Faint glimmer of a rainbow after last night’s deluge
Rainbow Glimmer at Good Harbor Beach
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Milkweed is the Bees Knees!
This vibrantly hued milkweed is most commonly known as Butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa). Orange Milkweed, Pleurisy Root, Chigger Flower, and Chiggerweed are a few of its other common names.
Butterflyweed blooms in a range of hot colors from buttery yellow to Spanish orange to fire orange red and is a welcome source of nectar for butterflies and bees.
Gull Trouble!
Great Black-backed and Herring Gulls are the species most commonly seen in our region. And both species pose a deadly, serious threat to Piping Plovers.
The gulls eat both Plover eggs and chicks. It’s not just tiny hatchlings they go after. We have seen Great Black-backed Gulls swoop in and take out a 25 day-old nearly-adult bird.
Plover parents employ several strategies for trying to prevent this from happening. They often call to their mate to come help and both will try to avert the gull’s attention. A Plover may drag its wing on the ground, faking injury in hopes of luring the gull away, or it may dive bomb the gull, or latch onto its tail feathers, and all the while making an angry, loud rattling call. Usually, the parents are successful, but not always.
In the above sequence you can see both parents left the chicks unattended in order to distract the gull. This tag teaming is usually very effective and the Herring Gull left after a short time. Mom ran back to back to locate her babes, calling to the chicks to rejoin her, and soon the two chicks were thermo-snuggling beneath Mom’s protective wings.
Sometimes it takes a gull many minutes to lose interest and the chicks become increasingly vulnerable to predation. In our documentary, The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay, a Herring Gull swooped off with a chick. Despite the parents best attempts to save their offspring, the Gull mortally wounded both the adult male and the chick.
What is the Number 1 way you can help? – Please Don’t Litter
Prior to 1931, Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls did not breed in Massachusetts and were not present year round. Their populations increased significantly during the 20th century because of the food resource available from landfills. They also prey on other birds and their eggs, and compete for nesting sites.
Great Black-backed and Herring Gulls are scavengers and thrive on the trash left behind on beaches. Never feed the gulls on the beach. Please do not leave behind garbage and please do not bury trash. Gulls will find the garbage, as will the Crows, which are another species that is equally as threatening to nesting shorebirds as are Herring and GBBGulls.
Lion’s Mane Jellyfish?
We are seeing this particular species of jellyfish washed up nearly daily at Good Harbor Beach. This one was the largest so far, about 20 inches in diameter. Whether or not they are Lion’s Mane, please don’t touch. Dead or alive, contact with a Lion’s Mane can cause pain. Read more here
Thank you Miss Ladybug!
In the garden experimenting with my new camera and I came across Ladybugs devouring aphids on our Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) buds.
What a love and we so appreciate your appetite for all things aphids <3
Happy July 4th from Glorious Good Harbor Beach!
Snapshots from St. Peter’s Mass and Sunday Morning Procession
A joy to film and photograph our beautiful community. Viva San Pietro!
NEW VIDEO: MAX ALLEN Greasy Pole Saturday Champion 2025
The winning walk!
MAX ALLEN Your 2025 Greasy Pole Saturday Champion!
Congratulations to Max Allen! Max also won last year’s Friday night competition. He is the third generation in his family to win the flag, following in the footsteps of his uncle and grandfather.
Buona Festa! – A Most Joyous St. Peter’s Fiesta Opening Night
Viva San Pitero!
Beginning at St. Peter’s Club, the Procession winds up and around the Legion Hall, ending at St. Peter’s Square. The effigy is is placed oh so gently on the stage where it will stay until Sunday morning’s procession through the City.
All Are Welcome to the Beautiful Saint Peter’s Fiesta Novena
Come one, come all!
With love and gratitude to the Novena Ladies who each year tirelessly organize the Novena, decorate the Legion Hall and altar in a unique and beautiful way, lead the attendees in prayer and song, and nightly serve refreshments. Viva San Pietro.
Left to right: Grace Cusumano, Nina Groppo, Anne Sanfillippo, Joanne Auello, Jean Linquata, Caryn Ryder, Faye Quinlan
The 2025 St. Peter’s Fiesta Novena continues every night through Tuesday. Saturday, Sunday, and Monday the Novena begins at 7:00pm. Tuesday is the very special conclusion. The Novena begins at 6:30, followed by the Mass, followed by the Saint Peter procession to Beach Court.
Crazy Hat Lady sisters Robyn and Amy, sans hats. I wonder what wonderfully imaginative designs they will add to the hats this year!
Happy Summer Solstice
Not the post I planned for this longest of days but it was just so beautiful watching three bucks foraging in the marsh this morning I had to share. Don’t you love their big brown soulful eyes and fuzzy antlers? Happy Solstice <3
Here is an image of one of them, no idea which, from the spring. Note the antler buds beginning to grow in.
What Does the Juneteenth Flag Symbolize?
YOUR 2025 SAINT PETER’S FIESTA SCHEDULE!
WOW! So Much Great Stuff Happening at Cedar Rock Gardens!
Elise at Cedar Rock Gardens says, It’s Not Too Late to Plant — and HAVE WE GOT A SALE FOR YOU!
Rainy weekends and a chilly spring couldn’t stop us—and now it’s officially go-time in the garden.
It is not too late to plant – We have a sale for you and Lettuce!
Come Visit Us for a sale this week!— Bring a Box or Tray to shop.
To help you get growing and keep growing, we’re offering 30% off all seedlings in the nursery starting on Wednesday, June 18th until Sunday, June 22nd. Yes, all of them. As a little bonus, every purchase comes with a free lettuce plant, because you deserve something green, crunchy, and satisfying after this soggy spring.
Our business hours:
Monday – Closed
Tuesday – Closed
Wednesday – 8 am to 4 pm
Thursday – 8 am to 5 pm
Friday – 8 am to 4 pm
Saturday – 8 am to 4 pm
Sunday – 9 am to 3 pm
Hello friends,
We know—this spring’s been a journey. Between the endless rainy weekends and a chill that just wouldn’t quit, it felt like summer might never show up. I was totally ahead of myself predicting a warm spring – so much for that! Now that the weather is finally good enough for tender edible crops to grow lets keep a close eye on pests and critters. The soil is finally warm, the skies are (mostly) clearing, and the gardens are ready to GROW.
If you’ve been waiting to plant, now is your moment.
It is not too late to get your veggie garden going! In fact, it’s a great time to plant seedlings—especially for all those warm-weather crops that will flourish this time of year.
And for all you clever succession planters, leafy greens like lettuce, kale, chard, and herbs are ready for another round. Keep those salads coming well into summer. Direct Seed bush and pole beans now along with radish, hakurei, baby bok choy, greens and arugula.
We’d love to see your faces back at the nursery. The nursery is bursting with life, lots of bastil, squash, cutting flowers, tomatoes and peppers!
Catch Us at the Gloucester Farmers Market!
Every Wednesday from 2:30–6:30pm, you’ll find us at The Backyard Growcery at Burnhams field. Starting this week!!
We’ll have fresh-picked produce from our fields and plenty of hardy seedlings to fill your garden gaps.
Come say hi, grab a bunch of something delicious, and let us hook you up with a lettuce pun or two (we can’t help ourselves).
🌈 Happy Pride Month 🌈
At Cedar Rock Gardens, we believe that love is good, communities, just like gardens, are better with a wild mix of colors and personalities, and every person deserves to grow and thrive exactly as they want to be. We stand proudly with our queer community—not just this month, but always.
Here’s to vibrant veggies, inclusive spaces, and the joy of growing something beautiful together. 💚💜💛
From the Field: June Journal
Why are we closed on Mondays and Tuesday?? First, it is to have a full day to spend with our small children and keep the work/life balance in tact during this especially busy time of year. We are a small business and we are a couple running a farm, a family, a crew and a life outside of work. We are on 7 days a week all day keeping thousands of plants and a couple small humans alive and in order to navigate this livelihood we chose to be closed to the public 2 days a week. Second because, as stated above, we are farming greenhouse and field crops all year and we need all hands on deck a few days a week to plant, weed, prune, harvest wash and pack – for those of you who have asked.
We’ve officially changed our greenhouses over from seedling production and packed all 12,000 square feet of our greenhouses with summer crop stars: tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, eggplant, basil, cucumbers, ginger, sweet potatoes and so many other warm-loving goodies.
Out in the fields, lettuce and greens are growing along beautifully. Bush beans are just about to get seeded, and both summer and winter squash are just about to go in the ground—and we are just about ready to tuck in our potatoes on July 2nd, right on schedule.
Why July 2nd? Because we’ve got beef with the Colorado potato beetle. These striped little tank-like pests emerge early in the season and love nothing more than feasting on tender potato foliage. By delaying planting until July, we dodge their peak egg-laying window—and still get a strong fall harvest without the beetle drama. Take that, nature’s tiny bulldozers.
Here are a few things I find myself repeating a lot at the nursery so I though I may share them here and hopefully give someone a tidbit that may help!
Pest Patrol + Growing Tips
Squash + Cucumber Success:
Use lightweight row cover early on to protect seedlings from bugs and cool nights. Remove the cover when the plants flower so they can be pollinated!
Mulch around the base with straw to deter squash bugs – or try the tip below from a neighbor!
Keep leaves dry by morning watering so they dry out over the day to discourage powdery mildew.
Harvest often and remove damaged or wilted fruit to keep plants productive.
And here’s a gem from our neighbor Newt: He cuts drinking straws into 3-inch segments, snips them open, and wraps them around the stems of his young cucurbits. It’s a surprisingly brilliant way to stop cutworms from snipping plants at the soil line—and may just discourage squash vine borers too. We raise a hoe to you, Newt.
Tomato TLC:
Prune lower leaves to improve airflow and reduce disease risk.
Mulch to retain moisture and prevent soil splash-up.
Tomatoes love heat—give them full sun and space to breathe.
Feed every couple weeks with a balanced organic fertilizer once they start fruiting.
Water consistently to prevent blossom end rot.
Pepper Wisdom:
Peppers want warmth—plant them in a sunny, wind-sheltered spot.
They’re slow to start but reward patience. Mulch them in, water evenly, and don’t overdo nitrogen (it’ll grow leaves, not fruit).
We won’t sugarcoat it: the political scene right now? A real mess. Between the corporate greenwashing, book bans, and folks who think “climate change” is just a suggestion—it’s enough to make you want to throw your phone into the compost pile.
But here’s the thing: planting seeds, supporting small farms, feeding your neighbors, and standing up for inclusion and sustainability? That’s hopeful. That’s powerful.
So let’s plant more. Grow more. Share more. Support with our dollars, our forks, and our hearts.
With muddy hands and a hope for sunshine,
— Elise and the Cedar Rock Gardens crew
Tunnel of Love
With temperatures expected to hit 90 later in the week I thought I had better take a few snapshots of the roses blooming around our front porch; they’ll fade rapidly once the heat kicks in.
The white rose with the single flowers that climbs up to the second floor bedroom window is Darlow’s Enigma. I love this rose for its highly scented blossoms and for its vigor but the stalks became so huge it collapsed in last months nor’easter. It’s made for a wonderful tunnel. A bit out of control, I’ll have to trim Darlow’s way back after it blooms but it sure has been fun having a rose embowered tunnel, albeit briefly.
We planted only the most highly fragrant roses I could locate and currently the sweet scent of roses is permeating our entire home. Happy June!
This is the Only Monarch We are Interested In!
Thank you Michele Del for sharing your beautiful block print, and thank you to Michelle B for sharing the photo!
Happy Father’s Day to All the Great Men in Our Lives!
Happy Father’s Day to all the kind, funny, hard working, thoughtful, and loving Husbands, Dads, Sons, Grandpas, Uncles, Brothers, Father Figures, and Friends. Rock on! <3 <3 <3
We are so very blessed – my father-in-law turned 100 years old on May 5th this year – <3
No Kings Cape Ann!
Tremendous Turnout for No Kings Cape Ann!
People from all around Cape Ann attended the No Kings march. I have yet to confirm, but heard there were upwards of 3,000 marchers. Passersby in vehicles were showing their full support as well. From youth to grannies, Cape Ann showed up for democratic values. The message is clear, It’s Up To Us!
Above photo courtesy Michelle Barton
LEGO PLAY in Honor of World Play Day!
Wednesday through Sunday, Boston is celebrating International World Play Day with a free magical LEGO interactive event taking place at the Rose Kennedy Greenway. Our daughter Liv is producing the event for the company she works for, Amplify. She and her co-workers have transformed the Greenway into a vibrant playground where kids can play and create with hands-on LEGO activities. We took Charlotte this afternoon to visit her Auntie and experience this unique interactive activation.
She especially loved the beats box and the Sea Monster, inspired by Gloucester’s own Nessie!
Brandon McCadney and Cedric Mitchell created an interactive beat box
When:
Wednesday, Jun 11, 2025 11:00a –
Sunday, Jun 15, 2025 6:00p
Where:
Rose Kennedy Greenway
191 Atlantic Ave
Boston, MA 02109
Admission:
FREE
There are free interactive play events scheduled throughout the summer. To read more about the LEGO Group’s mission to bring more play to Boston and other major cities go here: The LEGO Group celebrates World Play Day in London, Boston and beyond
NO KINGS Gloucester Day of Defiance
This event will be a walk from Stage Fort Park down to the Fishermen’s Wives Memorial. It will run from noon to 2pm. Gloucester residents with a 2025 beach parking sticker can park for free at the park, and parking is free on Stacy Blvd, but car pooling is encouraged as turn out is expected to be strong. In addition to the No Kings Theme, participants are encouraged to bring their American flags, as it is OUR flag and not the property of any political party.
There will be speakers at the memorial, including founder of CAI, Paul Saint-Amand, and Gloucester’s Mayor Verga, who will speak at 1:30. A local choir will lead us in “Can you hear the people sing?”, among other protest songs, as we make our way down from a Stage Fort Park to the Memorial.
Sign up or just come!
We Choose Love
We choose compassion over racism.
Acceptance over suppression.
We choose to vaccinate our children over paralysis and death.
We choose our bodies over proscription.
We choose Diversity over bribery and nepotism.
We choose Equity over kleptocracy.
We choose Inclusion over exclusion.
We choose an educated society over an Orwellian dystopia.
We choose science over partisan politics.
We choose a healthy, flourishing environment for all living creatures over a planet dying from neglect and destruction .
We choose health insurance affordable to all over emergency rooms full of the uninsured.
We choose truth over lies.
and facts over false narratives.
We choose public broadcasting and VOA over Faux News and X.
We choose social media for good over social media that manipulates.
We choose free markets over tariffing and taxing.
We choose soft power over ignorance.
We choose bills that help the 99 percent of us over a Big Ugly bill that benefits the wealthiest 1 percent.
We choose bills that help all Americans lead healthy and fulfilling lives over bills that destroy the fabric of our lives.
We choose the bi-partisan immigration bill approved by Congress, but demolished by then- candidate Violence-Inciting-Donald and his minions, over deploying Americans against Americans.
We choose peaceful conflict resolution over igniting the flames of division.
We choose presidents over kings and people over power.
We choose faith in the goodness of people over the savagery of powerful people punishing the less fortunate.
We see the love in a child’s eyes rather than seeing the world through hatred and lies.
We choose good over evil and love over hate.
We’re all in this together – stay strong Friends
A universal symbol of hope
Plover Lovers Update!
Dear PiPl Friends,
I am behind in providing updates and I apologize for that. Frankly, with the scale of all that is so very dark currently taking place in our country, I struggle with focusing on what is positive and good in the world of wildlife. Fortunately for them they know none of this. Happy news to share is that our Good Harbor Beach Plovers are recovered from the very late season nor’easter and are back on track with nesting activities. Not only Gloucester Plovers, but Plovers all around the region are regaining their bearings after the catastrophic loss of nests and habitat.
Plovers will re-nest (in other words, lay another clutch of eggs) as much as 3 to 4 times and in some extreme cases, have been known to re-nest 7 times. We always hope the first clutch is successful for several reasons. The earlier in the season the chicks hatch, the earlier they will fledge and be off the beaches. It is also very taxing on the female to lay additional eggs. Conservation biologists are very protective of breeding pairs, in a way even more so than chicks, because pairs that are known to breed are the birds that will carry on the species.
Wonderful news for our documentary The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay, which has been accepted to the New Hope Film Festival, a truly stellar festival founded by a gentleman Doug Whipple, with the intention of highlighting independent filmmakers. New Hope sounds like a fun boho arts community and I am looking forward to attending this festival. The dates are August 15-24th and as we get closer to the event, I’ll let you know more.
Rockport Middle Schoolers Cora and Juniper reached out to me for information about Piping Plovers for a project they were working on for their civics class. Don’t you love that Plovers are part of a civics discussion! I was delighted to help the girls with their project. They did an absolutely fantastic job and with permission, I am sharing the storyboard they put together for their presentation. Many thanks to Juniper and Cora for their interest in Plover conservation. I have been inspired by the two of them to create a shorter program for middle school kids as an hour long film presentation is suitable for high school, but the class periods are shorter in middle school from what I have learned.
My friend Jane in Nova Scotia shares an amazing ‘Plover Resiliency’ photo – the Plovers in her community are nesting at the TOP of the breakwater. The pair have found a tiny bit of grass and sand amidst the rocks. In case you were wondering, as was I, she reports that the tide never goes that high.
And my new Plover friend, Rhonda, in Ocean City, New Jersey, shares that their chicks have hatched and are doing well. Like Good Harbor Beach, the beach where their Plovers are nesting is also a highly trafficked location and has been consistently voted New Jersey’s most popular beach. Rhonda organized a screening of POMB with a virtual QandA at the Ocean City Public Library and the audience was so engaged. It was an utter joy to present to this very enthusiastic crowd. You can read more about the screening here: Ocean City Has Some Good Things to Say About The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay
That’s all the Plover news for now. Happy Sunday!
xxKim
Ocean City, New Jersey Has Some Good Words for The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay!
Through our documentary, The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay, I have had the joy to meet a kind and dedicated Plover ambassador for Ocean City, New Jersey. Rhonda helps watch over the Plovers in her community. She arranged a screening and QandA of The PPoMB at her local library, the Ocean City Free Public Library. It has been a pleasure getting to know she and Julie, the librarian. Rhonda wrote a lovely note and I am sharing it for the benefit of other communities and organizations that may be interested in hosting a screening and QandA.
Ocean City is one of New Jersey’s most popular, and most highly populated, beaches. Image courtesy wikicommonsmedia
Good morning, Kim,
Thank you so much for your screening of The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay followed by your generous Q & A session! Your footage is amazing and I could watch your film again and again.
This documentary is a gift to all of us in so many ways. For those of us who already adore these birds, it is a visual treat to see them up close in all of their cuteness. As someone who only has a pair of binoculars and a wobbly scope, to finally see them with clarity and zoomed-in is glorious! To be able to follow each step of their journey, including the hardships and dangers, really allows those who are not familiar with the world of beach nesting birds an opportunity to understand the threats plovers face and the impact, both positive and negative. Through the plovers’ incredible story and your beautiful images your film raises awareness in the most meaningful way.
I was excited to learn that the adults could feel the heartbeats of the chicks as they were incubating and that the chicks peep even while in their shells! I adored the footage of the chick sitting in the clam shell and the one where the chick does a head over heals cartwheel. And nothing beats the snuggling that they all do as they brood! We had one chick last year that brooded until he was quite old, and the shots that you had in your film of the brooding older chicks resonated with that memory and was very touching.
I am so glad that you made the link and password available so that folks could stream the film from their own device while we also streamed it through the library. That was a great suggestion and worked perfectly. I appreciate the stories and information that you shared during the Q&A session and I could listen to your stories for hours.
Thank you so much for sharing your film with all of us in our city and beyond. We had attendees even from out of state! I hope that this film will be just one step of the many that our community takes to help piping plovers.
It was such a pleasure to meet you and I hope that as the awareness level around plovers increases in our community that there will be many reasons for us to be in contact in the future!
Thank you for all that you have done and continue to do for plovers. Your film is such a gift to us all.
With gratitude,
Rhonda 
Apple Filming at Widow’s Bay Island Today (aka Good Harbor Beach!)
Widow’s Bay Island – it sure sounds like a spooky and foreboding place!
Parked at the Good Harbor Beach lot is an assemblage of vintage cars as Apple TV + sets the stage for a new series, titled Widow’s Bay. Filming is planned to begin today. The series is starring one of our favorite actors, Matthew Rhys. While at my daughter’s in LA, we binged watched Perry Mason and it was truly gripping, with a stellar performance by Rhys.
“Matthew Rhys is heading to The Bay State and Pine Tree State for his next show! The Welsh actor is set to star in the new Apple TV+ series, ‘Widow’s Bay,’ which will begin filming in Massachusetts and Maine in May 2025. Katie Dippold will serve as the showrunner, with Hiro Murai directing the series. There has been no revelation about the rest of the cast so far.
‘Widow’s Bay’ takes place on a secluded New England island shrouded in mystery and plagued by an ominous curse — at least, that’s what its deeply superstitious residents believe. At the center of it all is Mayor Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys), a pragmatic and no-nonsense single father who remains steadfast in his refusal to entertain such notions. Determined to transform the island into a sought-after destination, he envisions it as the next Nantucket. However, his unwavering ambition clashes with the townspeople’s persistent fears, forcing him to navigate the delicate balance between progress and the long-held superstitions threatening to hold Widow’s Bay in their grip.”
