Garden talk in the middle of winter

A couple of you may have already gotten the following in email. Why the hell RETYPE it and try to make it sound excitingly different when I'll just be saying the same thing for those that didn't get the email!? So I'm cheating and pasting it here.

Yesterday was the 8th Annual Gardening Symposium, sponsored by the Beech Creek Botanical Garden & Nature Preserve, with this year's theme "Cultivating the Green Life." The event is held at the amazing R.G. Drage Career Center in Massilon, OH... I went two years ago with Mary and Cindy from work, and we skipped last year (it's not the cheapest event, plus similar topics to the year before). This year Mary convinced me we both needed a serious hit of garden time in the middle of winter. Cindy's no longer here, but Mary's aunt expressed interest in joining us. Here's the flyer if you're interested in seeing the class/workshop/lecture offerings.

The garden symposium was fun, and, surprisingly, we didn't spend too much. I spent $8 at the vendors. And I actually took something like $70 with me. But realize, it was more a series of lectures/workshops which we'd already paid for, lunch (again, already paid for) and then a small area of venders. I bought two small scented geraniums - one apple, one lemon - $4 each. I was TEMPTED to buy a big bag of worm castings, but resisted. Got a handful of packs of free (year old) seeds - peppers, cukes, pumpkins, marigolds, etc. Plenty of reading material to go along with notes we took in the sessions, plus recipes, URLs to check, etc.

The "French without Fuss" was hosted by a very gay (but entertaining and educational) guy from one of the popular local (altho not Kent/Rootstown-local - more out where Brett's parents live) grocery store chains, Buehlers. His little stuffed-phyllo bites (cream cheese, gruyere (spelling's blanking on me), mushrooms, curry, etc were great. The brie, chicken and spinach soup was pretty good, altho a touch salty (at least I didn't mind the brie - whenever I've tasted just the cheese, I hate it). The coq a vin (sp?) was DRYYYY with boneless skinless chicken breast (which he warned us about - saying normally it should be made with cut-apart chicken with the bones, skin, etc - but when cooked ahead for the workshop, boneless is easier), and the wines in it were too strong. And then the kick ass dessert - a no-bake chocolate "cake" (more like a cross between mousse and fudge, as he described it) with 8 eggs, lotsa butter, etc, and then it had a spritz of whipped cream in a can (I know, I know) and a freshly made raspberry coulis (sp?) - just raspberries, lemon juice and sugar, pureed and strained of seeds. I tell ya - I was about to lick the rest of that with the choc smears and whipped cream off the plate!!!!

We had a propogation workshop where we got to get our fingers dirty - they showed us planting seeds, dividing, taking cuttings, etc - nothing new or hard, but hey, we get new plants out of it! ;-) I made sure one of the transplants I brought home was catnip for the cats...which they haven't found yet. This course was hosted by the wonderful owners of Lily of the Valley Herb Farm, in Minerva OH. I wish they had a web site. The husband does all sorts of wonderful teachings, and is an excellent instructor. He and his wife were obviously hippies in the 70s - there was even reference to him growing stuff that's not legal now... ;-)

The keynote was all about how American's have moved so far from their heritage they don't realize they practically have a meal in their yards, with everything we consider "weeds", spraying them when we could be eating them... This guy also makes a coffee-replacement with dandelions - Dandy Blend. (Ugh, awful site!) His lecture was VERY educational and entertaining, and I wish I would've had him as a botany instructor years ago (especially since some of his students got to go to England to see a more natural way of living off've the environment)

Another very educational, but not as entertaining, lecture was the one on soil structure. Every time I use my tiller (and I WILL use my tiller) I'll feel guilt about not necessarily doing the right thing to improve my soil structure. Hey - I'm the first to admit I go for the quick fix on stuff, and tilling isn't necessarily the best choice...

The "get butterflies into your backyard" lecture was awful, with a weird couple that sort of competed with each other to talk about how they're planting all these local/native plants in their yard, with no grass as far as I could tell. Weirdos. But they showed some cool pics and a great video of a monarch undergoing transformation.

I wish I had pics from the event to show, but no such luck. Maybe I'll show pics of my growies from the propogation workshop as they grow and develop!

I think I need to go play with my seeds packs and start some new growies!