HAPPY NEW YEAR

To all of my fellow Georgia Gardeners, wishing you a joyful, bountiful 2011. Annette

Hi Annette, Happy New Year and Happy Gardening to you too. Becky

Hi, I just joined last week, and still looking around all the sites, it is amazing, I can sit here for 4 hours and not get bored. To all the Georgia gardeners, happy gardening in 2011. How do you find some flower shows or different places people meet for swaping or just comparing notes? I am a cook and gardener, so I can bring some good food. Thanks

I also just joined, and I agree, I spend hours in the different forums getting great information. I love gardening and cooking as well. Happy New Year to you Kiseta, hope our fellow GA gardeners will teach us newbies more about GA gardening.

Happy New Year and welcome. I'm sure we'll wake up when the weather improves. :) So nice of you newbies to take the initiative to say "Hi!".
Laurel

Happy New Year to all and happy gardening for the New Year. I've been gone for a while, just too little time to do what I wanna do!!
Hope all are well and healthy and welcome to the newbies.
Coby

Happy New Year to all.

Elaine

Hi, Elaine. I've missed you but have the beautiful dried hydrangea blooms on the hearth to remind me of you. Maybe you need a trip to the mountains come Spring or early Summer? I'd be open for a redo at Maypop if anyone else is. It's still early to plan anything. Just sayin....
L

Would love it!!
Donna in south Georgia(Douglas) is also planning to get a round up together.
I has been cold and rainy here. Lots of fires in the fireplace..

It's not likely we'll ever get to an out of town Spring RU because the veggie garden, property clean up and road work take up all our time during that period. Also I have to get a beast sitter. If there was something in the Atlanta to N. GA area we could do it or it's easy to host a day and then get back to work. It would be a different story if we were at Maypop all the time.

Hi Everyone! Special Hello to our Newbies! Ive been out of Computer world for a while, Holidays and all. Then back to work just in time for monthly, Quarterly, end of year and board reports..... eeeeeeeyuck!! So here I am for a quick visit to see what is cookin for the Spring roundups. Since im in the middle (mostly) of the State either direction would be fine for me. Although ......MayPop was very spectacular last year ....Hint Hint!!!

Yes, it was. Would love another one.

Maybe it is a dumb question, but what is a Round up, and can anybody come, what are you doing there, Iam a newbee, so forgive me.

A round-up is when we get out and get all those cows... I mean, plants together. Then we meet and swap what we have for what we want. Then we talk, talk, talk. And eat a little too. Have lots of fun...
There is a forum for this if you go and look under communities.
Welcome to the Georgia forum,
Elaine

Thank you , Elaine, I have ordered a lots of seeds this year, and I can cook and bake, I cook for a church for about 80, my talk is with a Hungarian eccent, so I guess I can come and fit in. Sounds like fun.
Etelka

Well, if you can cook and bake,,,, that's more than enough to join us.. lol!!
So you are from Hungary?

EFGeorgia1, I am from north part of Serbia, but from Hungarian parents. When my dad was born, it was Hungary, by the time I was born after II ww, the borders changed. I am in this country for 41 years and in Georgia since 1984, so I feel like a Hungarian -Georgia girl. I get very homesick, because all my sisters and a brother are in Serbia, but we keep in touch with Skype, very cheap telephone system. I am glad to hear from some of the local gardeners, hope to meet with you all in the Spring. Etelka

I missed Donna's post but saw it last evening. We would not be able to do anything until very late Spring or Summer anyway. There's always Fall too. I'm game. With our back-in-the woods access and small cottage, a mini-RU is better than a huge shindig.

Etelka, my grandparents were from Austria; the city of Stanislaus. It became Hungary, then Russia and now Poland. My grandfather spoke four languages and used to say that it wasn't until he and his brothers walked through the woods and saw the flag on schoolhouse flagpole that they knew which country they were in and what language to speak.
Laurel

Etelka, welcome to DG Georgia Gardening. I'm sure you will feel welcome here. I've been a DG memebr since 2007 and not here ( at DG) that often, but they all are still nice to me and help me out when I have gardening questions. I'm from the Netherlands so all gardening is VERY different but I felt right at home here.

Laurel, that story is crazy! Its,s fun but also sad in a way. To grow up "being" different nationalities, austrian first, then hungarian, then russian etc etc. I bet your parents and grandparent had a lot of amazing stories.

Love to see you all in a RU again. Are "we" planning to go to Douglas and see Donna??? That means sleep overs though, that's a long drive.
Coby

Hi again, I am grateful that someone replies to my post, most of the the Georgia members are around Atlanta area, I don't do Atlanta, last time I was there for my citizenship, 12 years ago. My fingers where purple by the time I got home from driving in the trafic. Enyway, my father was a very good gardener, out of the 4 kids, I am the only one interested to continue. He was a organic gardner, believed in camposting, and know how to graft trees, but also loved flowers to. When he found out he had cancer ( in the '80s) he bought 100 bushes of roses and that kept him alive for 9 years, he was happy in the garden. That is why I still remember him in the rose garden, when I last visited him in 1983. He did't like corn bread, he said they ate enough of that trough the 2nd WW, when nobody planted the wheat. We raised apricots, and plums, vegetables and a few strawberries. Us four children are gratful for a good father, becouse our mother died when she was 42, and he left to raise us by himself. We always wonder how did he raise us without spanking, or runing us out of the house, we where some rough kids. With his 3 years of schooling, he believed in education for his children. I get misty thinking about him, his birthday is coming up, he would of been 96.














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Welcome newbees, and hello oldies, or should I say betters.I am so looking foward to meeting everyone again this (New Year), and am ready for a RU, and yes, I'm nuts because of this white tundra.This is a first, for me in the south, no never saw this before.
The Atlanta area seems to have been hit worse, than Danielsville.I haven't got my winter sowing out yet, and have promised two people some dug plants, their comming.
A most hardy welcome to cooks. You are in demand, and I look foward to see you both, for the first time. Mike

Hi Coby. Thought you jumped ship after not hearing from you about the last RU. I have "spoken" to Donna who told me to move forward with plans. As I already posted I could not host anything large, and not until after Spring, which is when I think she was considering hosting. The state is so large that not everyone can travel to the different possible options. Since Donna has a plant business, and is in the DG marketplace, I suggest if she is wanting to do a RU in Spring she should so ya'll can get lots of cool plants from her and trades from others. Here's her site http://www.vincentgardens.com so be sure to visit. Then I can do a smaller one a few months later. If Donna can't do it, or folks have a problem getting to her, those who'd like can come on up to me later on.

Kiseta, Donna is way down in south Georgia and I host mine at our cottage in the N. Georgia mountains. She probably would be easier for you to reach but if I do a RU you are certainly welcome. I think most posters these days are not from Atlanta. About your dad...it's forever hard to bear the loss of parents we were close to. Be thankful you loved him so much as to feel the loss so deeply.

Mike, we have been snowed in since Monday and still can't get to the top of our driveway on foot let alone in a car. Tomorrow may be possible but it might take until Saturday which is going to make every retail place in the city insane. I'm counting on you for some pickles if I host and maybe you can drag the DW along this time.
Laurel

Hi Laurel, I think I can do the Ga mountains, closer to the East Ga. We went to Dillard and that area, it was nice, long as I don't have to drive trough Atlanta. I will start planting my seeds last of Feb. and in 8 weeks I should have something to trade and share. Thanks a lot for writing. Etelka (that is my Hungarian name)

Etelka, if we are able to host, we will not be doing anything until at least June and maybe later. Perhaps Donna will check in here or you should go to her thread where she made the invitation on this forum if you and others are interested in something for Spring. We'll continue to talk about when we can get together. We are not as far north as Dillard, but that's not too far from us.

Etelka,
interesting information about your family. And your dad never spanked ya'll?? not even a swat? lol (laughing out loud) I love the growing organically. I bet he grew some good tomatoes. Wish I had one right now...
Elaine

Hi Elaine, my dad grew some good tomatoes, I remember when we where little he asked us how would we know that the tomatoe is ripe at night. finnaly he told us the ripe tomatoe stays warm in the dark, the green would cool of . We could hardly wait to get dark that night so we can see if he is wright. He was. We never had a trash service, we used up all the vegt. cutting in the campost pile, the bottles we collected for jam and canining,in beer bottles we used to put away the cherries in the brandy, paper we used to start fire in the morning, and all the left overs, which it was not to much of , we fed a pig from April till Dec. Usualy we had a pig 300 lb by the first week in Dec. and we made our own sasauge,ham and all the rest of the good stuff. I could live like that again, but I want my washer and dryer, at home it was the wash tub and clothes line.

Lauren, no I haven't jumped ship. Just have not made time to sit at computer this year. After I came back from Holland after my father's passing, I was very very tired, and I was shocked to find it so hot . It took a lot out of me. It was nice and warm when I left (early May). A lot of yard was in desperate need of attention. On top of all this my DH got laid off just prior to me rushing to Holland, soooooo. There was too much going on. He still hasn't found something new but is busy, has some interviews but...

I have begun WS. Never done it but every one is raving about it, so I thought I'd give it a try. We'll see. I hope that yard will look a bit better this year, I'm planning to give it my full devotion!

Etelka, my grandpa/grandma did the same with the hogs. They had chickens/roosters too. And grew all kinds of vegetables and fruit in Florida.
That's interesting about the tomatoes...
Tulip.. sure hope hubby finds work.
hugs,
Elaine

You guys are bringing back memories. My grandparents live on a farm in Jamaica, and had hogs that we used to get a thrill feeding despite the smell of the pen. They also grew fruits and veggies which the family ate and sold, and slaughtered their chickens, cows, and hogs for food. The was no garbage service, everything was recycled somehow, and the home got electricity and running water during my lifetime, as well as a built on kitchen. Before that, it was going to the well for water, cooking outside on an open fire, and a outdoor potty:-). Aahhhh, the good old days. Our kids don't know how good they have it. TulipLady, I'm also winter sowing for the first time so we can commiserate on our successes and failures. Annette

Annette,
My grandparents had the same.. I can still remember the good smell of that well water that we pumped and having to prime it. Good memories.
Having to hop up and go the outhouse at night not so good. LOL
Of course my parents lived in town so we had indoor plumbing...

Wonderful stories to read. Thanks everyone for sharing. Maypop has a lot of these self-sustaining qualities...spring fed water, wood heat, everything composted or recycled, a garden grown mostly from heirloom, open-pollinated seeds and even my outdoor solar shower. We have to haul water from the cistern when the power is gone, sometimes for days in the snowy weather, cut and split our wood and cook much of our food on the outside fire pit even though I have all the amenities indoors. I've done the outhouse thing and won't revisit the joys of trudging out across a snowy field, past the angry rooster and the horny stallion to make it to the two holer with Chevy Cavalier hubcap decor and a Sears catalog for reading. I suspect that the previous sentence was severely run on. Anyhoo, by the time I got there I forget the why of it.

As for Jamaica, I'd much rather live rustically there while eating flying fish, goat curry and listening to Anansi stories. Now that's a good life and reminds me I have a goat leg in the freezer to make a curry stew. Now Jamaican Independence Day is not until August, and this is a favorite dish for those of us who share the celebration, but it's a very good time to pretend it is August.
Laurel

Ah,, Jamaica sure sounds nice right now....

Laurel, you're making me hungry, but I've never had flying fish, just snapper, parrot, or goat fish. The spiny lobsters are also amazing. The best is freshly caught off the coast at Hellshire Beach, cooked the same day, with some festival, and enjoyed while sitting on the beach sipping coconut water :-). EFGeorgia, you're right, Jamaica would be great right now, considering the frigid weather we've experienced this week. Looking forward to the Spring meltdown. Annette