Hi, friends:

Happy Arbor Day — at least that’s what it is here in Massachusetts, where Arbor Day is celebrated on the last Friday of April. It seemed like the perfect time to run Sidonia Dalby’s essay about her beloved maple tree. I know Sidonia, who also goes by Sid, from Smith College, where she is the Associate Director of Admissions and Ada Comstock Advisor. But I did not know that she’s a writer herself until she emailed me a few months ago and mentioned a piece she’d been wanting to write about a 100-plus-year-old tree that had to come down in her front yard in Northampton. “The DPW was sooooooo great as well as National Grid, through what felt like the loss of a long-time family friend,” she said. “Would you be interested in a sentimental piece about the tree?”

That was back in November. Here we are in the midst of spring (finally), and her beautifully written remembrance is also a reminder of how essential trees are to our neighborhoods and shared public spaces. Along with her essay starting on page 12, she also included a couple of upcoming arboreal events happening in the area. Coincidentally, just as I was closing this issue, I got an email from Laurie Sanders of Historic Northampton about a tree talk happening there, “Dendroarcheology Studies: Dispelling Myths and Confirming History.” On Wednesday, May 2 at 4 p.m., tree ring scientist and architectural historian Bill Flynt will discuss how dendroarcheology (tree ring) studies have influenced our thinking about early architecture in Northampton and other parts of New England.

In fact, Flynt is something of a tree detective who collects tree ring samples from interior posts and beams of old homes and barns and casts doubts around, for instance, whether dates listed on an old house are truly accurate. “The tree ring patterns are like fingerprints, reflecting climate changes and growing conditions,” according to press notes. “With his library of tree ring data and some sophisticated computer tools, he has been able to identify the construction dates of nearly 200 buildings in the Northeast. As might be expected, his findings have helped rewrite history; many of the buildings were not nearly as old as the previously-accepted date.” The event is free, though donations are welcome.  

I hope you enjoy this print issue of Hampshire Life, also brought to you by trees (!). I really appreciated Caroline Pam’s column this week about legendary Southern chef “Dame” Edna Lewis, who led a fascinating life and whose books, as Caroline writes, “offered me a practical road map to creating a meaningful life around hands-on work, collaboration, appreciating nature, and — most of all — the simple pleasures of cooking and preserving the best of each season.”

Have a great weekend. 

Brooke Hauser