eye candy, eye candy , get your eye candy here.!

         unable to get a reliable report from the official facebook site of oardc(ohio agricultural research and developement center, wooster , oh. ), i decided to head on over to wooster and see for myself what early bloomers we have over there. the bloom season is on as you can tell from this picture . for the next 2 weeks , one may see a cacophany of colors dancing in the wind . your eyes will delight to the beauty and fragrance offered up by the vast acreage of planted stock available for you to drive through or walk through. allowances has been made for handicapped accessible pathways that are paved and allow one who is handicapped full visual access to parts of secrest arboretum where it was storm damaged by the tornado that passed through this area about 3 years ago. a  blacktop  pathway has been installed through the ravine and attaching itself  to the roadway via a couple of points in various gardens allowing greater visibility and sharing experiences with our handicapped population offering them greater access.
                                  Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center - Home

     i first became acquainted with the secrest arboretum while attending ati (agricultural technical institute ) , wooster ohio. and this and the oardc are all under the umbrella of ohio state university. various plant testing and species testing as well as hybridizing of plants specific to the needs of ohioans in agronomic research is done here at this facility. after almost 3 years i am still seeing signs of the deadly tornado that raced through there leaving a path of destruction. in some ways it appears as though the staff who always did an impeccable job of grounds  keeping, were just overwhelmed with the repairs . imagine in these lean economic times money for infrastructure repair of damaged facilities is probably at its weakest point. but this is where the jobs of tomorrow come from . here is where technology to grow on less and produce healthier food is done. new harvesting methods are analyzed and recommendations for improvement of use are identified.
     i would say for the most part i was early for the majority of the bloom and feel that next weekend would be optimal time for viewing. i plan on visiting with mom and taking a lunch,  and visiting longer if the weather is nicer. it was a little on the raw side today, and great for picture taking.  i would say that even the weekend after that would also be an ideal time to visit.

   
       our next stop was in kidron , ohio as we were going to go to lehmans and instead stopped to check out the flea market in front of the kidron auction. today was the day for equipment auction ,  and it seemed the amish prescence was especially strong today. i guess it has something to do with a man and his machines. or does it?  we browsed the flea market and stopped at gerbers poultry for a bbq chicken dinner to go and headed for the stark wilderness center to see it for first time since i was in fourth grade as we went there on a field trip .  at that time there was no facilities to speak of that i can remember . the main thing i remembered  was the old oak that stood there. supposedly it was the oldest and largest in stark county at that time. didn't have a chance to find out about but will next time.

     we didnt have much time as we had been driving a bit and was on verge of being tired . but did take time to tour the building and enjoyed the wall for observation out the rear of the building. grounds  keeping is minimal and i like that especially in a wilderness center, a gorgeous view of the lake and observation tower was seen on a distant trail. i will definitely be going back as it is close to our home . i have seen a lot i would like to go back and check out. also in the next 2 weeks dogwood should also  be blossoming here.

      do not know about the accessibility of the paths in regards to handicapped but will check it out next time i visit. for more info:Welcome to The Wilderness Center