Employment at greenhouse keeps writer busy

New experiences every day

 

Editor’s note: Emma Ayres is a student at Imlay City high school who is pursuing a journalism career. She has shared her work with the Tri-City Times from time to time.

IMLAY CITY — School is finally out for the summer, which means I’m back to doing what I do best.

This year has had me on the ground running from day one. August to May, I was down on the football field capturing the action with my camera, studying for my AP Environmental Science exam, preparing for my trip to Washington, D.C. as a national youth correspondent which is approaching faster than ever, and a plethora of other things that kept me busy.

One of my bigger accomplishments is a more recent feat. I got a job. It isn’t very well known, but I have a rather green thumb. My specialty is succulents and desert plants.

I have been guilty of buying a new succulent dude whenever I can. I needed a job and didn’t want to do something tedious like an everyday retail job.

I knew my mind would feel like it was falling asleep. Between the slow-paced everyday grind of pushing carts in from the parking lot, running the cash register and the lack of mental stimulation, I knew that retail and I would not jibe well.

There was one exception to that rule for me. If I got to work with plants, I knew I would be in my element. All of the distracting noise of everyday life tends to go out the window when I am working with something green.

I thought about working at a greenhouse like Bordines, but I wasn’t necessarily down for the long daily commute. I thought about applying to American Tree.

My mom sent me an advertisement for a position at Monty’s farms on Vandyke just before I had made up my mind. She knew I would be interested. I jumped at the opportunity.

I was sound asleep, at 10:30 on a Sunday morning, when my ringtone started blaring. That’s one thing both writing and commercial work have forced me to get used to: phone conversations instead of texting.

I sat up and answered, putting on my most wide-awake voice possible and said, “Hello?” It was someone from the farm. They had said they were making calls on Monday. I smiled; they must have really liked me then to be calling me early.

Sure enough, they asked me when the soonest I could come in for an interview was. I said, “Right now.”

I had no idea what to expect for a job interview, so I put on my favorite t-shirt and a pair of leggings before heading out the door.

I don’t know what I was expecting, but it turned out to be much better than I hoped. My boss was a kind but stern woman with striking, icy-blue eyes named Jen.

My interview was less a series of questions to see if I was fit for the job, and more, you’re hired, can you handle a hose and a cash register? She asked me if I knew anything about watering plants. I smiled and told her a little bit about what I do with my succulents, which is very different from watering crops and flowers.

You don’t let flower displays and tomato plants go bone dry in between waterings; they love moisture. I learned how to tell if a plant needed to be watered by weight.

I also learned to tuck the hose underneath the foliage of hanging baskets when watering them to avoid mussing up their flowers. The delicate petals of petunias are especially vulnerable to wind and water damage.

On my first day, I knew I would love it. It didn’t feel like work to me. You’re telling me I get paid to water greenhouses and be out in the sunshine? It was the best possible outcome in my job search.

When I wasn’t learning how to work the cash register and how to spot the difference between the different pot sizes, I was exploring the greenhouses.

The little greenhouse in the front of the store held flowers, coleus, vegetables, strawberry plants, spider plants, and to my delight, succulents and cacti. I know more about succulents than I do cacti, but I know enough about each to get by.

The homeschool in me forgot that not everyone walks around referring to things by their scientific name. I don’t either, I just happened to know the brilliant genus of roseting succulent as Echeveria.

Jen informed me that Echeveria succulents were called hens and chicks by most people. I just nodded along. As I was looking, I found a large display of the “hens and chicks” with huge rosettes and had to take it home. I was going to turn it into my own succulent display, in the extremely large blue ceramic pot with side pockets my aunt had recently gifted me.

As I continued to browse the shelves, I noticed a variety of different cacti. I have always wanted to own a cactus. Not just any cactus, a little round cactus that my character Kirk would call a spiky dude.

These cacti are called mammillaria cacti, and I am currently in month six of what feels like my hundredth attempt at growing my own. The cacti they had weren’t what I was looking for.

I wasn’t sure what kind of cacti they had growing, but they seemed adjacent to the jungle cactus I also inherited from my aunt, called a fishbone cactus. As an employee, I am one of the first people to see the selection of new products, and often get to “try out” fresh produce and body care items. A very popular item around the store is tomatoes.

I am not a huge fan, but my coworkers love them. While everyone else is munching on tomatoes and other vegetables, I am usually taking a look at the back counter to see if there are any other new goodies that might pique my interest.

My heart skipped a beat when I saw it. My other boss and the owner of the farm, Sean, had just received a container of little round cacti, like the ones I’ve always wanted to have.

I, of course, grabbed one and set him aside to add to my growing collection of desert plants, and as of recently, mystery ferns, spider plants, and monsteras, a climbing jungle plant which my aunt and I have dubbed monster plants.

I love the community just as much. It’s only been a few weeks, and I already have a treasure trove of stories to tell just sitting in the back of my mind waiting to be put on paper.

It’s an entirely different feeling to be lost in conversation while munching on fresh Michigan strawberries with your hands busy in the dirt planting basil plugs in a pot in the greenhouse. I know deep down I have come across the best job, not only for the summer, but throughout harvest time and hopefully into next season if they’ll let me.

I’m glad to have found a job that suits my interests and personality. It has made work feel like a hobby. It’s as if I get paid to do something I’d enjoy doing just for fun.