Fruit Exploration and Reflection Activities

 Hello! Today I'll be sharing my experience visiting the teaching garden at UF!  The first fruit that we talked about was muscadines. Being from Kansas, I'd never heard of muscadines before. I wish I would still be in Florida by the time they are in season! I also saw blackberries in this area! At first I thought they were raspberries because of the color since I've never seen a blackberry plant before. I had a lot of fun seeing the blueberries! They brought back memories of when I went berry picking with my mom and brother when I was little. Even though we live in an area that wasn't part of the blueberry region we learned about, there was still a u-pick blueberry patch about 45 minutes from our house that we went to each summer. When we went picking we never learned about the different phases of blueberries, from when they are green and red to when they are dark blue.  Another crop I've seen on a farm before is sunflowers! Sunflowers are the state flower of Kansas...

 Week 1 Welcome to my strawberry plant blog! My plant’s home is on a small table on my eastern-facing balcony. The biggest pro of this location for my plant is that it is outside. Unfortunately my apartment does not have any south-facing windows, but the balcony faces east, which is the second-best orientation for plants to get sunlight. I also believe that this is a better location for my plant than a window facing the same direction that gets more direct sunlight because my apartment is cold and my roommate has a cat that could interfere with it indoors. However, there is a con to my balcony. The balcony is set into the building instead of protruding out, which means that it is shaded when the sun is directly overhead. Despite this, I know plants can do well in this location because my roommate has a small potted herb garden. I am already seeing some growth after the first week! It looks like my balcony being shaded isn't inhibiting the plant from growing. Week 2 My plant is stil...

On March 3, my friend and I went to the Kanapaha Botanical Garden in Gainesville. We were surprised to see that a lot of areas had been cut back and there wasn't much in bloom. Despite this, we still had a nice time wandering the garden.                    Although much of the areas had been cut back, I did see some plants. All of the bamboo around the garden was standing tall, and I learned about different varieties. Being from Kansas, I don't see bamboo often, and I had never heard of Heavenly Bamboo, which I learned isn't actually bamboo at all.  The bamboo forest habitat was thriving, and I really enjoyed walking through it. There were a few flowers that were in bloom. The first one I came across was the daffodils, which I was familiar with because my mom grows them in our garden back home. They smelled so good! There were pockets of camellias throughout the garden. I'm not sure if I've seen them in person before, but I've ...

 I visited the Haile Plantation Farmers Market on February 22. I've been to the farmers market in my hometown many times and the Haile market once before, in the fall. Even though it was a colder morning, there were still a lot of people wandering around.  All the sellers were under pop-up tents, but I saw a few different marketing tactics used. Some had colorful tablecloths and signs in the tent. Others had sidewalk signs or clipped smaller signs to the front of their tents.  Besides tomatoes, I didn't see many fruits, but there were a lot of leafy vegetables. I also saw other farm products, including eggs, meat and honey. Some stalls were serving food, and my friend and I both got empanadas (which were very good!). There were also a couple of stalls selling other homemade items, like hair clips.  The tents selling fruits and vegetables covered their tables with their products. Some of the tents selling food offered free samples to draw people in.  In addition ...