A Little Slice of Home

What a wonderful weekend it has been! I was especially excited to see a few familiar faces on Saturday afternoon. A few of my friends were on their way to Vermont for Alpha Gamma Rho's National Convention and decided to make a pit stop in Cleveland. It was great to see everyone again, I have really missed these guys. The men of Alpha Gamma Rho at the University of Minnesota have been very influential during my college years, not only as great friends but as ambassadors of agriculture. They were very encouraging when I was struggling as a design student and switching to pursue my degree in Horticulture instead. I know they are always there for me and I was so excited they made it a point to stop and visit. I treated them to lunch at the one and only Mama Santa's! I figured since I am living in Little Italy, it was only appropriate to treat them to some delicious pizza, and they approved! 


The rest of Saturday was spent in Lakewood, now Lakewood is definitely not London but I got the slight feeling the Lakewood Criterium bicycle race had a similar vibe to some of the Olympic events across the pond! Or at least I pretended that to subdue my jealousies of my family being in attendance! I've never watched a bicycle race before so to watch these professionals hard at work was very exciting. I was amazed at the speed and consistency of their movement, it was quiet phenomenal. And of course there was no shortage of cow bells, brought me right back to high school ski races minus the cold of course. 

Sunday was an early morning brought on by a Grande Caramel Macchiato, it was the only way I could start my eight hour day of ongoing morning chores at CBG! I make it sound a bit dreadful, but working on the weekend isn't so awful. I'm the only one of the horticultural staff working, so it's quiet but it's nice to have that, I appreciate the time to think and enjoy the garden. Plus, I get to the give the daily tour. I only had one couple interested in taking a tour, so I gave them a really in depth guide to the garden. They were very friendly and interactive which made it an enjoyable experience, it was almost better to have sort of a one on one opportunity. It also enforced the fact that tours really aren't so bad, I actually kind of like giving them! Once all of the watering and morning duties were finished up, I also had a bit of time to dedicate towards my intern project.  I've been making progress over the last few days, but now is when I really need to kick it into to gear - only one week until presentations!

After work, it was off to the beach to squeeze out the last few ounces of the weekend, and it was worth it.  Sunsets at Mentor are going to be forever burned into my mind as one of my best memories of Cleveland.  There are no words to describe how amazing and beautiful they truly are. 

Today was a tough day, and I was even working in Costa Rica which usually makes the day fly by.  I believe I had hit the point of overly tired followed by overly caffinated, it was not a pleasant transition.  Despite the hours seeming to drag by and the only thing I could really concentrate fully on was an after work nap, I still learned a lot of new things.  This morning, we took a small field trip over to the Seidman Cancer Center's new healing garden.  It's design is based on the elements of earth, wind, fire and air.  So, there are basically four components to the garden featuring different sculptural pieces to imitate the elements.  It was a very interesting design, but I felt like they could have had a greater consideration for the plantings.  There are a lot of great, interesting cultivars out there that would really look great in the space!  Another thing that I really liked was the fact they incorporated a planted hill for patients to observe while they are receiving radiation.  I felt that was a really powerful element of the garden.

In Costa Rica, I did some re-potting of plants, and learned that Mark and Joe each have their own, different (emphasis on different) methods of re-potting.  I used Joe's method which I learned last week and really piled on the new soil.  I do appreciate Mark for his willingness to teach though, because he could have simply fixed my mistakes and let it be but instead he told me what I did wrong, why it was wrong, and how to fix it.  This is another reason why I know that this internship has been so beneficial because the staff is willing to really engage interns and teach them.  I also learned how to re-pot orchids.  Ever since my failed attempting at keeping my orchid alive in Apt. C back home, orchids have always scared me a little.  Today, I got the confidence that they really aren't so bad as long as take care of them properly which involves potting them in the proper media.  We used a media of wood chips, charcoal, and crushed rock which is great for absorbing just enough water for orchids to be happy. 

All in all, another great few days!  Plus, I enjoyed working with Leslie in the glasshouse today, we had a fun time despite both having a serious case of the 'Mondays!'  I am going to miss my fellow interns as the both are leaving me sooner than later.  I have really enjoyed working with them this summer.  Now it's off to make some more progress on my project and enjoy my day off tomorrow!