All the Dirt on Gardening

In the winter, the view out the window is calm while plants rest and as much as we enjoy the structural beauty, we also miss color. One way to enjoy nature’s colors is to hang suncatchers so when the sun is out colors are reflected into the room, creating rainbows on drapes and walls.  Glass beads date back to 3,000 B.C. and stained glass itself was seen only in churches until Tiffany popularized it in lampshades in 1895. Native Americans from the American Southwest made the original glass sunlight catchers we know.  Artist Jan Meng designs and creates complex glass suncatchers at Hungry Holler Art Refuge in Eucha OK. On a single suncatcher strand she creates items that are made of 10 or 12 tiny pieces of glass interspersed with single glass beads or a series of glass cubes and mirrors.  “I want my pieces to be dazzling and fabulous,” Meng said. “With suncatchers in your windows the passage of the day is made manifest as sun moves through the room. I notice it...

Hungry Holler art center is a must see. Jan Mohr Meng and her husband Marc garden and create art on 6-acres they bought between Grove and Pryor in 1992. The work of both Jan and Marc are inspired by nature. Marc is known as the Zen Spoonmaster for the wooden spoons he carves and Jan is known for her gourd carving and painting. The Mengs named their place, Hungry Holler and have put such a unique stamp on the place that Discover Oklahoma has recorded a show about them that is scheduled to run this Saturday at 6:30 p.m. The gourds that Jan grows to paint are all hard shell gourds, Lagenaria siceraria. Meng said that gourds are the planet's most giving natural product. They have been used in art and for utilitarian tools for thousands of years. Jan's tips for growing bottle gourds - Location: Plant seeds in sun near a source of water when the soil warms up to 70-degrees in spring. They like compost and a place to climb. You may want to plant them where you can enjoy their evening...