Solar Greenhouse
As soon as you step onto this property, you know it's a special place. This is Alchemy Farm in Falmouth, MA, a property owned by professional landscape designers Hilde Maingay and Earle Barnhart, among others. The two for many years ran an ecological research institute called New Alchemy, but when it lost funding, they and several others bought the property and now have a new community on the site, with gardens, woodlands, play areas, common land areas and private homes.
The large solar greenhouse is adjacent to the couple's home, which has solar panels to heat water and radiant floor heat. In the garden, they practice what they preach.
After all, firepits don't have to be expensive items … they can be fashioned from simple stone, as they are here, and the "horse" sculpture is just one of many on the property fashioned from salvaged wood.
Looking for a secluded place in the garden to get away from it all? I loved this simple solution … a bamboo "room" with a simple floor of mulch and a small bench made from a slab of stone. I'm not sure if they just mow the bamboo to keep it from spreading … or if they planted it in some kind of contained space underground, but it lets in just enough light for reading, if you like, or for sitting in quiet contemplation.
One of my favorite places at Alchemy Farm was a small "recovery garden," where struggling shrubs, trees, and perennials are coddled until they get back on their feet, obtain some size, and are finally ready for transplanting.
At the rear of the house, there's a spacious deck/patio area that overlooks this Asian-style garden, complete with lily pond, bamboo fencing and Japanese statuary. It's just about the only formal garden on the property, and with its stonework, its dense and shady groundcover plantings and low bamboo fencing, it's a charming private garden that's somewhat a surprise on the otherwise open and spacious landscape.
Almost everything on this site was made from "found" materials, and it's a testament to the lifestyle practiced by Maingay and Barnhart. They grow vegetables and fruits, raise a few chickens, and do all work on the property by hand so as to reduce energy costs and do no harm to the environment. If you're even thinking about low-impact living, you could certainly take some hints from Alchemy Farm, which couldn't have a more appropriate name.
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