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Our Beginnings This newsletter was born of frustration. Like so many, I love to
work the soil, sow the seeds, plant flowers and tomatoes, eat homegrown produce
and do projects around the home. Mansions and $5,000 fountains are interesting,
but out of my league. Watching it take only 30 minutes to plant asparagus, harvest the
first spears and whip up a gourmet dish leaves me feeling woefully inferior. My fountains are more likely to be unintentional — with repairs
to follow. Green plants turn brown with little or no obvious explanation. And
more often than not, when projects are involved, my would-be green thumb has a
black-and-blue nail. Instead of a fabulous fountain, I want to know how to fix my
hose. A mansion? In my dreams. And projects? I want something I can do over a
weekend without hiring a general contractor and 15 subcontractors. After all,
this is supposed to be fun! In this day and age, we may dream of hours of leisurely
gardening. But the reality for many includes piano, soccer, baseball, the vet,
and so on. Gardens the size of football fields — as planted by our grandparents
or parents — still exist. But just as many find that the weeds take over
anything bigger than a sandbox. Even in a full life, just an hour or two each week helps to
reclaim the connection to a simpler time. And when I read a garden publication,
I want to find a way to make that time productive. Since I couldn't find it on
the newsstands, I decided to produce it for myself and for my friends. And that
includes you!
He's a Master Gardener, but is qualified to
be editor because of his ability and experience to convey information and
stories in a very comfortable style. In addition, Glen is one of the
nation's most respected commodity market analysts. With nearly 30 years in
the futures industry, Glen has been a successful producer, hedger, broker,
trader, technical analyst, researcher, seminar speaker, and newsletter
editor. In 1997 he left employment at Futures Magazine to begin his
own newsletter operation called View on Futures. Glen is well known for his ability to take
complex and advanced issues and present them in easy-to-understand terms. He
has conducted seminars across the United States and Europe and is
consistently rated as one of the top speakers at major international
conferences. He has sold thousands of copies of teaching videos and
resources for beginning, intermediate, and advanced traders. He and his wife, Karla, live in Cedar
Falls, Iowa and have three children and a huge garden. Glen graduated from
South Dakota State University in 1977 with a B.S. in Animal Science and
Agronomy. With Practical Gardener, Glen combines two of his passions:
growing things and helping people help themselves. Maynard Hughes has been sharing his
gardening, marketing and farm management insights with rural and urban
families for over 30 years. Maynard taught in the technical college system
for 12 years and also taught gardening to adults in the Minneapolis area at
Anoka-Ramsey Community College. He has been a farmer, a businessman and a
full-time gardener. Maynard writes of his experiences from his extensive
landscaping adventures on the banks of Canby Creek to the challenges of the
community garden he coordinates. You'll also catch Maynard's wife, Lois, as
she adds much to the recipes section! Blake Conover brings a bunch of
marketing and management experience with him to Practical Gardener.
He has worked in administration, personnel, marketing, management, and sales
for the past 20 years. Blake's responsibilities for Practical Gardener
are subscriber acquisition and retention, advertiser sales, database
management and corporate planning. He claims his greatest attribute is that
he knows nothing at all about gardening!
Who Are We?
Glen Ring
is the editor of Practical Gardener. It is his vision that began it
because, as a frustrated gardener himself, he couldn't find any one
publication that fit all his needs. So he started his own!
Diane
Wooderson is probably the person who'll answer the phone when you call.
She brings an abundance of experience from ProFarmer where she was head of
the Circulation Department (handling all subscriber-related inbound calls).
She's also the nicest person you can meet. Diane grew up on a farm in
southern Iowa. She claims she got her green thumb from "endless" pea
shelling. Her favorite memory is gardening with her mother and grandmother.