Here we are at the end of the semester and oh boy, it was a wild one. This semester brought us unprecedented circumstances, and unfortunately I was not able to see through to the end of my project. However, it's been rewarding experience nonetheless. I came to feel really comfortable at the farm, and really looked forward to my weekly hours of work. The Howdy farm is a small slice of agricultural paradise on our campus, and I had so much fun getting to work on it this semester. Even on weeks when I spent three or four straight hours weeding the rows, I felt accomplished; and as I watched the seeds I sewed grow I felt rewarded. It's a great opportunity being able to sit and engage in these meditative tasks for hours on end; if nothing else, through this internship I confirmed that I chose the right career path for me. Weeding, sewing, watering, transplanting, repairing water lines, removing pests, it's all good in my book. Another good development I'd like to highlight is the growth of my plants, and the arrival of caterpillars! I began this project in January hoping for beautiful flowers and chrysalises, and got to enjoy both of those things! The Howdy Farm gave me an opportunity to actively participate in pollinator gardening, which has been a hobby of mine for about a year now. This internship provided a space to experiment with old and new species of host and pollinator plants. We have milkweed for monarchs, are growing some dill for swallowtails, and a first for the farm, some starflower! Growing plants is always a rewarding and peaceful life, even with the unpredictability of mother nature. Plants can be easily taken out by too little or too much water, unbalanced soil chemistry, pests, people, and sudden changes in weather. It strikes me as odd that I find so much peace in horticulture while there is a literal life and death battle happening simultaneously. Luckily for me, I'm okay with the "pests" eating my plants, as long as they're the right kind of pest! For lack of a better term it all goes back to the circle of life: I grow the plants, caterpillars eat my plants, become butterflies, and make pollination happen to grow more plants. It's been thrilling to see the progress the pollinator garden, caterpillars, and chrysalises have made in my absence (big shout out to my intern supervisor Michael for keeping everything alive and thriving). I'm looking forward to the quarantine being lifted, and it being safe for me to go visit and see the progress for myself. Hopefully, some of the butterflies will be there to say hello!
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A lot has changed in our world since I began my internship in January. The social landscape of our lives has been impacted and will forever be different. We've seen runs on toilet paper, canned goods, board games and puzzles. We've seen medical workers step up and bravely face this novel virus. We've witnessed communities band together in creative ways to celebrate weddings and birthdays. Among all the chaos, good and bad, there has been a surge in gardening! Initially I wouldn't have guessed that gardening would see a surge in popularity but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. People are isolated and worried about food availability, so why not get some plant friends! Plants give people something to care for and nurture, and make us feel less alone. Many people probably wouldn't acknowledge this, but people and plants are meant to coexist. There's an entire class offered here at Texas A&M where students learn about the relationship between people and plants. We're all in uncharted territory these days and trying to find comfort in isolation. People are adopting more dogs and buying more plants and trying to adapt to the new normal; plants can help with that. Gardening is such a popular hobby because it is both relaxing and rewarding: two things we all need right now.
In addition, the ability to grow some produce or herbs for yourself is a valuable asset in today's climate of panic regarding the food supply chain. There is a movement nicknamed "scrap gardening" by the public in which people grow new produce from the ends of their old produce; i.e., cutting the end off of cabbage and letting it sit in water until a new cabbage plant starts to grow. Who knew you can grow food-- from your food! (most horticulturists already knew this, but we're excited for it to be mainstream). I for one, am excited for people to discover how easy it is to grow your own potatoes. There are a few things that every job requires. For horticulturists, we have some tools and traits that we couldn't do our jobs without. Most agricultural tasks require a myriad of tools to accomplish, and horticulture is no exception. The level of tools required is often dependent on the nature of the task at hand, as well as the size and budget of the land being worked. For instance, a commercial cotton field would need more mechanical assistance than a sustenance garden. Likewise, the machinery we use at the Howdy Farm is more intense than the machinery I use at home. Since I've been at home for the last few weeks, I haven't been using a ton of tools, so I'm going to discuss the things that I've learned to love over the last few months, and learned to completely rely on in the last few weeks. The most obvious and basic tool for horticulturists is, of course, pruners! However, my favorite tool has been a soil knife for awhile now. While I couldn't do my job without my trusty pruners, I think my favorite thing about soil knives is how versatile they are. If you need to dig, cut open a bag of mulch, carry something, plant something, chop something down, squish a bug, etc., there's a soil knife for that! Besides soil knives, the best tool a horticulturists can have is actually a trait: adaptability. If this semester at the Howdy Farm has taught me anything, it's that horticulturists can't do their job if they're not adaptable. A lot of what we do is entirely dependent on mother nature, so the very foundation of horticulture is prone to shifting at a moment's notice. There was a day that Michael and I were thinking about planting my seeds and setting them up in the greenhouse but we ended up repairing a broken water line. I started my semester as an intern at the Howdy Farm in College Station and have ended up doing several home improvement projects around the house with my parents! This semester has been an unprecedented, unanticipated exercise in adaptability. With the current state of the world, horticulturists are now having to be even more adaptable. Since I've been at home, I've installed a new lighting fixture, helped my parents clean out and reorganize several closets, bought some plants for the yard, and helped my dad design and instal a sprinkler system for our yard. We started the project by measuring all the areas around the house that we wanted to cover. As we were measuring we decided what valves and types of sprayers we wanted to place. We measured and decided on spray heads and then sat down and designed the layout. We measured out the popes to scale and color coordinated the spray heads. Once we had the layout finished, we sat down to work on the grueling process of adding all of the materials we needed to our online Home Depot cart. This process took about two hours for my father to evaluate all the brands and different prices and make his choice. About 300 items in our cart later, we still had to wait a week before we could go pick up our supplies. Being a Type-One Diabetic, I have not gone in to any place of business since coming home to quarantine, so unfortunately my dad had to do all of the heavy lifting at this point. We finally got to lay out all the pipes, and dug the pathways before gluing the pipes together. We buried them and tested them and so far so good! We have the back all worked out, and starting next week we plan on finishing the front yard. |
Allie MartinHowdy! My name is Allie and I am a senior Horticulture major from Austin (keep it weird, y'all). Welcome to the home of pollinator garden paradise. Here you will find my journey through growing pollinator and host plant species, and hopefully, see the life cycle of native butterflies unfold! Archives
April 2020
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The Howdy Farm at Texas A&M University | Allie's Blog |