People, Places & Events

PWC annual garage sale set
Special to The Monitor
PAYNE SPRINGS–Not only does the annual Pinnacle Women’s Club garage sale offer incredible merchandise and prices, the lake area community has come to expect fantastic prizes.
“Our loyal customers will not be disappointed. This year we have four exceptional items to offer,” PWC garage sale co-chairperson Gayle Robinson said.
Back again by popular request, a handmade quilt will be offered as one of the prizes.
“For centuries, quilts have reflected bits and pieces of individual lives, and history tells us the ‘birth of America is shown through the eye of a needle.’ We are excited to offer this symbol of Americana as one of our prize items,” PWC President Colleen Hinckley said.
In addition to the quilt, a $200 gift card donated by the Gun Barrel City Wal-Mart, and at least two “Taste of Cedar Creek” baskets featuring gift certificates from area restaurants will be prizes also.
The total value of these items is approximately $1,000.
Mark your calendars for 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 20, and 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Sept. 21, to shop the garage sale.
 

Master gardeners host free workshops
Special to The Monitor
ATHENS–Did you know there are rare and heirloom flower bulbs that will thrive in our East Texas climate?
Did you know that the seed from a Haralson apple will produce an apple tree, but it will not produce a Haralson apple tree?
The East Texas Arboretum will be the site of two free workshops hosted by the Henderson County Master Gardeners Saturday, Sept. 15.
Guest speakers Chris Wiesinger/Southern Bulb Company and Matt Grubisich/Texas Forest Service will be prepared to answer those questions and more during their individual workshops.
Chris Wiesinger, a 2004 horticulture graduate of Texas A&M, now makes a living finding pretty, tough, bulbs in places like abandoned buildings, old home sites and vacant lots in small, hot, Southern towns.
Travelling the countryside in his Ford F-150 pickup, he finds the flowers and the people who own the vacant and abandoned sites because he never takes without asking permission.
In 2004, he founded the Southern Bulb Company and began breeding his rare finds and selling them through the internet and select nurseries.
The pursuit of his passion and his expertise in heirloom bulbs has brought him national attention and turned him into a sought-after speaker on the garden club circuit.
In Wiesinger’s workshop one of the suggestions that we will hear is that gardeners can increase their landscape performance by including bulbs that bloom at times other than spring.
He will recommend bulbs for planting in our area and talk about how and when to plant them.
Bulbs from Southern Bulb Co will be available for sale.
Matt Grubisich, a graduate of the Iowa State University forest management and urban forestry program, is currently the regional urban forester for the Dallas area.
Grubisich says an urban forester is a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to trees in urban areas.
We need to be part horticulturist, part landscape architect, part traditional forester as well as a host of other related fields.
Plant propagation is very important, especially in the aesthetics side of things, dealing with different varieties of flowering trees and plants.
Grafting is a method of plant propagation widely used in horticulture where the tissues of one plant are encouraged to fuse with those of another.
In his workshop, various types of grafting techniques will be examined including, whip grafting.
Whip grafting is the predominant propagation method used on apples and is widely used on pear. It is also the primary method employed in propagating pecan nursery stock in the southeastern U.S.
Fruit trees cannot be reproduced true to the original cultivar from seed.
They can only be reproduced by grafting.
Both workshops are free to the public and will be presented in the Women’s Building at the East Texas Arboretum.
Registration begins at 9 a.m.
Times for the workshops are 9:15 -10:15 a.m., Chris Wiesinger (bulbs) and 10:45-11:45 a.m. for Matt Grubisich (grafting).
For information on the Henderson County Master Gardener’s program or the new Master Gardener class beginning Aug 28, please call Sharon Barrett at (903) 675-6392 or email her @Barrettseb@tvcc.edu.
 

October is Texas archeology month
 Special to The Monitor
KAUFMAN–The Kaufman County Historical Commission (KCHC), along with neighboring counties, will kick off Texas Archeology Awareness Month (October) Saturday, Sept. 29, with an Archeology Fair and Historical Ghost Walk being held in Kaufman at the historic County “Poor Farm,” located at Farm-to-Market 1388 and State Highway 34.
The Fair will begin at 9 a.m. with an opening ceremony and close at 4 p.m.
General admission is $3 for adults, $2 for children 4-14, and those under 4 are free.
In addition to archeology exhibits and living history reenactments, activities include site tours, hands-on demonstrations, live period music, storytelling and much more.
The public is invited to bring their own artifacts for THC archeology division stewards to identify and evaluate on site.
The Historical Ghost Walk tour featuring “Ghosts of Kaufman County Past” will begin at 8 p.m.(dark).
Small groups will be escorted on the walk at predetermined intervals.
The tour takes approximately 1½ hours to complete.
Absolute quiet must be maintained in the audience since no audio equipment or electronic devices will be used.
For that reason, no children under the age of 12 will be admitted. Tickets for the tour are $10 each.
For ticket information and tour schedules, contact KCHC at (469) 376-4121, or kchc@kaufmancounty.net.
Other Archeology Awareness Month activities scheduled by KCHC include presentations to county middle school students and archeology exhibits on display during the entire month of October in local libraries and museums.
These presentations will provide an opportunity for students to discover past human cultures and learn about the historical significance of Texas archeological sites and the importance of proper archeological practices.
For more information, visit KCHC’s web site at kaufmancounty.net/kchc.htm.