Good morning, and raise your glasses to another year. Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging Seventh Anniversary Edition!
Over the years I've tended to use the anniversaries of Saturday Morning Garden Blogging to do a look back at the history of our little weed patch.
Last year, with the advent of dKos4, I was able to start sharing the weekly "chore" of the Saturday morning post (and may I point out that, excepting the week when dKos4 was rolled out and the posting was on Sunday, rather than Saturday, there has been an edition of Saturday Morning Garden Blogging every week without fail?). Over the past year an eclectic group of people from around the country have taken turns hosting the weekly diary.
So, for this Seventh Anniversary, I've asked that they share with us when and how they found Saturday Morning Garden Blogging,
Which is another first — the first group-written post.
So here's to the start of another gardening season, Thanks for hanging out for another year — Franki
MISSY'S BROTHER
Happy Anniversary Frankenoid!
I was a regular on Atrios but just a long time DailyKos lurker. I eventually registered here in April 2007 only because a DK group had circled an on-line friend and I wanted to recommend his comments. I happily discovered SMGB and placed my first comment on October 6, 2007 talking about drying "Love Lies Bleeding" and forcing hycainth bulbs. Frankenoid responded back about her hyacinth bulbs. Over the years, she and I have continued to share our love of forcing hyacinth bulbs in water. It was almost another year before I posted my first photograph on August 2, 2008 as shown above left. I had just purchased the antique brownstone urn which was my favorite and best deal ever. I was very pleased with the understated color combination of the plants. To this day, it is still my favorite photograph. Comments included one from Christin.
Christin was the first of many friends that I have made on SMGB. I have never physically met anyone from here but Wayoutinthestix and I discovered that we share a common friend. Jayden and I started SMGB AH (After Hours) with Frankenoid's permission in 2009 by continuing the diary's conversation, posting music videos and just bantering back and forth until the next week's SMGB diary. Kishik was the first to join us and quickly followed by Welso. AH continues to this day and as Kishik will confirm, I posted the first ever one-thousandth (1,000th) comment in a single SMGB diary. I am a much better gardener, photographer and informed person because of SMGB. DailyKos is my on-line neighborhood but SMGB is my home. Thanks to Frankenoid and everyone here for becoming friends that extends beyond just our common interest in gardening. It would be great to meet each of you in person one day.
As long as y'all will have us, Lucy, Roscoe, Kenny Jose and I will continue sharing our adventures in gardening, flea markets and life.
Missy's Brother / GUG
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Congrats, Frankenoid.
I have been here almost from the beginning. I signed up for a Daily Kos account in July of 2005. It is garden blogging that has kept me here through the pie wars, the primary fights, the purges, and most recently the nots vs. bots. We bought our house back in 1985 so that I would have enough room for a big garden and bjd would not have the neighbors looking in his bathroom window. Here's one of my all-time favorite photos:
Many, many thanks for this series, blue jersey mom
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Congratulations Franki and everyone on entering an eighth year of SMGB!
I added my first comment to a SMGB in 2007, at Christmastime, which is not exactly prime-time for gardening here in Northeast Ohio. But that’s one of the great things about SMGB: no season is “off season.” This community thrives, whether it’s spring, summer, winter or fall … and even if plants aren’t the only things you’re raising. ;-)
~welso
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Ed in Montana
I wandered into Saturday Morning Garden Blogging in the summer of 2006 just in time to engage in a flame war with a garden blogging critic. As one of the first regular community diaries on DailyKos, SMGB was viewed as non-essential to the Great Orange Satan’s mission of electing more and better democrats and not political enough by some. I took and still take a broad view of politics. Debating who cooks dinner tonight is a political decision for instance. And what can be a more political act than growing your own food and breaking free of the control of the large agribusinesses?
A large part of creating a more healthful and beautiful community is done by gardening in my view.
I have always admired politicians that understand the outdoors, or had experience with farming and gardening. The peanut farmer turned President Jimmy Carter for instance. Or the organic grain farmer turned U.S. Senator, Jon Tester. The most radically progressive act that the Obama administration has done in the last four years was Michelle Obama planting a partially organic garden on the White House lawn. This simple act shocked and angered the large agri-business corporations to their very core.
So here's a bouquet of flowers for Ms. Frankenoid for creating and nurturing this virtual garden community:
Nothing quite compares to Frankenoid's real backyard though. Somehow, I thought it was much smaller.
The influence of SMGB has even been felt at gatherings such as YearlyKos/Netroots Nation, like here at Las Vegas in 2006 with garden bloggers Cosmic Debris, Mem from Sommerville, and San Diego Dem:
Here's to many more years of successful gardening!
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For Frankenoid's 7th Anniversay of SMGB, I would like to present her with a gift. The traditional gift for a 7th anniversary is copper or wool. I like a copper vase, much better than a scratchy,woolen sheep. So in your honor Franki, "Crown Imperial Fritillaries in a Copper Vase", by Vincent Van Gogh.
I lurked at DKOS since about 2003. I landed here, because I was looking for like minded people who had a dislike of the politics and policies of the 43nd President.
I finally came out of the shadows and signed up on Sept 11, 2010.
I stumbled across SMGB, one day in 2008 I saw it on the Rec list. I love gardens and flowers, so I had a look, loved the post and the comments.
My first comment:
WOW (6+ / 0-)
Just waiting for the bug to say BOO!
by JupiterSurf on Sat Oct 09, 2010 at 11:40:04 AM EDT,
was in response to a photo post by Kishik. I finally found enough courage to comment in the blog. Everyone seemed like old school friends. You all loved to banter with just the right amount of snark. The photo's that were posted, I only wished I could duplicate. But I have learned from some the best here on this blog about the art of photographing flowers, and how to accompany them with a good story.
Last year, when Franki, decided she might need a break now and then. I debated on whether to put fingers to the keyboard and write. Franki, has set a high bar, and I didn't think I could write a blog post and give it any justice. I wanted to volunteer, but I detest nothing more in life than English grammar. So I had to think about it. In the end, I decided to toss my screen name into the garden so to speak. I fretted for days before I wrote my first SMGB post back in November. But I found myself enjoying the process of trying to come up with a topic and then writing and refining it for more flowery words...I actually enjoyed writing, for the first time in my life.
I look forward each Saturday, to everyone's photo's and comments. You all have provided many LOL's, and ROTFLMAO'S on many a Saturday morning and especially in AH.
Jupiter Surf
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Congratulations, Frankenoid, on seven fantastic years of leadership!
I came to SMGB after lurking for years on DKos. I found DKos when it was in its infancy. I was, like many other people here, looking for an alternative to the mainstream media, but it took me quite a bit longer to find my way to SMGB. I lurked on SMGB for a long time too before I made my first post ever here In December 2009, version 5.42. It was Ed in Montana who greeted me that day, and his warm welcome brought me back. I tried to share this photo that day
but didn’t yet know how to imbed, so I gave a link.
My first photo says it all; I know how to grow vegetables pretty well. I like looking at everyone else’s flowers, perhaps because I’m so unskilled at growing them myself. I come here on Saturdays to drink in the colors and imagine the fragrances emanating from your shady nooks, your street-side strips, and your tropical paradises.
Frankie, I offer you not a bouquet of flowers today but instead a bouquet of radishes. May their bright color offer you a tiny bit of the joy that you’ve given me on Saturday mornings these past years.
And for everyone else who makes my Saturdays so wonderful, I give you an okra blossom, valiantly trying to imitate your glorious collections.
Ozark Homesteader
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Happy 7th Franki !!
Have you ever tried explaining SMGB to someone? Whenever I do I'm usually met with a puzzled look and sideways tilt of the head similar to what Dusty does when I say a word he hasn't heard before. It's hard to explain the joy and satisfaction I get from being a part of this spirited little corner of the world filled with amazing, good-natured people who do incredible work but whom I've yet to meet in person! Franki's unique brand of garden blogging baffles most people which lets me know I'm in the right place. Our passion for gardening brought us together and we're fortunate to have a host who creates a welcoming environment where we can share the stories of our lives and who allows the conversation to go where the moment ( and After Hours ) takes it. And it has gone to some really wild, hilarious, and fascinating places!
Franki's knitted masterpiece: "Denver's Fucking Winters are Too Damned Long"
Like many of you I lurked for a time before finally commenting. I would check out the diary later in the day instead of when it was first posted because I spent Saturday mornings, well... gardening! Days heat up really fast here in Central Texas. But I wanted so much to participate and share with the SMGB folk that I bought myself a digital camera for Christmas in 2008 so I could take pics of the two things I love most; my awesome four-legged furry-butted flower-flattening DustBuddy and the garden I labor and fuss over endlessly. I premiered my first garden pics of flowers blooming in the dead of winter in early January 2009. They were well received. Dusty made his SMGB debut shortly thereafter and as usual stole all my attention. I quickly revamped my Saturday morning schedule so I could participate while the diary was still "hot" and promptly settled in as a regular.
It's three years later and I'm still here because y'all have become friends and I look forward to hearing about what's going on in your lives. Okay, so I learn stuff too as the photo above of blooming brugs clearly proves. My heartfelt gratitude to our kick-ass host who built a rock solid community smack-dab in the middle of an oft-contentious rough-and-tumble political blog. That's one of the great things about SMGB... You rarely have to duck.
Congratulations on seven amazing years, Franki.
jayden
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Merry Light
I’m the late arrival to the garden party…I’ve been active in politics since the year 2000, but didn’t get introduced to Daily Kos until early 2009, after all the nail-biting of the campaign and many meta wars. It was nice being in good company, but I didn’t find the gardeners until, to the best of my memory, spring of 2010, when one Saturday morning it was gloomy outside and I just happened to be surfing Dkos and noticed the Saturday Morning Garden blog. I jumped in with joy and abandon, at last, a community I could feel comfortable where I remember posting my first picture. One of the first pictures I posted was the Australian copper rose:
It was spring, and I went a little nuts with the camera and took pictures of all my spring daffodils and pasque flowers (also known as anemone patens ). I was welcomed with open arms by the old hands; Frankenoid, jayden, missy’s brother, Ozark Homesteader, Jupiter Surf, Ed in Montana, and so many others that I now count among my very good friends. When the meta du jour is just too much, I take refuge in the garden, and very rarely miss a Saturday morning. I can’t come close to the photographic abilities of the rest of these gardeners, but I am honored to be a contributing editor, and my thanks to all of you who visit and comment when I am the guest diarist!
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