the photos, “Searching for the Seventies,” in 2013.

Bee allée

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“Beekeepers Wallace Anderson and R.R. Talbert tending to tupelo honey beehives in Apalachicola, Florida,” May 6, 1948, via Florida Memory (State Library and Archives of Florida) Commons on flickr.

Another note on the Archive’s website says, “Typical scaffold, platform 14 to 16 feet high and 300 to 700 feet long on which colonies (hives) are placed.”

Comparing bouquets

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Alfalfa crops, probably in Oregon, ca. 1955, via OSU Special Collections & Archives Commons on flickr.

Plants on the left show growth without Borax added to the soil and the plants on the right show what growth has occurred with borax. When soils have a borax deficiency, a “yellow top” condition develops, especially during the dry season. The plants are part of the Experiment Station soils program experiments.

— OSU photo caption

The flower seller, Ontario

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Plant seller at the Hamilton Farmers’ Market, 1946, by J. Morris, via  Local History & Archives Hamilton (Ontario) Public Library Commons on flickr.

There are more photos of the market here.

Life in gardens: California

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A repeat “Life in” from 2013. . .

Back yard, Turlock, CA, 1943, by Russell Lee, Library of Congress

I love this photo by Russell Lee, * of a May 1942 Turlock, California, backyard. (Unfortunately, it’s not very sharply focused.) The caption, possibly by the photographer, reads:

Housewife waters the lawn. All garden furniture and barbecue pit were made by her husband; about one out of every three houses in this town has such an arrangement in the backyard, and during the summer months people eat and spend many hours in their yards.

I particularly like the rolling sofa thing with the awning. Turlock is located in central California between Modesto and Merced. Continue reading “Life in gardens: California” →