The Master Garden's class yesterday was a field trip. We toured a farm museum in Cullman, Alabama.
The museum is still a working farm that works with school children from all over north Alabama. Kid come there to get a feel for what it was like back in the day. When an Angry Bird, was a rooster that would sink a spur a inch deep in the calf of your leg if he didn't like the way you wore your hat one morning when you went to gather eggs.
The farm also does demonstrations on how to milk cows, gather eggs, plough a field, chop wood, make sorghum syrup, and forge things with your hands in a blacksmith shop.
I've seen most of the stuff before but I was amazed, and very glad that these folks provide a window into our past for kids who would otherwise never understand what it was like before the Internet.
After the tour, we had a class from the local extension agent on the correct way to prune plants, trees and shrubs. I took so many notes, my pen ran dry.
Afterwards, we headed out to the Auburn University horticulture research center where we toured greenhouses, blueberry fields, and talked in depth about how to choose varieties of fruits and vegetables, that thrive in our area, to grow in our gardens.
One problem with general advice on gardening is that the rules are different based where you live. Because each area of the country is different. The types of soil, the amount of rainfall, the night temperatures, and the relative humidity and all that implies, a different depending upon where you live.
As the class stood in the fields with carpenter bees as big as mice buzzing about sucking sweet nectar from blueberries bushes, I heard the drone of a tractor in a distant field mowing crimson clover.
When the wind changed directions, the aroma of freshly mown grass drift close enough to taste, or so it seemed.
Standing there in the warm sunshine, smelling a piece of heaven and learning something important about the foods that we love to eat, it felt good to be alive.
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| Thunder Mug ~ The first Indoor Plumbing |
The farm also does demonstrations on how to milk cows, gather eggs, plough a field, chop wood, make sorghum syrup, and forge things with your hands in a blacksmith shop.
I've seen most of the stuff before but I was amazed, and very glad that these folks provide a window into our past for kids who would otherwise never understand what it was like before the Internet.
After the tour, we had a class from the local extension agent on the correct way to prune plants, trees and shrubs. I took so many notes, my pen ran dry.
Afterwards, we headed out to the Auburn University horticulture research center where we toured greenhouses, blueberry fields, and talked in depth about how to choose varieties of fruits and vegetables, that thrive in our area, to grow in our gardens.
One problem with general advice on gardening is that the rules are different based where you live. Because each area of the country is different. The types of soil, the amount of rainfall, the night temperatures, and the relative humidity and all that implies, a different depending upon where you live.
As the class stood in the fields with carpenter bees as big as mice buzzing about sucking sweet nectar from blueberries bushes, I heard the drone of a tractor in a distant field mowing crimson clover.
When the wind changed directions, the aroma of freshly mown grass drift close enough to taste, or so it seemed.
Standing there in the warm sunshine, smelling a piece of heaven and learning something important about the foods that we love to eat, it felt good to be alive.
Gardening is fun, exhausting and sometime frustrating. I'm glad I don't make my living growing food! I'm so grateful for our farmers in this country. I'm grateful for the local markets in the summer that help us eat organic and healthy. Your knowledge will come in very handy as you regrow so many trees that you lost. I hope all goes well! Sounds like a fun field trip! The porta-potty in your pic reminds me to also be grateful for inside plumbing that I don't have to empty! Oh, a side note...I have 2 nieces that graduated from Auburn...small world!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful day you had. I love the smell of freshly cut clover-there is nothing like the sweet smell of grass drifting on the air, is here? I so wish I had the time to do the master gardeners thing here- xo Diana
ReplyDeleteI too love that fresh smell of just having your lawn mowed...it does feel like a little piece of Heaven... Spring is on it's way :)
ReplyDelete"...carpenter bees as big as mice buzzing about sucking sweet nectar from blueberries bushes..." Now that is exquisite writing.
ReplyDeleteThanks all for your kind words. Spring has finally arrived here and we be sooooo happy.
ReplyDelete