Happy Earth Day!!

What a great day! I hope you are all enjoying this tree hugging, smelling the flowers, and picking up trash day. Currently it has been raining where I'm at, causing all of the dust that was blowing around earlier from the wind to settle and turn into mud.

Rain has always been enjoyable for me. It cleans the sky and waters the earth. This helps the plants but also raises the water table so the farmers can have water for irrigation in the summer. The fresh smell of the dirt and wet concrete rise up to meet the walkers after a rainfall, washing the earth and rejuvenating nature and myself.

I grew up in Idaho, where farming is still big. Idaho is also a desert, which some people wouldn't believe. But it's not the classic "sand covered horizon with cacti and lizards crawling on a rock" type. Southern Idaho from the West to the East is actually a Mountain Desert, known as Sagebrush Steppe. This desert is also in parts of Oregon, Northern California, most of Nevada, in parts of Wyoming, and Utah (from http://idahoptv.org/dialogue4kids/season8/forestsdesertswetlands/desertfacts.cfm). So the rain is always welcomed in Idaho. :)

Garden at Jane Austen's house in Chawton, England

Have you ever experienced different kinds of rains? Like the cold sleet that flies into your face in blustery wind or the soft pitter patter droplets that knock on the earthworms door. But my favorite kind of rain is the warm rain that falls during a warm night. Creating shiny droplets on the ground and in the sky like the stars.

This earth was given to us by God and His Son to enjoy and appreciate. Give thanks by doing a simple service for the earth by picking up the next piece of trash you see on the ground or plant some flowers or grow a garden!

I hope you will all be able to enjoy the plants around you and had a great Earth Day!

Floral Open House at BYU-Idaho

Designed by Group: Day 2, Jayci Anderson, Janae Squires, Hannah Elison, Angela Young, Chandra Bengtson, Meaghan Brown, and Sarah Fillmore.

Designed by Group: Day 2 team also

Designed by group: Day 1, Allyson Hatch, Nicole Panacek, Kayla Thomas, Danielle Driggs, Laura Rose Phelps, Samantha George, Mary Ann Stanger, and Kambrie Elison.

(More pictures to follow. Note: None of these are my work, they were all done by students in the APS department of BYU-Idaho University. They are here for inspiration and admiration, please credit the designs to them.)

As a whole
I loved attending this event! They did a marvelous job of creating different environments when the guests visited each room. Each had it's own sense of style and surprises. You can see the passion each student did. They had pieces of work made/designed by students from the Home and Family Department, Culinary department, and horticulture.

Welcome!

Crocuses in Hyde Park London, England

Dandelions scatter the backyard as a little girl gathers them for a bouquet. She runs from patch to patch of yellow, giggling as the sun shines her blonde curls.

I was just like this little girl, often playing in the backyard of my parent's house. I was surrounded by vegetation of all sorts: apple trees, vegetable garden, raspberry bushes, grapevines, Forsythia bushes, Tulips, Daffodils (also known as Jonquils) and Blue Spruces.

This was my colorful childhood; which led me to being an environmental guru.

I went on to take a class in Environmental Science during high school and participating in "Rake up Boise" (an event my local town runs where schools, churches, and local residents rake up the leaves for elderly or families in their neighborhoods) and other service projects where we would clean up our neighborhoods or plant gardens for families in my church. When I could be outside in the dirt or admiring flowers or climbing trees I would be there.

Eventually this love of horticulture got me involved with my undergraduate learning. I joined the Horticulture program at Brigham Young University-Idaho (now known as Applied Plant Sciences) to increase my education and learn more about these amazing creations we were given.

I hope to always have plants around me and a garden where ever I live if means allow it. I want to incorporate my love of writing, horticulture and dance in my life--bringing it to my family, friends and future work.

I hope you will enjoy my posts and join me in online conversations. Enjoy the plants around you!