Old 360 Diner attracts the sheriffs department, EMT workers and locals for lunch. Roaming around my home-country in Halifax County, Virginia, this summer, I have been looking for a good old-fashioned diner that serves good- old-fashioned food. I only had to drive about a mile and half to the Old 360 Mountain Road Diner, on the curvy two-lane Route 360 to Danville. There is no MacDonalds or Burger King on this road–only a deserted gas station on the left just before the parking lot, full of trucks, ambulances, jeeps and sedans. Two sheriff’s cars were parked right in front. In Baltimore, this m ..read more

Lady Carole Bamford has created an organic empire from Daylesford, her farm in the Cotswolds. I’d heard about it from my cousin Paula, who grew even more enthusiastic about going organic for her farm (next to ours in Virginia), after a visit to Daylesford. So eager for some inspiration, I headed to Daylesford on the second day of my trip to the Cotswolds. I love how Lady Bamford, wife of multibillionaire Anthony Bamford, founder of the construction firm JCB, has embraced farming as the route to a healthy, prosperous life. The socialite travels the world by helicopter and jet. She’s officially ..read more

I didn’t want any grass to grow under my feet, so as soon as I got settled at the hotel, I prepared for the walk to the Broadway Tower, a curious landmark and the second highest point in the Cotswolds. Photo by Newton 2, cropped by Yummifruit I quickly settled in at Lygon Arms which feels welcoming like a sweet, aristocratic ancestor. After all, there has been some kind of hostelry here for 1,000 years. In contrast to many open air, high ceilinged American hotels , the Lygon Arms has cozy, dark nooks and crannies, its floors with dips and stone floors smoothed by centuries of feet. I counted f ..read more

At Paddington Station in London, feeling lost like Paddington Bear. After a break for the winter doldrums, I’m relaunching Farm-finds with a trip to the Cotswolds, the heart of the beautiful English countryside. I came to London for a family wedding and figured I would take off a few days to walk a part of the Cotswold Way, a 102-mile walking trail, the main route between Bath and Chipping Camden for the last 500 years. Thousands of hikers tackle the whole trail, which has become one of the most popular in England. I am just doing segments. My base will be Broadway which couldn’t be further fr ..read more

. On the last Christmas before she died, two years ago, my sister Emma had urged me to go with her to  visit the Moore’s, where we had gotten the best trees and wreaths over the years but I made an excuse—too much to do. Betty had some good stories about our father, Emma said, besides bringing in a bumper crop of Christmas trees from the mountains.  This season before Christmas, alone at home in Halifax, I was missing the family I’ve lost—my parents, Emma and my dear husband John. That’s occupying too much real estate in the cemetery.  My sister Anne and I  have been placi ..read more

Self-serve pottery: a great way to shop local. The other day, distressed over the onset of Christmas commercialism, I was walking my dog Jojo through my neighborhood, when I stumbled upon a tiny shop that has brightened my whole attitude toward the holidays. It was the tiniest shop, actually a little cupboard, about the size of a small refrigerator, set up on the sidewalk with beautifully crafted cups and vases in speckled vanilla whites and rich sea blues and grass-greens. I eyed a cup with a perfectly round rim, in vanilla white, with brown speckles, sprinkled over it like a friendly freckl ..read more

Artist Teresa Hammann at work on the mural she created for the Baltimore Orchard Project by Jonathan Simpson Guest writer The Baltimore Orchard Project (BOP) celebrate a unique new mural that was painted on the road near the BOP orchard in the city’s Druid Hill Park. The artist is Teresa Hammann, a graduate of Maryland Institute College of Art, who painted the scene this summer. The mural features sunflowers, trees with pears and other fruits, a Baltimore oriole and a block tagged with Baltimore Orchard Project. While Hammann is the main artist, she took suggestions from bystanders on what to ..read more

Hudson grandchildren Aria and Elora enjoy working with the different pumpkins on their farm (photo by Donna Hudson ) No, these pumpkins didn’t get bleached in the wash. They are new hybrids that are spinning off from the traditional orange jack-o’-lanterns. These are grown by Michael and Donna Hudson on their farm in Virgilina, Virginia and sold at 1023 Foster Lane, South Boston, Virginia. White ones, Donna says, are easy to decorate. You can just paint them. How about these warty specimen? The bumps come from deposits of sugar. For a more elegant look, the blue-green Cinderella pumpkin is a ..read more

They have raised bumper crops of blackberries, but this year might be their last The Cole boys had been out at sea, living and fishing for a living on their boats, when they decided to cast their fate back home in the red clay of Halifax County in a blackberry patch–a huge, cultivated blackberry patch with berries the size of golf balls. Their father was getting ready to retire from his apple orchard business. “He told us he heard from the grocery stores that blackberries could bring a pretty high dollar,” say Jeff Cole, taking a brief break from bringing berries in from the fields, establish ..read more

How I became a tomato lover after decades of detesting the fruit Hanover County, Va.  — I have never liked tomatoes.  This is not a wise statement to say here in Hanover County, Virginia, when I was visiting the home of Master Tomato Growers David Hunsaker and Barbara Hollingsworth in the middle of peak harvest. Barbara Hollingsworth and David Hunsaker display the day’s tomato crop on the pool table (right) and in flats (left). I just don’t like the texture or acidity, I tell them.  “Maybe you didn’t have any good ones,” suggests David, as he offers me a  Sun Gold cherry ..read more