Week 1 - homework and stuff

Week 1 done..... required homework consisted of reading 3 chapters from an online text book and taking three quizzes (one for each chapter).  Optional stuff included watching videos, doing crossword puzzles, labelling diagrams, trying a soil texture experiment, reviewing USDA zone maps, looking at soil photos etc.  TONS of material..... no way to absorb it, but I did try to spend time getting familiar with it all so if/when I need to reference it I'll know where to go.

The required readings/quizzes took longer than I'd hoped.... about 6 hours.... I'm not a fan of reading out of an online textbook.... so much quicker to read/highlight/reference stuff when it's in hard copy.  Seems like I'm not the only one with that gripe..... mid-week we got an email offering to let us buy the text book..... umpteen of us jumped at it, me included.  Phew!   I guess a lot of folks sent in an email complaining about things..... usual aches and pains of transitioning to an online delivery system.

The quizzes were short!  I was expecting lots of Qs but there were less than 10 on each quiz.  Multiple choice answers.  A couple of tricky ones in there, but for the most part if you just thought it all through and had read the material you could get the answer.

I enjoyed a lot of the optional assignments..... creative ways to help reinforce our learnings.  Crossword puzzles were cool!  There was a nice video on how to analyze soil texture.... very well done.  The guy explained it very clearly and demonstrated it as he was talking.   I went out into my garden later on and gave it a whirl..... think I made more of a mess than anything, but I got the idea and the principles of clay, sand, silt ratios etc now make sense.

Part of the homework included learning about botanical classifications:   Family, Genus, Species, Specific Epithet, Variety, Cultivar, Hybrid.... and all those Latin words.... oh my!    I tried applying things to the lavender family and don't think I have it right.... when I get it sorted out I'll let you know.  I've started to create a little table to help get my head around it.... think you might find it helpful too! Just need to get some Qs answered in class tomorrow to confirm I have it right.   Stay tuned.

In just one week we've been pointed to umpteen links/resources for information.  To make it easy to reference I'm consolidating it all on an Excel spreadsheet..... if you'd like to get a copy when the course is over, let me know and I'll be sure to send you one!

I horsed around with the photo features on this blog.... tried to set up a slide show, but can't seem to get it going.  If anyone knows how to do that on blogspot please let me know.  I'd love to share photos with you over the course of this program.