About Becky Rupp

Becky Rupp

Vermont’s Becky Rupp has been a valuable mainstay of the magazine for decades, contributing her insightful perspectives about gardening, science, and life. Becky’s work has appeared in over 100 GreenPrints issues!

Articles by Becky Rupp

Rupp on Rocks

Rupp on Rocks

We put in a strawberry patch this year. Nothing huge, you understand: maybe 4 feet by 20, a nice strip along the fence on the upper side of the barn.  
Plant Blindness

Plant Blindness

“Attention,” wrote the late poet Mary Oliver, “is the beginning of devotion.” She meant that – in these easily distractable modern times – it’s all too easy not to notice  
Unconnected Thoughts on Gardening

Unconnected Thoughts on Gardening

A few weeks ago, in a burst of ambition and historical culture, Randy and I took the kids on a week-long vacation to Washing­ton, D.C. We had a high old  
Down Time

Down Time

"Winter is icummen in," wrote Ezra Pound, in a fit of poetic ill temper. "Loud sing goddam."  
Forget Chocolate Think Celery

Forget Chocolate Think Celery

Valentine’s Day, it turns out, owes a lot to Geoffrey Chaucer, the 14th-century author of The Canterbury Tales. It was Geoffrey who pointed out – in a 1375 poem titled  
Reading in the Garden

Reading in the Garden

I read my first garden book surreptitiously, at the age of nine, at Girl Scout camp. Girl Scout camp, from my point of view, was not the happy and team-spirited  
A Long Winter’s Nap

A Long Winter’s Nap

It’s December, the month that features Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and Pearl Harbor Day, as well as such lesser under-appreciated holidays as National Sock Day, National Llama Day, World Pear Day,  
Tomatoes. Good for What Ails You?

Tomatoes. Good for What Ails You?

There’s a long history of helpful medicinals from plants. Just for starters, we’ve got aspirin from willow bark, digitalis from foxgloves, quinine from the cinchona tree; and codeine from opium  
Hay

Hay

First, a moment of truth: we don’t make hay. We have a field, and the farmer up the road cuts it, makes hay out of it and takes it home