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While flipping through your channels on a Thursday evening,
you land on RFD-TV and see two Southern gentlemen quickly
zigzagging through a field of corn. You realize it’s a
“maize maze,” are instantly hooked by the sight, and wonder
‘what show could this possibly be?!” Well, you’re watching
one of the many entertaining episodes of The Best of Making
it Grow!, a joint production of South Carolina Educational
Television (ETV) and Clemson University. |
The Best of
Making it Grow!
the Best of South Carolina
How it all Began
The Best of Making it Grow! sets its roots in Making it Grow!, a
hit show also produced dually by Clemson University and ETV.
Making it Grow! has won numerous awards, including 2
Regional Emmy Awards for Best Interview/Discussion Program
and Set Design, and has expanded to a variety of media, including
radio, newspaper, and Internet.
Making it Grow! began in 1993, with a focus on promoting the
horticultural and agricultural aspects of South Carolina. It has
expanded into being one of the premier outlets for South
Carolinians to find information about their gardens, farms,
plants, and wildlife.
Making it Grow! is a highly interactive, live television program,
where viewers call in their gardening and agricultural questions to
Clemson University’s Rowland Alston, who hosts a panel of
experts to answer the various inquiries. “Basically, it’s a common
sense approach to gardening,” says Alston, a 30-year veteran of
Clemson University and the Clemson Extension Service.
“There’s just an insatiable appetite for more information on both
houseplants and plants around the landscape.”
Making it Grow! also features a taped segment in each show,
which focuses on an interesting person, place, or product of
South Carolina. There have been over 300 featured segments on
Making it Grow! from a banana farmer in Columbia, S.C. to
historic plantations of Charleston, S.C., to the numerous turf
grass farms in the state. These colorful segments are then
repackaged to create The Best of Making it Grow!, which you see
on RFD-TV.
The Stories Behind the Stories
Team Making it Grow!, as the crew of videographers, editors, and
production assistants are fondly called, work diligently to bring
the segments you see on The Best of Making it Grow! to life. Ed
Sexauer, the first producer/director of Making it Grow!
remembers one of the first times the crew went to shoot a
segment. “We had gone up to the mountains to an apple cider
farm. Rowland (Alston) had been talking with the farmer and
everything seemed to be fine. He was talking, asking questions,
acting normal. Well then we turned the cameras on. All
Rowland could get him to say was a very drawled ‘yeeuup’ and
‘nooope.’ He basically had to ask the questions as well as answer
them.”
The lesson learned that day is that with the intriguing variety of
people and places in Svouth Carolina, there are always interesting
“behind the scenes” moments with Team Making it Grow!
Current Producer/Director Sean Flynn recalls one particular
segment with Nancy Basket, the “kudzu lady.” “She was great…
she makes paper from kudzu, art from kudzu, her house is
covered in kudzu… she even made a kudzu pasta for us. That was
interesting,” says Flynn. “We’ve really done some wild segments
with people, but we’ve all learned a lot.”
Allen Tapp, operations manager for ETV’s
South Carolina Channel, shares that
sentiment. “Most of us who work on
Making it Grow! are South Carolina
natives, so when we first started producing
the program, we thought we knew
everything there was to know about our
state. We definitely were wrong.”
Team Making it Grow! has also traveled
some outside of South Carolina, to
interesting sites in North Carolina,
Georgia, and most notably, Washington
D.C. and the Epcot International Flower
and Garden Festival in Orlando, FL. Will
Anderson, station manager for ETV’s
South Carolina Channel and former
producer/director of Making it Grow! still
enjoys the local segments the best. “Places like Cooper’s Country
Store are just fun. Its this little country store that is still a vital
part of the community- hams hanging from the rafters, open pit
barbecue every Thursday… these are the kinds of places that
really make the best Making it Grow! stories.”
The Best of Making it Grow! and Making it Grow! are
currently in production, and will be as long as there are farmers
who grow heirloom vegetables and backyard gardeners cultivating
new planting styles. More information about upcoming features
can be found at www.mig.org.
Premieres Thursdays at 6:00 PM on RFD-TV
If you would like more
information on this program, South Carolina ETV, or ETV’s
South Carolina Channel, please call Sarah Justice, Promotions
and Public Information Director of ETV’s South Carolina
Channel at 803-773-5546 or email sjustice@scetv.org. |
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| On Now |
Julie Goodnight/Horse Master |
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| Followed By |
Farm Bureau Today |
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