Field Day Event

The final activity I did for my fruit exploration project was to attend the Field Day at the teaching garden! This wasn't one of the activities I originally planned to do; I wanted to try two new fruits, but it turns out, I've had a lot of fruits! However, I'm so glad it worked out the way it did because I had a great time. 


I walked over to the garden from Fifield Hall right at 4 p.m., so the first table I came across was a flower table. I didn't take any since my roommate's cat likes to poke around at things a lot (I think he pushed over my other roommate's aloe plant at the beginning of the year) but it was a nice way to start the event! 

Next, I came across a blueberry table. I filled a container with blueberries, and the people giving them out were so nice and friendly, and told me to take a lot. 

Walking more towards the pavilion, there was a table where they had lots of pickled things, as well as some carrots and potatoes. I was interested in all the different things they pickled, but since I don't like pickles I figured I'd leave it to people who would enjoy it instead of trying something that I'm fairly certain I wouldn't like. Even though I don't like pickles, I did get some cucumber water by the pavilion and it was so refreshing!

There were a lot of education tables under the pavilion representing different programs. Since I'm graduating and not going to grad school, most of it didn't really apply to me, but I did chat with the woman at the soil, water, and ecosystem sciences table. I learned that people in Gainesville can pay $10 and the program will test their water for them and give them a report on its quality. I got to test the pH of bottled water, distilled water, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and bleach. I was most surprised to see that the waters both had pHs around 4; I was expecting it to be around 7. In high school, I was supposed to do water quality testing in AP Environmental Sciences, but that unit got canceled when we went online for Covid, so this was a neat experience for me. 

Down by where we saw the muscadines in class, there was a table with blueberries and peaches. I only took a few blueberries and a peach, since I still had some blueberries from the table at the beginning, but I did pick some myself as well in this area.

Finally, on my way out, I walked past a U-pick onion area. I kind of wanted to dig an onion, but I don't do much cooking and couldn't think of a dish that I would use onion in soon, so I decided to leave the onions for others. 

I had a great time at the field day. I loved learning at the water quality testing table and getting some fruits to take home with me!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Strawberry Plant Project

Image
 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...
Read more

Botanical Garden Visit

Image
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 ...
Read more

Farmers Market

Image
 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 ...
Read more