THIS IS THE MOST BRILLIANT WAY TO UPCYCLE!!!!

It might sound dramatic, but you've really changed my life. Here in Michigan, gardening has normally been a 4-5 month long opportunity. Now, I can do so much more than pour over seed catalogs all winter and chafe at the bit through the early spring. Now I can play all year! And everyone around me thinks I'm some kind of gardening expert. I've been able to establish two very large native gardens, which are now registered Monarch Way Stations, and I've introduced kids in the special ed programs at our school to WS and gardening in general. Trudi, you've done so much for so many, and it's just going to keep spreading. I hope you are blessed this season as we all have been blessed by you. Martha

Dave - A big thanks to you for hosting. Your work in progress is great! If I only had half the space you have. It was great seeing those I haven't seen in a while and meeting many new gardening friends. Thanks to everyone for making it such a great swap! I did volunteer, way back when, to host this falls swap. I'm in Champlin (northwest suburb of Mpls) just off hwy 169 and 109th, so pretty easy to get to. We can discuss a bit later in summer. Thanks again for such a great Saturday afternoon. Now to finish getting those new treasures in the garden. Sandy

This was our itinerary and we stuck to it pretty well. It all worked in that it kept us busy and going the whole time without a lot of driving in between. I think our longest straight drive was 2 hrs. Day 3, we lucked out and just caught up with a walking tour by a docent from the Museum of NM History which lasted 2 hours and he pointed out a nice place to have lunch inside an old hacienda. Day 4, after the horseback ride, we didn't feel a need to go back to chimney rock as we'd seen it on the horseback ride which was *fabulous*. But we did spend time hiking Plaza Blanca which was also incredible. Day 8, we hit Bandolier really early, before 8am so we had time to then hit Valles Caldera, which one of the wranglers at ghost ranch recommended. So glad we did and so glad we had a 4 wd vehicle which handled the 14 miles of dirt road just fine. And Day 8/9, Jemez springs, we didn't really "see" but drove through the canyon to stay at this little luscious place by the creek with a view, did a lot of relaxing and meditating, and got a couples massage (thank you mtnrd) before heading off to the airport to return home.