When the world feels uncertain - governments shutting down and headlines reminding us how big of a world we live in - it's worth reminding to turn to soil. Liberty Hyde Bailey once wrote that "the land must be lived with, not merely lived on." To Bailey, the garden wasn't an economical factory of production; it was a moral landscape. A classroom. A covenant. In uncomfortable times, Bailey wouldn't tell us to huddle and endure, but to plant. To make the earth fruitful, even in

Picture of the black walnuts gathered outside the Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum & Gardens The black walnut tree is one of North America's best quiet giants. Towering, strong, and deeply rooted - it's almost a tree that commands admiration. In the spirit of Liberty Hyde Bailey's love for the natural world, this native tree reminds us that the best kind of abundance is the kind that benefits all life. Black walnuts (Juglans nigra) are more than just trees that drop smelly green a

In the spring of 1872, a 14-year-old Liberty Hyde Bailey Jr. stepped off a train along with friends in Chicago and entered a city still...

The title for today's blog comes from contemporary poet, novelist, essayist and agrarian Wendell Berry. In his essay, "A Practical...

"G. W. C. B., Baltimore, Maryland, writes: "In some sections of country pumpkins, or at least such as are recognized as such in other...

"About thirty years ago (1892) I compiled an inventory of all the varieties of apple-trees sold in North America, as listed in the...

L.H. Bailey, in Ground-Levels in Democracy (1916) offers another view in regarding politics and the polarizing need to have one's opinion...

Leafing through a copy of L.H. Bailey’s most autobiographical book, The Harvest, I came across a passage on the importance of the home,...

When the good majority of us travel, we think about the basics - beaches, restaurants, landmarks, and the occasional scenic hike....

"There are two parts to the common day — the performance of the day, and the background of the day. Many of us are so submerged in the...

Liberty Hyde Bailey Jr. Wendell Berry, author of the foreword to Liberty Hyde Bailey’s The Holy Earth , has defined the agrarian as...

Bailey was a great lover of trees, writing in The Holy Earth that “if it were possible for every person to own a tree and to care for it,...

This story was sent to us by Joan Wendland who conducts creative writing workshops at the South Haven Library . This last month a new...

The perseverance of The Holy Earth speaks continually to the conviction of many individuals through history who have found the book both...

At every Board Meeting we start with a "Bailey Moment". This is from our May meeting. “The kinds I like best are the ones easiest to...

LIBERTY HYDE BAILEY AWARD The American Horticultural Society’s highest award, the Liberty Hyde Bailey Award is given to an individual who...

"For today’s country-lifers, naturists, gardeners, teachers and readers. The central hub and knowledge base for all things Bailey online"...

Wendy Halperin is a local South Haven artist and educator. A few years ago she illustrated the children’s book “Planting the Wild Garden”...

The world's longest-running experiment is buried in a secret spot in Michigan. In 1879, botanist William James Beal buried 20 bottles,...