As a longer term person at this forum, and also someone who does this professionally for a living, I think I can say that there need be no fear in posting with 'newbie' questions, for fear of being shot down. It is a courtesy of sorts to reply/thank the people who do respond to your questions, or at the least respond to their comments in subsequent posts, rather than do a "driveby posting", and never be heard from again. I tend to respond to those postings that appeal to me, rather than answer ones that don't, and especially like responding to posters who show they have done some research already, rather than posting something obvious that they could easily get answers to if they only did a search before they asked the question. I think the antagonism towards newbie posters is mostly directed at those who seem to want someone to provide a free design for the entire garden, rather than ask specific questions about a design consideration, or comments on something they are considering, or simply seeking feedback on an idea. The open endedness of "Please design my backyard for me" is less appealing to someone who does it for a living and gets paid for it, and less interesting than helping someone through their design approach after they have made a first effort at it, at least to me. I'm sure we all have have little idiosyncracies about what strikes our fancy on this forum, and what prompts us to reply, so take this with a grain of salt. It is interesting to see Laag's perspective on why he posts in this forum; to sharpen his communication skills, and it shows. I'd say that my motivation is more about loving what I do, and feeling that I have the gift of being able to really visualize space, and knowing, growing and loving the plant part of design and being able to suggest appropriate plants for the abilities of the potential client. I am quite sure that my expertise is better suited to those posters who garden in California, West Coast and Arizona/Florida, as these are climates with which I am familiar in working professionally. I especially enjoy it when I have suggested something new to the OP, and they further research it and then post about it. This is the "sharing" part of this forum that I find particularly interesting. I also know that it would be a lot more visually interesting if I were one of the ones who posts photos on line of their work, or of the plants that I suggest, but find this a bit too much work on a forum that doesn't respect the control of original content, and appropriates the rights to such postings to themselves. It would seem that I'm not the only one to feel this way, as the few professional designers who would regularly post photos of their projects, such Michelle in Zonal Denial, is one who specifically stopped posting because this forum changed their control of images and content position. As few other designers on this forum have ever posted photos of their own work here, it would be interesting to hear their reasons, as well. I think I can speak for most of the other professionals on this forum, when I say that few are using this as a springboard to getting new clients, and more in the nature of sharing opinions and giving advice, so there is no bias or competition in what gets posted.

Hi everyone! I thought I'd update all of you who have taken those trips down memory lane. I have received more information from the directors about what decades are going to be on what day. Here's what I've decided to do so far: Tuesday: (50's and 60's) I'm still at a loss! I think the loom potholders are going to be too expensive to do with 150 people and I can't find anything super cheap to tie dye. I might check with the directors to see if they have decided on shirts yet and if not, maybe they can go with white and we will tie dye them. What kinds of things did you decopage? Wednesday: (70's and 80's) There were so many good ideas, I had a hard time deciding. However, I was on the Hobby Lobby website the other night and saw that they had candle making supplies for 50% off so I went and got wax and wicks for 150 candles. I also had the kids at school save me their milk cartons for a couple days to use for the molds. We will make the crushed ice candles with these using old crayons for the coloring. I'm also wanting to do something with shrinky dinks and possibly pet rocks if we have time. (What did you do with the shrinky dinks? Jewelry?) Thursday: (90's) I'm planning to do perler bead keychains and pony bead animals. I hated those things, but the kids seemed to love them. Friday: (present) We always make a picture frame, so I'm going to make them out of clear CD cases. We will probably put a piece of cardstock in and stamp around the edges, then cut the picture to fit in the middle. To make it stand, you open the case, and bend the case back as far as it will go without breaking. You put the black part on the table and the clear part stands up. If anyone comes up with answers to my questions, please let me know. Thanks! Beada P.S. I'm sorry you hated Girl Scout Camp! I happen to be directing a Girl Scout Day Camp a week from Monday, so if you aren't doing anything, feel free to stop by. We are going to be doing FUN things with our "It's Great to be a Girl" theme like making our own bubble bath, bath salts, flip flops, headscarves, and purses and other things like cooking, watersliding, yoga, songs and games, fishing, and shopping at our trading post. Look for all the girls wearing pink T-shirts. Let me know if you need directions! LOL

Wow, that is quite a garden! I went nuts the first couple of years we lived here. With 2.5 acres I had a huge garden and gave a lot away that I didn't can or freeze. I finally realized after a couple of years that we didn't need all that for 3 people. So after 22 years I have scaled it down quite a bit and do a rotation of crops through out the year. I just plant small batches now, but do them every few weeks so have it all season rather than all at once. I have an all year garden out here in CA. Took me awhile to get a handle on that, was use to winters back East. And I don't can or freeze that much any more. I bought a dehydrator last year but haven't had enough to try it. LOL Right now I have lettuce(3 kinds), swiss chard, kohlrabi, tomatoes (4 kinds), peppers, onions, winter & summer squash (6 kinds), parsley, chives, basil, mint. Soon to have beans, don't know why they took so long this year. I still keep a calendar gardner's journal of when I planted and how well things did. Clare

Wow....what an amazing list of people.... too many of them no longer with us or active here. It is nice to remember some of their names and their struggles that we shared. Thanks for the memories.