The Big Pink …
After 13 weeks of instruction on everything from botany to bugs, I completed the Vermont Master Gardener course that I started last February. Now all I need to do to earn my certificate is complete 40 hours of volunteer work between now and December 2007. This should be a breeze, as I was lucky enough to find an approved project practically in my backyard.
The Justin Morrill homestead is in the middle of a renovation, which started a few years ago with the amazing—and very pink—gothic revival house, and now has moved on to restoring the beautiful gardens.
Justin Morrill was a successful storekeeper in Strafford, Vermont when he designed and built the house, but his prominence comes from his legislative accomplishments, and not his interest in architecture and landscape gardening. In 1857, while a U.S. Representative from Vermont, he became the chief sponsor of the Land Grant Act, which was to become the most important piece of educational legislation in the 19th century.
“The goal of this legislation was to create in each state a land grant college which would provide a liberal and practical education for farmers, mechanics, artisans and laborers. Inspired in large part by Morrill’s own lack of a formal education, these colleges were to teach courses in science, agriculture and engineering, in addition to the classics. The significance of this legislation was that it expanded American higher education to include practical training along with the classical studies traditionally offered only to clergymen, teachers, physicians and lawyers.” [source]
For the foreseeable future I will be volunteering my time helping to renovate the beautiful display and kitchen gardens at the former Senator’s beautiful—and very pink—homestead.
Garden Guru? …
When we moved to the house in Silver Spring, Maryland I was looking forward to taking classes at the Takoma Park campus of Montgomery College. Specifically I was interested in their Landscape Technology certificate program. However, that plan died when I realized that classes for the program were almost exclusively taught at the Germantown campus, 25 miles away, and not at the campus three blocks away from our home.
I mention this because our recent house-hunting has given me the itch to get out of this flat and back to gardening. I have also been thinking about taking classes again, so I was very pleased when my friend Ann passed on a link to the Vermont Master Gardener program at the University of Vermont extension. The program is a little different than the Landscape Technology certificate, but it is a nice first step for me to get back into being a student. Plus I like that the program is designed to create a network of volunteers to help in their communities.
If I adjust to being a student again, I may look into Vermont Technical College’s Landscape Development and Ornamental Horticulture program. For now I will try my hand learning about turf, weeds, entomology, plant pathology, soils, woody ornamentals, perennials, annuals, applied pest management, invasive plant control, vegetables and landscape design. The last two being of the most interest to me.
I still have to drive 25 miles to get to the classes in Randolph, but 25 miles in Vermont is a pleasure compared to the hell that is DC/Maryland traffic.
Wish me luck.
Spring is Sprung! …
We’ve been busy. Busy with work, extra work, travels, The Plan, dog(s), friends, and all the other joys that life has to offer. And in case you hadn’t noticed, we haven’t been that great about updating. But since we had time to put in our garden on Sunday, we thought we’d share. It doesn’t look like much now, but there’s here’s a huge batch of garlic, some broccoli, two types of lettuce, chard, cucumbers, tomatoes, and a variety of herbs. The only thing missing is the peppers section, which will be put in place in a few weeks, after it warms up. We’re hoping the garden won’t take too much supervision this year….as long as we can keep Haley out of it.
We’ve Made Our Beds …
After a long winter of doing indoor projects, it feels so good to get outside and dig in the dirt! Spring is here! It’s time to garden! Time to plant seeds, and pull weeds! Oh yeah, good old Mother Earth is gonna give up the goods, all we got to do is give her a stage for the performance.
Trouble is, the old stage had seen better days.
It is time for some new digs. A nicer place to raise our little urban vegetable crops. Time to celebrate the first days of spring by building new raised garden beds to replace the tired old rotting ones that we inherited when we bought the house. The old beds may have great soil in them, but the wood had seen better days.
With a little help from Sears, Home Despot, HGTV (natch), and Rick’s dad’s pickup, we are building two new garden beds and removing three old ones. We have pre-assembled all the parts for two identical beds, and we completed the first bed today. It is a lot of work, but it sure is fun too.
We’ve made our beds, now it’s time to grow stuff in them.