The Greenhouses of the Mt Holyoke - March 10, 2024 @goldenoakfarm

Once we’d finished going around the Bulb Show, in the long section above, we went into the greenhouse at the end. That’s the cactus house.

There are a lot of different types and several were flowering.

This one made me think of a knitted stocking.

From there we went back through the Bulb Show and over into the house where the extra plants for the Show were.

This greenhouse has 2 sections and is used for extra plants, by the students for their projects, and as a potting shed.

We found a grapefruit with buds and fruit.

From there we went into a hot house for orchids.

This house is also divided. The section to the left is for the orchids, and the section on the right is what I call the pond room.

I had gotten a photo of the blue flowered vine in this room in the post last week. This week this plant was flowering, but very few orchids.

Last week I had gotten a photo of the water lily in the pond room. It was still flowering but the water drops on the floating plants caught my eye this time. There was a family with children in this room and they had spotted a frog in the pond.

There is another greenhouse off the cactus room but it’s not open to the public.

So we went into the big greenhouse. This flower was right at the entrance.

We took the right side path around and there were coffee beans ripening.

In the center of this house are the huge plants like banana trees, cacao trees and others, reaching way up into the cupola.

In the center, there’s a bench to rest on. It faces these back doors. I love the details in this very old greenhouse. I’ve never taken photos of it from outside, so I decided to do so on this visit.

I climbed up the hill on the far side to get another angle.

This is the door seen from inside.

And a shot of the detail in the windows. It looked like all the greenhouses had had their windows coated with a sort of white wash to probably cut the sun a little. They all had fresh streaks on them. I’d noticed it on the Bulb Show house first.

If my sister ever hits the lottery, this is the sort of greenhouse I would want.

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My friend didn’t want to go home just yet so we decided to go to this farm market as neither of us had been in years. It had changed some since I’d last been there.

I looked at the plants area and then wandered the aisles. They had extensive vegetable and fruit section but almost none was organic. We got a snack and decided to go to a local garden store to look for dianthus seeds. I found 2 packets so I was set.

She still didn’t want to go home so we decided to go to a small local movie theater. We decided on a “culinary romance” movie.

It was set in France I’m guessing late 1800’s - early 1900’s. I was fascinated by the wood stoves and the extensive cookware collection.

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But the amazing thing about this movie was the cooking! And the different foods being prepared. We both loved the movie and I wanted to see it again so when I got home I looked to see if there was a DVD for it. It isn’t to be released until May 7th. This is a movie I would watch over and over again I think.

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I got home around 4PM and was exhausted.

The day had started out raining and flooding but had stopped by the time we left for the greenhouses.

I had to thin the onions again and take the board out from underneath them as they had nearly reached the lights.

Larry likes his new bird watching post.

On Monday I have exercise class, then home, then back to the Senior Center for a lecture on Bird Migration.