As you know, Wes & I became first-time homeowners last summer. We went to a small home and garden expo a few months after we bought our house but it was nothing exciting...it was actually rather boring. A couple of weeks ago, Home & Garden Events mailed us some junk mail that ended up being quite a treat. We received four complimentary tickets to the Oklahoma City Home & Garden Show. I think Wes was a little reluctant to go after our lackluster experience at the previous show but I insisted (because you can't let free tickets go to waste!) We went to watch some presentations Saturday evening and then returned Sunday to look at the exhibits and participate in the DIY activities.
The show was housed in three buildings on the OKC Fairgrounds. The presentations were on the Lifestyle Stage in the Pavilion. The first presentation we watched was Joel Karsten teaching us about straw bale gardens. Straw bale gardening is a technique he invented using straw bales instead of planting in the ground. Its a great method of "alternative agriculture" (his phrase) because there are no insects or weeds involved. Basically, you get a straw bale and pour some fertilizer & nitrogen (or urine, he suggested that works just as well) onto the straw bale to condition it. Then after a few days, you put your seeds or plants in there and they'll start growing. The bales last for two years. Then you can break it open and find great composted soil in there. I'm not sure how he came up with this idea but he's spread it all over the world. He went to Cambodia to teach farmers the technique and it helped to solve some of their agricultural problems. I was hoping for a more instructional presentation, but it was mostly about the history of straw bale gardening and what impacts it is having on communities now. It was still pretty interesting and I'd love to start my own if someone wants to give me a straw bale or two.
The other presentation we saw was DIY Herb Gardening with Tony Mussatto. I really enjoyed this presentation; it was educational and entertaining (much like the nerdy podcasts I listen to, LOL). Tony went through two lists of perennial and annual herbs and explained the uses of each and different techniques for growing them. He also gave us some tips on which recipes to use the herbs for and the wildlife the herbs will attract. Pineapple sage attracts humming birds, fennel attracts caterpillars and catnip attracts partying felines. (The last one was a joke he made!) Lastly, we learned some herb preservation methods, such as hanging the herbs upside-down in a paper bag to dry or freezing them into ice cubes for future use. We also learned that perennial herbs need to be mulched each year. I planted some basil in the backyard when we first moved in and it totally died... probably because I didn't mulch it. *sad face*
I want that birdcage chair for my craft show booth! The bunny was adorable & soft. Wes thought the taxidermy raccoon eating Cracker Jacks was a hoot.
A few pictures from "Landscapers Lane"
For day #2, we just walked around to look at the exhibits and vendors. It was mostly salespeople hawking new windows, tornado/storm shelters and roofing...nothing we really need. We checked out a few flooring options because I want to go from carpet to laminate but that won't be for quite some time. I enjoyed looking at all the landscaping models...our yard
does need work. Wes saw a fire pit he liked (we might DIY it this summer) and gutter guards that we should probably install. We weren't harassed by too many aggressive salespeople so that was good. The only ones I stopped to talk to were the Made-in-Oklahoma vendors and I ended up buying a few small things.
My favorite part of the show was the hands-on activities. They all started and ended at the same time so I couldn't participate in all of them. StateFarm Insurance had a booth that required you to fill out a short survey (unless you're already a customer, which we are, so we got to skip that part of the line. YAY!) and then pick out and plant your very own succulent.
A calligraphy instructor from Pen to Paper taught us how to make a "faux calligraphy" sign. I see these things at
every craft show I go to (SO trendy right now!) and I assumed it was pretty hard to do. But it is actually extremely simple. All you do is find a pattern you like (she provided us with an original she made), transfer it onto your canvas using carbon paper, and then fill it in with Sharpie marker. The sign I made took me less than half and hour and it looks super cute!
Before we left, we had to stop at the food trucks. I got the Asian food and Wes got the American food because we are hilariously stereotypical. LOL, just kidding, it was purely coincidence. The weather was amazing so we ate outside. The only complaint we had was the strong wind but we live in Oklahoma so it is to be expected. I'm glad we took advantage of our complimentary tickets; I'm not sure we would have gone if we didn't get them in the mail. We didn't really buy much but we also didn't go with the intention of remodeling our house...just to observe. Wes liked that the show was large enough to fill three buildings. We had a great time and found it to be a nice way to spend our weekend.
Our spoils at the end of the weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment