A Season in the Sun: Photographs from the Massabesic Center’s Demonstration Garden by Walt Swist
Take a photographic journey with Walt Swist through the 2024 season in the NH Audubon Massabesic Center’s Demonstration Gardens! Experience the magical pollinator gardens in full bloom and the amazing bounty of the vegetable and herb gardens, with side tours of the wedding garden, the barn garden, the bird-friendly gardens, the memorial garden, the rain garden, the wildflower garden, the garden for the senses, and more. These gardens present opportunities for home and community gardeners to observe and learn best practices in a beautiful natural setting.
As an additional benefit, we donate most of our fresh vegetables and herbs to the Families in Transition Food Pantry and Dining Services in Manchester. We also provide vegetables for our favorite Animal Ambassadors who reside at the Massabesic Center. In 2024 we harvested about 543 pounds of vegetables and herbs.
Some of these photos are simple direct views of the harvest in the field, with vegetables and herbs dutifully lining up to be weighed and counted. In other photos the vegetables, herbs and flowers take center stage to tell their own unique stories, often revealing whimsical individual personalities and sharing the secret joys of life of the garden.
This exhibit is a departure from our typical showroom gallery, and will be displayed in our main hall, which will be fully accessible during standard Massabesic Center hours Wednesdays to Saturdays from 11am to 5pm. Meet the artist during our Art Walk in the Garden event on July 12th. Walt will be talking about his work with guests in the main hall exhibit area between 10:30am and 12:30pm.
Bio: Walt is a volunteer with the UNH Extension Master Gardener program and a resident of Manchester, New Hampshire. He is also a NH Audubon volunteer in the demonstration gardens at the Massabesic Center in Auburn, where he helps grow and harvest produce in the vegetable and herb gardens. He enjoys photographing the diversity and beauty of the natural world enhanced with an occasional dash of whimsical storytelling.