in the garden and etc. with margaret

M AY IS MADNESS. I have already said that in the monthly chores column. But it’s madness otherwise, too: garden tours to prep for; workshops I’m giving with friends; a garden contest I’m judging (as in, free prizes!); a sister in the news to brag about…and oh, I need your help with the Urgent Garden Question Forums here, too.

The details, on all of it (and more):Win Prizes (If I Say So!) at Beekman1802: I am not the only Martha Stewart dropout to move to old farmland in the New York State countryside. Dr. Brent Ridge, a former colleague, has also done so (along with his partner, Josh Kilmer-Purcell).

I have frogboys and a tiny house; they have goatboys (well, goatgirls, actually, I suppose) and a mansion. Why do I mention this? Brent and Josh are having an online garden party on the blog that celebrates their astonishing farm, Beekman1802, and in May have asked me to judge a contest they’re holding (read: I get to give away a 10-piece tool set to the winner). The challenge: Do you have a homemade garden tool or a tip about some ingenious such device? Share it in the comments at Beekman1802 to enter.

See you there. (“Vanity Fair” photo.)Proud Sister Dept.: Disclaimer—this is not a horticulture item, but I do want to share it. Twenty-six years ago, my younger sister, Marion, wrote the first, first-person story ever published on Alzheimer’s disease, which our mother, already a widow, came down with at age 49.