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Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum
The boys and I have spent the week in Tennessee visiting family. Today we went to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum. I loved all the details on the old engines, from the peeling paint of the retired ones to the shiny wheels and lights of the restored ones. The boys were pretty cranky, but that didn’t slow down my picture-taking fun. Scooby loves trains, so he was pretty quick to correct our terminology and point out which ones were like…
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White Deer Park Rainwater Cisterns
After several posts on my home water cistern, I thought it would be fun to share what White Deer Park in Gardner is doing with rainwater. White Deer Park was built on land with its roots in agriculture, so they chose to have their cisterns resemble silos and built structures with lean-to roofs. Their picnic shelters all have cisterns to capture runoff. I’m not sure what most of them are used for, but one of these feeds into a hand…
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Would a rainwater cistern save you money?
Once you start down the green road, it’s pretty easy to get hyped about conservation – soil, water, building supplies, energy, savings. You would assume a rainwater cistern for watering your garden would save you money. This could be true, but depending on the size of your garden, the frequency of use and the cost of your system, it might actually take a very long time to see those savings. The Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department at North Carolina State…
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What is a "Last Frost Date" and why should you care?
When I started gardening, there was one phrase I starting noticing on every seed packet: last frost date. Another one I heard almost as often was: last killing frost. I wasn’t sure what exactly the difference was and who exactly determined that date. The Farmer’s Almanac defines frost in the following terms. Light freeze:29°F to 32°F—tender plants killed, with little destructive effect on other vegetation.Moderate freeze:25°F to 28°F—widely destructive effect on most vegetation, with heavy damage to fruit blossoms and…
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Did you forget to start seeds indoors?
If you live in the Southeast, no doubt you’ve been bit by the Spring bug. You can’t go to a grocery store without seeing displays of plants for sale. The Farmer’s Markets are starting to buzz again and seeing all the fresh produce might make you want to get your hands dirty. Yet, what’s that? You forgot to start your seedlings two months ago? That’s right. Some of us gardening crazies started planting our tomatoes and pepper 8 – 10…
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Too Much Water in the Garden?
It is raining again. The cistern is completely full, the French tile drain is at capacity, and everything goes squish when stepped on. There is more rain the forecast for tonight and tomorrow. Our garden sits on a small plateau that seems to retain water. Two days ago I dug out a dead hibiscus to discover standing water at the bottom of the hole and a big fat spider. Currently all the paths are under water, which first blew my…
