A Day with Janet Carson
Yesterday I failed to blog, because my camera card was full and I couldn’t take any pictures. I had a new card, but it was in the wrong purse. Yesterday was the annual Extension Homemakers Council’s annual conference in Hot Springs. They had concurrent sessions all day yesterday with their gala last night. Today was the last day of their conference. They hold this event every year in Hot Springs at the Convention Center. Julie and I were late getting home the night before from Eureka Springs, so it was a struggle to get up early and get to Hot Springs by 9:40 a.m. I had a large audience to come hear about propagating heirloom plants, and they had loads of questions. I also got to see several of my MG’s who are also EHC members. Afterwards I made it to the office to unload the youth gardening conference stuff.
This morning I left bright and early for Newport, for the 8th annual Day with Janet Carson. They have it every year at the community college, which is a very nice facility. In addition to talks on summer in the garden, garden inspirations from travel and the A,B, C’s of pruning by yours truly, the head of the horticulture program at the women’s prison spoke about their program, and Sabrina Childs from Ball Seed shared the new plant introductions from Ball Seed. The centerpieces are lovely dish gardens grown each year by the McPherson Women’s Unit. All attendees go home with one, plus loads of door prizes and a bag of riceland rice. It is always a packed house and a great event. There is interest in starting a MG program in Jackson County (Newport). Currently they have several MG’s who live in the county but they are affiliated with White County (Searcy). If you know of folks who live in the county and are interested in becoming a MG, have them contact the county office and talk with Randy.
Tomorrow I head to Monroe County (Clarendon) to talk with the district agent and county agents about starting an MG program there. Then Saturday is the herb workshop at Garvan Gardens. The weather has been lovely–lower humidity and nice cool temps in the morning. I just opened my bedroom windows for a cool night.
