My Dream Job... and a Back Up Plan...

Everyone has a dream. A goal that they are aspiring to. A change they want to make in their life. College students especially have dreams about what they want to do with their lives and how they can change other people's lives. I am no different than the rest of them. My dream is to share with others my love of plants.

Plants are my passion and have been a part of my whole life. I always find my way back to plants and the beauty they bring to this world. My parents taught me to enjoy the living world around me.  Ever since I was little, I gardened with my parents. We planted peas, carrots, corn, and other vegetables.  Meticulously, we would plant our garden and clean up the backyard, ripping out sod, pruning shrubs, and other various landscaping. I have fond memories of being outside and beautifying our backyard.

As time went on and I grew up, I needed to pick a career path. Three options intrigued me:  culinary, medicine, and horticulture. I quickly ruled out culinary as my selected career path. As I entered into my first semester of college, I chose nursing. Throughout my first two semesters, I was out of place. I did not feel comfortable with that decision.  During high school, I was Secretary in the Meridian FFA Chapter.   My positive experiences helped to cultivate my love for the green industry. My thoughts came back to how much I loved being outside in gardens and talking about plants with anyone who would listen to me. I made the decision to change my major, and I will never look back.

What does that long story about my college journey mean? It shows what I came up with randomly the other week and what I feel like I want to do with my life. I was watering the greenhouse, talking to someone on the phone about how great plants are and what plants would do well for such and such purpose. It hit me that this is what I want to do with my life. I want to continue to teach others about plants. Not on a college level but in the community. I want to be that crazy gardening lady that people go to so that they can ask whether it would be wise to plant their peas this weekend or wait until the risk of frost lessens the following week. I decided that I want to build a greenhouse in my future home (as of right now, I am a broke college student working on graduating so no house yet). In this greenhouse, I would teach classes to others and get them excited about gardening and plants like me. 

It wouldn't necessarily be for profit. Money can't buy happiness (but it can buy plants... which is pretty close, right?). I have not thought through all of the logistics yet but at least I have a start.

Of course, every plan does not necessarily work out and my professor told me that I need to have a back up plan. I was talking to a potential future employer and he was talking about a position that he thought would be good for me: a private gardener for one of their clients. It took me a second because it sounded funny but the more I thought about it, the more I liked it. How cool would it be where all you do is maintain the grounds of a property for someone? You get to make the decision on the flowers planted, when the sprinklers go off, and whether to put gravel or nice stones in the walking path. I want to help others to see the beauty of this earth. 

So plan A... teach gardening classes in the community... Plan B... become a private gardener... wish me luck!