After several weeks of packing and now unpacking my new house and studio are beginning to look like a place I can call home. I have lived in New Jersey my whole life and this is a big change for me and my family.  It is much warmer here in Gainesville so the first thing we did before we moved was put in a swimming pool.  After the pool was dug out we asked to have some "soil" put to the side so that we could start making some garden beds. I am used to rich New Jersey soil and here we have sand and something called gumbo clay. Gumbo clay looks like big chunks of blue cheese. The first thing we did was go to a local garden center to learn about what to do next. Gardening in Florida is very different! Our neighbor has tomatoes growing under shade trees! We are learning to amend the sandy stuff into soil and we will start by making 3 raised beds. We also were able to hire a local master gardener to help us pick out and plant some fruit trees. We planted a grapefruit, fig, lime, and persimmon tree and 2 blue berry bushes. As things progress I will keep everyone posted.

The month of June I am the featured artist at ArtPlantae Today. Tania Marien interviewed me about my art, my books and my philosophy on educating the public.  I will be doing a Q&A during pollinators week later this month, June 19-26, 2011. Check out http://www.pollinator.org for more information about pollinators!