Getting Dirty

Oh, get your mind out of the gutter!!! I am referring to my new job, a greenhouse assistant. :)

At the beginning of the semester, my horticulture mentor, Don, told me had a position open for me if I was interested. Boy was I ever! I worked as his undergraduate teaching assistant last semester, and I had a blast, along with learning even more than I did when I took the class myself. Not only that, but I got to interact with students who were starting out in the horticulture major and help mentor them. Quite a few of them still send me messages this semester and ask me questions. I absolutely loved the experience and would have remained as their TA this semester (Don teaches a 2 semester class), but I had my own class conflict. :(

So in order to keep learning from Don outside of the classroom, I agreed to take a job as his greenhouse assistant. He oversees 2 of the 3 greenhouses on campus, and I was excited to get to work in them as opposed to tour them! I started my first shift on Jan 29th.... and it was amazing! Don had a tour group coming in the late afternoon and needed the Felmley greenhouse (see pictures below) cleaned up and some plants transplanted. For 3 hours, I got elbow deep in soil, water, and leaves. Talk about a stress reliever! I LOVE plants!

Here are some pictures I took this weekend just to show you what the Felmley greenhouse looks like. Hopefully I'll get a few shots of the Science Lab Greenhouse next week!

The outside of the greenhouse!

This greenhouse has 4 aisles of plants just like this! It feels like a rain forest when you walk inside :)

Everywhere you look, there are tropical and native plants!

There is a cacti experiment going on for a bio class, and Don asked me to move them from the floor to the table. Let's just say I had a few pricks afterward :P

There even are a few trees inside of the greenhouse

I love the orchids, too! So pretty

Don likes to display plants that are "fun." So needless to say, the venus fly traps always attract the attention of new greenhouse visitors. I love playing with them :P

After a few weeks, Don said I could even help with some experiments and give tours!!!!

That, in a nutshell, is what my second job entails. I can hardly call it a job because it's so fun! :) However, this past Friday, the 5th, I was still a little sick, but I was feeling better enough to go in to work. Little did I know that Don was preparing for a plant sale, and needed me to relocated plants from the Science Lab to Felmley. Typically, this wouldn't bother me too much, but it was blizzard-ing outside!

Yes! There were even deer on campus, it was so crazy.

Just kidding. :) But I had to trek from greenhouse to greenhouse with three full carts of plants in the snow, wind, and cold. By the time it was the end of my shift, I was completely exhausted! Don noticed how tired I was and goes, "Yeah, this time of year, there's a LOT of relocating!"

Oh boy! I may create some rippling muscles from this job by May. :)