I rather like to think of myself as a gardener. I thoroughly enjoy planning flower beds and going to plant nurseries to see what wonderful specimens that I have never seen before. I like reading gardening books and browsing web sites for the perfect plant companions and thinking about where they could go in my own flower beds. I have a list of plants and trees in my head that I will own one day when I have more room. I enjoy walking through the local arboretum and trying to name the plants without looking at their markers. Yeah, I know how to have a good time.

And while I have learned a lot about gardening in general, I have so much more to learn. I want to know more about the soil and how to best prepare it to grow organic flowers and veggies. I want to know the best time to plant and harvest. I want to learn more about native plants, rain gardens and sustainable gardening. This is why I applied for and was thankfully selected to participate in the Master Gardener program with the Fayette County Extension office. Tomorrow I will attend the orientation class and then, starting September 9th, I will begin the regular class that goes a few hours a day, two days a week for ten weeks.  Completing the course does not automatically make me a master of all things in the garden. I have to take a final exam and then volunteer for up to 40 hours to get that prestigious title.

The process to get in the program was competitive and I wasn’t sure that I would make the cut considering I’m more of a computer geek with no formal training at all in things of nature. I’m glad that they gave me a break though and am excited to start the classes. I have to admit, I haven’t done a great job of keeping my flower beds in shape this summer. I guess I can always offer up a place to do weed identification if that is needed.

Side note: Whenever I think of myself as a Master Gardener, Star Wars pops in my head and I chuckle. This explains the title of this post and also warns everyone that I will refer to myself as Jedi Master Gardener when the time comes.

Share/Save

Related posts:

1. family I spent this last weekend visiting my family. It is always nice to go home for a few days. The...
2. home. I wanna have pride like my mother has, And not like the kind in the bible that turns you bad....

I have already mentioned how I have started planning my trip to Alaska and, although there are no definite plans there yet, I feel pretty confidant that I will be able to make those happen within the next year or so and I’m putting that on my underway area of the list.

Next on the list was the desire to sew my own curtains and shopping bags and today I ordered my very first sewing machine from Overstock.com! I’m really excited about it and I got a great deal. It is refurbished but the reviews were great and the price was right so now I await its arrival and then I plan on taking a sewing class.

Number 6 on that list was to build a compost bin and to acquire rain barrels. Check and check! I got an email from my awesome friend Terri yesterday and she had found an amazing deal on rain barrels on Craigslist and wanted to know if I wanted in on the deal. Of course I said YES, especially since they were about half the cost of ones I had seen other places, and then I dropped by her house to give her the money for them. She is going to detour by and pick them up for both of us on her way back from a family reunion this weekend. I hope she doesn’t have trouble with four rain barrels strapped to the top of her wagon!

While I was at her house she also gave me some plastic mesh that she had left over from when she built her compost bin and tonight John and I ran to Lowe’s to pick up some stakes for the corners and put together our very first compost bin. We are really excited about this and I think I can now check off #6 as complete!

The other two things that I have spent some time on but that still need some major work is the biking to work and the focus on shopping local. I have taken my bike out a few times and rode to the store but I till have not made it fully to work. I’m still trying to figure out the logistics of getting all my stuff there and trying to decide what I may need to buy to make that easier. I need to investigate this a little more and I’m sure I will need to come up with a little bit of cash somewhere to get what I need. As for shopping local, I have been going to the farmers market on Sundays and trying to buy as much as I can there and then trying to find the Kentucky grown products at the Good Foods Coop when I can as well. I know I can improve on this but I feel pretty good about my success here so far.

I’m enjoying this todo list thing. I really like checking things off and seeing progress that I have made so this works well for me. I think putting this out here for others to read makes me more accountable too. It’s a good thing!

Share/Save

Related posts:

1. Jedi garden tricks I rather like to think of myself as a gardener. I thoroughly enjoy planning flower beds and going to plant nurseries to...
2. Home and beyond If you have been following along on our grand road trip here, you may be wondering where we are since...
3. series: things I want to do in this life – part 1 I woke up this morning full of wonder, wanderlust and excitement about all the things I haven’t done and seen...