It’s all about the people !

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Most people are so interesting, it’s just a matter of coaxing them to talk to you, then asking the right questions.-

Are you passionate about your garden ?,

Do you have a favorite  landscape ?,

Would you like to be interviewed ?

We started this series of horticultural based interviews with one simple idea, which was, that within our very diverse industry there were many people :-

both Homeowners,

Designers or Creators,

Builders,

or Visitors  and Admirers,

who had fascinating stories to tell about their everyday lives.

We have not been disappointed , in fact, we have been surprised by how many folks have a real passion for all things outside, particularly by how many people would like to reconnect with nature.

So with that in mind here is a day in the life of… Ann & Chris. the co-hosts of Growing Trends, we ventured out last Saturday, bright & early, just as the sun was rising :-

5.00 am Saturday

Ann & I had literally, a ‘field day’ on Saturday.

We each got up at the crack of dawn, and went to interview Farmer Steve, at Weston Red Barn Farm

We arrived at 7.30am and had already missed Steve, who had picked a crop of fresh peaches for Cindy ( his lovely wife) to take to market some 50 miles away.

Steve & Cindy have, for the past 25 years been slowly developing Weston Red Barn Farm to a traditional working farm, specifically to show kids how farms are part of the community. They have Apples, Peaches, Chickens, Goats, Horses, a Farm Shop, Pumpkin fields,  along with a wedding venue. It keeps them very busy throughout the summer and autumn.

8.00am

One of Steve’s farm workers arrives to feed the chickens, goats, ducks, and horses, calls Steve for us, who appears over the horizon in a 4 wheeler…

We set up the Mics, the recorders,then we interviewed Steve for around an hour, it could have been much longer, Steve had a fascinating journey and one that you will be able to hear on our show shortly at  Growing Trends Internet Radio

A few snippets : –

They have an amazing 12,000 – 15,000 school children visit them every year !

They have 67 weddings at the farm in a year.!

I happen to know one of the current family members , of the family that invented the milk churn, their company was called Express Dairies, they developed the original milk churn to take milk from the ‘shires’ to London on the newly built railways, for the burgeoning population of the city.Needless to say they made a handsome profit !

Of course these days most milk isn’t delivered by horse & cart, or by electric milk floats – yes way back in the 60’s milk in England was delivered by battery powered eco-friendly milk floats, as a youngster I often helped the ‘Milkman’ on his rounds for an extra shilling or two.

Ok, so back to the interview.

The Farm is about to lay out it’s Pumpkins for sale so Ann found a few pumpkins lying around and ….posed for a quick picture – they sure look impressive !

There was even time for a spot of ‘picking’, in my miss spent youth we would go ‘Scrumping’

9.30am

With our interview completed, it was time to rush back to interview our second fascinating person of the day.

Alan Sargent was over 4000 miles away, and 6 hours ahead of us, in Petworth, West Sussex in England.

Alan has a most varied career in horticulture :-

He has Built or,

Designed and Built dozens of Chelsea Flower Show Gardens,

Design & Constructed Award Winning Landscapes.

Formed a Trade Association,

Judged Garden Exhibits,

Written Books

Found time to be a Head Gardener at one of England’s finest and busiest Estates – the 12000 acre Goodwood Estate – with its 44 acre gardens, airfield, horse racing,and motor racing circuits.

the race course…

the motor racing circuit. – or for the Petrol heads as Alan refers to them !

Alan’s skills are legendary, and he has a keen eye for detail – I am a detail freak too, so I love his workmanship !

His stone work is superb.

Ann and I were to coin an English expression ‘Plum Tuckered’ – you will need to look up it’s meaning, here’s a clue to replenish the reserves we stopped for breakfast..

10.30am back home.

It was time for that quick breakfast, and of course coffee – coffee in America is so good …

Then we quickly reviewed the recordings, packed up the recording gear. Headed off to the lake some 53 miles away for a well earned break, sailing our little racing cruiser ‘Stiletto’

It’s amazing how relaxing an afternoon sail can be.. this week it was a tad hot at 100f but still fun.

This Weeks Show

This weeks show will be about a fantastic store that brings in it’s very own miniature pony each weekend, where it has a small coral in the ‘Fairy Garden’ at the back of the store. – you can buy all many of things for creating a miniature garden !

We are also talking to Richard Benfield a Garden Tourist Guru, whilst he is on his travels, around the world, we caught up with Richard in Western Australia..  do listen to the show at..  Growing Trends Internet Radio  if you, or you know someone that would be fun to interview drop us a line and we will get back to you.

In the meantime we have a website telling you more at  www.grotrends.com

You will be able to hear all about Weston Red Barn Farm, along with Alan’s adventures in the coming weeks.

If you have someone in mind we could interview drop us a line briefly explaining who & why.

Ann & Chris.

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