Gardening & Farming
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This morning I stopped by the The Trial Gardens at UGA for the open house. As always the plants are beautiful and unique. Even though it is a research garden, it is an inviting and peaceful place to relax in the midst of the busy campus. If you haven’t been there you really should stop…
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Composting is a fun and easy way to live a little greener and boost the nutrient value of your soil. Start with a compost bin. This can be stationary or rotating. The key is to periodically turn the materials inside to aid the decay process by providing oxygen. The more the bin retains heat and moisture, the…
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Last spring I had the opportunity to visit Holland when the tulips were blooming. It was beautiful! My journey began in Vienna. My husband gave me a single tulip. With the tulip along for the ride, we started our journey. The first stop was in western Austria. Not a tulip in sight but beautiful primroses.…
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While in Malta I had the opportunity to see several locally grown foods. I visited an eco-friendly family farm that grew tomatoes in a greenhouse. After growing season they sterilized the soil by flooding the greenhouse and allowing the heat of the sun to kill the pests. This farm, like most farms in Malta, is small.…
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Springtime in Georgia is magical. The wisteria winds through the trees along the roads and in wooded areas. It looks like a ribbon of purple intertwined among the trees. The sweet heady scent floats through the air. A thing of beauty to all but those with allergies and those who know how that wisteria is…
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Have the grasshoppers, beetles, ticks and other insects taken over your yard and garden? Get rid of them using a natural way – get Guineas! Back home on the ranch there are several Guineas that wander freely around the house and farm buildings and there are few, if any, grasshoppers. To keep the Guineas from…
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This past week I saw a cool green roof on the Pittsburgh Convention Center. I was in Pittsburgh for the Galaxy IV conference, which is a joint meeting of Extension Professionals. I was impressed with Pittsburgh. It is a nice city to visit and the green roof on the David L. Lawrence Convention Center (DLCC)…
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Driving through small villages in Austria and Germany I noticed that the farm houses are often attached to the barn where the cows, pigs, sheep and assorted other animals live. I grew up on a ranch, but our barn and the fragrances associated with it were a good distance from the house. I am not…
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Back home now after a fantastic trip to Europe! I learned so many things about housing, energy and sustainability at the conference and during my travels through France, Switzerland, Germany and Austria. Over the next several months I will continue to share with you the innovative and interesting things I saw and learned during my…
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I once had a boss who dismissed women as farmers and the importance of domestic history to agricultural history this slide show visually relates the importance of women to farming today and to agricultural history.