Carolyn,
Well I certainly hope you were not thinking I was disparaging your lifetime of experience. I come from a long line of horticultural families, unfortunately my parents did not carry one their families traditions and were totally industrialized. But I was growing things as long as I could remember, but being the stubborn cuss I was as a kid I never asked for help and did the trial and error method. It is a real shame too, as my uncle was a fairly well regarded grower. He was raised on the farm and when he took a city job he immediately purchased aside lot next to his home. I don’t recall there ever being store bought canned goods in that home. And when he retired he dedicated himself to tilling the soil. He died before it ever occurred to me I should have just apprenticed under him. So a lifetime of experience just passed when he did. I certainly hope you and Dill have horticultural biographers who are diligently interviewing you and recording not only the hard core horticultural details but the cultural changes you have seen over time as it relates to growing.
It is a real shame how younger generations allow treasure troves of knowledge to slip from their hands. I just turned 50 and after reflecting back on my life I see a lot of things I am going to take to me grave with me, no one has the interest (non-horticultural things).
It amazes me how many of the discoveries of each generation are simply rediscoveries of thing the previous generation or more likely the one before new and simply were not passed on only to be “rediscovered”.
Well, it has finally stopped raining so I need to harvest my sour cherries, thin my apples and bag them, thin my pears, peaches, plums and plant my last block of corn and replant my pole beans as the rabbits ate all of them (they took out my egg plants too).
Kindest regards,
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