Scrap Hammered

Cereus Peruvianus

Yikes, I stepped out of the Blogosphere for a few days and come back only to find I’ve been thoroughly beaten with the Honest Scrap hammer by no less than three Blotanical members. Now if I have this correct there are so rules I’m supposed to abide by. Hmmm…Lets see.

1. Brag about the award.

2. Include the name of the blogger who bestowed the award on me and link back to the blogger.

3. Choose a minimum of seven (7) blogs that I find brilliant in content or design.

4. Show their names and links and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with Honest Weblog.

5. List at least ten (10) honest things about myself.

Okayyyy…First off…shucks, I sure appreciate the opportunity to come up with a post that doesn’t require as much thought as most posts do. In reality, I am honored that Wendy of Greenish Thumb, Jean P of Jean’s Garden and Sarah of Madblooms think enough of this blog to want to learn a little bit more about the author. One thing these three women have in common is a passion for horticulture, something that is very apparent in their gardening blogs. Not the horticulture that insists upon the correct latin but the hort that is the beauty and wonder of nature. Thanks ladies, very cool.

On to ten fact about me. Lets see if I can come up with stuff I haven’t already written about.

1. I grew up in next to my Grandmothers farm in Bristol WI. It is there that I first was introduced to growing plants for both food and pleasure. My parents had a large garden and canned much of the harvest. Both my parents and Grandmother had massive beds of mostly perennials. I don’t think they ever went to a nursery as plants were passed around the community from family to family.

2. The first plants I remember having were some Maple seeds I stuck in a pot at about age 6 and wonder it all they sprouted.

3. I arrived in the Fl. Keys in 1977 driving an old hippie van/telephone truck and lived in a camp ground for the first year, didn’t have to work thanks to being laid off, pulled unemployment comp., went spearfishing everyday and lived on lobster and brown rice prepared by lovely hippie chicks. Ahh, that was the life.

4. Reality hit and I went back to work, at a nursery and thus began a 20 some odd year career in the hort. trade.

5. Got tired of digging holes, employees, and using my tools. I was a softball coach for my daughters teams, became Pres. of Little League which led to my next career as the Exec. Dir. of a youth oriented nonprofit, a position I hold still today. Working with kids does keep you thinking young.

6. I took a 7 year hiatus from all things horticultural until falling for Liz. She was the owner of a wholesale nursery for a decade that she built from the ground up. My hort interest was renewed and most of our vacations revolve around visiting gardens where we play the latin name game.

7. I’m not a professor of anything. That is a nickname given me by a group of friends. This blog started a way to keep in contact with them, the blog languished, was revived as this garden blog and suddenly it was too late to change the name to something gardenish.

8. Liz doesn’t believe in blogging…at all. So it’s just little old me. She’s never read a single word and demanded that I take her picture off it. So be it, anything for harmony at home.

9. I do all the laundry…ALL OF IT.

10. I have been informed that what I deem blonde in my hair is indeed gray…but they are wrong.

As for passing this on, well I’m not much on this kind of thing. This meme has swept through Blotanical at a fever pace. It’s kinda fun but so many bloggers have been awarded this that I will just allow this branch of the Honest Scrap tree to end here and we can get back to garden blogging.