Transcript
Jessica : Thank you.
Alexis: All right, everybody, listeners, people on the podcast. And by people, I mean the same people that are ah that are always on the podcast. But listeners as well, I want you to take a drink of water. Everybody take a second to hydrate.
Alexis: All right. We're going into spring. We need to be hydrated.
Brett: You are pushing the hydration.
Alexis: I'm pushing the hydration. All right. I'm going I'm going to do it. I'm going to if you're watching this on YouTube. I don't care. i know it's a podcast. We're all collectively drinking some water.
Alexis: Very good. I'm very proud of all of you.
Jessica : and
Alexis: um You are basically just a plant and you need some water and some sunshine. So let's never forget.
Brett: I am.
Plant People: kind of plant are we? What kind of plant are we?
Brett: I'm not a plant.
Alexis: I don't know. What kind of plant are you?
Brett: Industry plant, maybe.
Alexis: Yeah.
Plant People: don't know. How about what kind of plant you are you today as we sit here? What kind of plant are you as you sit here right now?
Jessica : oh
Plant People: What kind of plant? Because, you know, we change over time. We can be different plants.
Alexis: Sure, sure. Today, the vibe is um I'm to go with Econops, which is blue globe thistle, if you are not familiar with that.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: ah And it is exactly as it sounds. It is blue, it is ah round, and it is prickly, and that is how I feel. But it's really pretty, That's
Plant People: Okay. Okay. That's a whole vibe.
Alexis: That's my vibe. That's who I am today.
Plant People: Yeah. Okay. Strong.
Alexis: Anybody else?
Plant People: Jessica, what are you feeling?
Jessica : I, I don't, I don't even know what I am feeling.
Plant People: So if you don't know what you're feeling, are you like a pothos fan?
Jessica : What's I, I guess so.
Plant People: You're kind of right in the middle.
Jessica : i don't even know what is, I'm, what are the, I'm the mother of millions, right? Is that, what is that plant called?
Plant People: Oh, nice.
Jessica : There
Alexis: Yeah, mother mother of millions.
Plant People: Well played. Well played.
Alexis: Yeah, yeah the the succulent.
Jessica : go. That's, that is currently what I am.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: Just little babies dropping off of you everywhere.
Plant People: I love it. Not knowing you did very well there.
Jessica : yeah
Plant People: That seems like you just might have nailed something.
Jessica : ah that was That was pretty good.
Plant People: So, yeah, that was pretty good on the fly. brett what are you feeling?
Brett: i I feel like ah a daffodil that came out a little too early.
Jessica : Oh.
Plant People: under Under threat, under threat, little anxious.
Brett: Just just the the the conditions the conditions don't feel optimal for my overall well being at the moment, but the this is a transitory thing that ultimately can maybe get fixed ah by the passage of time.
Alexis: blown
Plant People: Okay. Hmm. That's very existential. I kind of like it.
Jessica : Warm your temperatures on the way.
Plant People: and Very nice. I like it.
Brett: Yeah, warmer temperatures are on the way, hopefully a little less brutal wind and heavy rains, you know, just a little bit more moderation, a little bit chiller vibes in a variety of ways.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : Yeah, the wind.
Plant People: More pleasant vibes. Yeah, more pleasant.
Brett: Yeah. How about you, Ray?
Plant People: Good deal.
Alexis: Ray?
Plant People: I would say oxalis. I can be pleasant, but I'm feeling a little spicy. So, yeah. I've got a little tang to me, so maybe oxalis today.
Jessica : A little thing.
Plant People: and just a background or green.
Alexis: Are you...
Plant People: I'm background green on the ground right now, but little spicy.
Alexis: i'm a Oxalis in the greenhouse industry is either a plant that you grow on purpose and you sell it for, you know, ah as shamrocks for st Patrick's Day, or it is a horrible greenhouse weed.
Plant People: Yes. The bane of your existence.
Alexis: Yes, a horrible greenhouse weed.
Plant People: Yeah. The bane of your existence. Yes. Well, I could be either. I could be sort of ornamental on some days, but I could be the bane of existence on others.
Alexis: um Don't they have the little seed pods that explode?
Plant People: They can. Yeah.
Jessica : you
Alexis: So you you you and your exploding seed pods.
Plant People: Yes. That is the spicy.
Brett: Yeah, Ray started as a feature, but now he's become a problem.
Plant People: I'm bringing the spice. So there you go.
Plant People: Yes. I was a solution, but now I'm the problem.
Brett: yeah
Plant People: Yes. Yes. I like that bread. Some days that is me. That's a pretty fair descriptor. So, yeah.
Alexis: I feel like that feeds very well into what we're talking about today, which is our, how our personality types feed or influence maybe our garden style, right?
Alexis: That's sort of the, the GM we're talking about.
Brett: Oh, that's correct.
Alexis: Yes. Yeah.
Brett: That's correct.
Alexis: Which I think all of us are very different, but I wonder how similar our gardens would be.
Plant People: I don't know. Yeah, I guess the real question is how we see ourselves versus how we actually express ourselves, which, you know, when we do surveys, you have to ask what people think, but then you have to follow up later in the survey with what they actually do.
Alexis: Who wants to start?
Brett: Yeah.
Alexis: Hmm.
Alexis: Uh huh.
Plant People: So I guess we have to start with how we see ourselves or if we've used any instruments to gauge ourselves or check into our personalities.
Alexis: Okay.
Brett: Yeah.
Plant People: Maybe that's a good place to start. Have you guys done anything anything like that?
Brett: Yes.
Plant People: Like, know there's lots of personality profiler things, or we talk about it in group settings and organizational settings, and there's all these tools and assessments.
Jessica : Well, yes.
Plant People: So I thought that maybe you guys had done some of those.
Jessica : Yeah, I just did a really in-depth one with UK and my office.
Plant People: Okay.
Jessica : um It's the DISC assessment, the communication and behavioral strengths self-report. So I have like a whole...
Brett: What does the D stand for?
Jessica : And disc.
Plant People: Destruction. No, I'm just kidding.
Jessica : Dominance. Dominance, influence, steadiness, and consistence.
Brett: oh
Jessica : Being consistent.
Brett: Consistency.
Plant People: Hmm.
Brett: Consistency.
Jessica : Consistency.
Plant People: Did it give you any basic insights into kind of how it kind of categorized?
Jessica : It did. It was really cool. It's 35 pages Yeah.
Plant People: Oh, wow.
Alexis: ah Oh goodness.
Plant People: That's, that's, that is some content there.
Brett: Wow.
Alexis: what
Jessica : It is some content. It was actually pretty cool. um It gives you your natural style and your work style.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : So how um how you act more, you know, at work versus at home. So like on mine, i am more of a steady person at the office.
Jessica : And then I'm also a, what was the I, what did I say that one was? Influence, like people person, way more at the office versus it's kind of flipped at home life.
Brett: Wow.
Jessica : And like, I'm more dominant at home than I am at the office and more consistent in home and my natural style.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Brett: wow
Jessica : But it kind of like makes sense that, You know, in our jobs and extension, we suddenly have to get in front of a lot of people and talk to a lot of people.
Jessica : So it kind of like my job has made it where I am more of like that influence, you know, high on my my thing.
Plant People: Hmm. Hmm.
Brett: So are you ever like the same thing at home and work? Some people are?
Jessica : Some people were pretty close. Some of them were.
Brett: Like they're dominant everywhere or they're non?
Jessica : hu Yes.
Brett: Okay.
Jessica : And some of them were completely opposite with my coworkers. Like mine are still like my dominant was still low on both of them, but it was like a little higher upper at home.
Brett: I gotcha.
Jessica : But um those three, the I, S and C were all pretty close together. They just flipped a little bit at home life.
Brett: So is the is the implication that the the home natural one is sort of like who you fundamentally are and then the work one is who you become in a work environment or is it kind of?
Jessica : I believe so. Yeah.
Brett: Okay.
Jessica : It's like you've like adapted, right? Like what you have to adapt to, which makes sense that my, like, I'm more outgoing for work.
Brett: Sure.
Brett: Or not adapted and if you have a lot of conflicts.
Jessica : Right.
Brett: Maybe you haven't adapted.
Jessica : and Maybe I have not.
Brett: no not you specifically.
Jessica : So.
Brett: Maybe one one has not.
Jessica : Oh, well.
Alexis: shes
Brett: stop Stop dominating this interaction, Jessica.
Jessica : Yeah.
Alexis: Gosh, Jessica.
Jessica : I know. know.
Plant People: So you you have gained some gained some insight through DISC.
Brett: So you're using the disk.
Jessica : ah Pretty cool.
Jessica : Yeah, it like also tells you like the best ways that you work with people or how people like what you don't work well with.
Plant People: Gotcha.
Jessica : It has like a whole page of like, don't do these, don't say these things to Jessica.
Alexis: and fish
Brett: yeah
Jessica : Because she, i like it literally says that because it like, she will shut down, right?
Brett: Oh, man. I would love to get a hold of that list.
Plant People: Oh, man. Trigger points 101. one oh one
Jessica : or do you Or do say these things, these type of encouragements if you want like my most productivity.
Brett: That sounds really nice.
Jessica : so it's pretty cool.
Brett: so So do you have like, is it like there's a type that you have, like you're like a number or a thing, or is it just more of a profile across these variables?
Jessica : Yeah.
Jessica : It's a profile across these variables, but it will like break it down. It's like, I'm a high SI. Like that's what, like for this type of tests that I am.
Brett: So out of the disks, out of the DISC, you're high in S and I.
Jessica : So, and then...
Jessica : and High in pace and people, basically, it says. um
Brett: Nice.
Jessica : And then they also, like, color, you know, color-coordinated as well. And the instructor was good, and I've shared this with some of you all. Like, he gave examples of, like, different movie characters to, pe like, really hit it home.
Alexis: Hmm.
Jessica : And so, like, he did Star Wars. And, you know, your eye person was, like, Han Solo. Your... um c person who's like you know that consistent rule follower was like c3po the s like i was was luke skywalker and then you had and you can imagine who the dominant one was well you got darth vader right so and then he gave other movie examples it was pretty cool
Brett: your father.
Alexis: since
Alexis: ah
Brett: i am you know of father
Alexis: Darth.
Plant People: He is for Darth.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Brett: Pretty powerful though. I mean, so, so as you think about, and maybe we can give some feedback too, as you think about the, that those lessons you learned through that thing, what, how would you say you see that in your, in your approach to plants or gardening or even, you know, operating some of the plant business stuff?
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: What do you, do you see any of that in there?
Jessica : Right. So I like on mine, it says for like my natural style is to be that more consistent, like follow rules, um decision kind of thing.
Jessica : And that makes sense because with vegetable production wise, it I like having ah list of those varieties. I like having, i want to know where things are out in the field, you know, have that map laid out, that plan of stuff and having all that organized.
Jessica : Now with my flower beds at home, it kind of flips a little. Like I do like having like masses of color together, having some, you know, some design, but I am not a like designer. I would say I'm more of that flower.
Jessica : Let's try to do the cottage, you know, garden style.
Plant People: Thank you.
Alexis: Oh, this is pretty.
Jessica : This is pretty.
Alexis: Oh, this is pretty.
Jessica : try to put this together. But definitely with the vegetable side of things and fruit production, i will yeah i want to make it more orderly.
Alexis: and Business side.
Alexis: Orderly.
Jessica : Yeah. So I can see that with the personality traits.
Brett: Are there anything that...
Jessica : And I feel like Alexis would be very similar to that one because I just know.
Alexis: gri
Jessica : I just know.
Brett: Are there any like... feel You feel like there's any aspects of your personality or approach that you have... you Looking back now, thinking more about yourself and growing across time, you're like, oh yeah, I do struggle with that thing and have had to kind of adapt and change in order to be better.
Brett: You know, like some people would be bad with record keeping or they'd be... And they just, that's, they're more scatterbrained or some people would be more bad with... being able to let go of control when there's a crazy year or something like, are there are there things in your personality assessment that you feel like you've had to adapt somewhat?
Jessica : Right.
Jessica : Yeah. When I think about like farm business wise with that, with changes over the years from how we first started managing everything to now and then working with very fortunate work with my like in-laws through this business and then my husband and how they approach things, their personality is very different from how I would approach things and being able to manage, um manage that. Cause like, well, I was thinking of examples as I was going through this training about how my husband at home is more of that influence person, like instantly called me and was like, Hey, we should do this. We could add this, we can do this. And then I, in return, i was like, okay,
Jessica : That sounds great. But how much is that going to cost? Where are we going to put it?
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Jessica : Who's going to do this?
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Jessica : so And I mean, it works in the end, ah but just, you know, over time realizing how to work with those other, know, to make it work as a whole, because they can all work together, right?
Jessica : All the personalities fit together and can work, um even if they are extremely opposite. so
Alexis: My mom used to say growing up that my dad was the dreamer and she was the doer. And so he would come up with the great ideas and she'd figure out ways to get them done. And they worked together to get them done. But she always said, like oh, your dad, he's such a dreamer.
Plant People: Thank
Jessica : Right.
Brett: So are you, Alexis, are you more of a dreamer or a doer or something else? What was your reference point for understanding thyself?
Alexis: I, well, Brett but convinced me I needed to know my Enogram type. And I was like, all right, let's let's figure that out. And ah it it hit so close to home. I actually was rereading it and it was...
Alexis: It nailed it. Right. So I'm a one for those of you out here there who know your Enogram types. I am a one, which ah is known as the reformer, but I'm very i'm a critical perfectionist.
Alexis: Everyone here is shocked.
Jessica : Thank you.
Alexis: I'm very mission oriented. I'm very practical in things. Um, I feel like I have to justify everything that I do, which is all, all tracking. So I tend to think I am logical.
Alexis: ah but really I'm just looking for reasons to like rationalize what I already want to do
Plant People: Justification.
Alexis: Yeah.
Brett: Yeah.
Alexis: Yeah. Yeah. So, uh,
Brett: And I think one one of the interesting, we were talking about this a couple of weeks ago. And I think one of the interesting things that came up was if if there's the option of like, let's, we're going to overthink this almost, you know, we coming up with a plan is coming up with a plan and that's great.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Brett: But if if it comes down to let's overthink this or let's just do it. And, and are you more likely to be the person who's saying we've thought through it? We said things, let's just do it.
Brett: We don't need to talk through it yet again.
Jessica : Thank
Brett: Or are you more likely to be the person who's going to overthink, overthink, overthink?
Alexis: Yeah, i ah i I feel like I told you one thing, but the more ah i really I actually looked at my actions for it, I am the... I mean, i do want to think about it. I do want to make a plan, but then it's done and I'm going to go do it.
Alexis: And it's either...
Brett: That's what you said. That's what you said before.
Alexis: Yeah. Is that what I said?
Brett: Same.
Plant People: It's going.
Brett: Yeah.
Alexis: i was like, I don't know if I told you was going to overthink it.
Plant People: It's going.
Alexis: I get a little, um I married an engineer. So he is a, he is a big planner um and which is great most of the time, but yeah, I'm the one pulling out the, you know, drill or the chainsaw and I'm like, okay, let's just, let's just go.
Alexis: like We got to do it. We got to do it. We got to take the step now.
Brett: Yeah. Yeah.
Alexis: Yeah.
Brett: and So you find yourself saying, let's go, let's do it. And he finds, finds himself sometimes saying, Can we just talk this through real quick?
Alexis: One more time.
Brett: You know, just make sure. Yeah, that's funny.
Alexis: Yes.
Brett: Any, what other, any other kind of ways that you see that, that stuff playing out in your ah approach to clients?
Jessica : Thank you.
Alexis: Yeah, I think. um ah People, i think, often are confused on why someone who's who likes a lot of order would want to, um you know, grow things and work with nature.
Alexis: And, you know, Jessica probably can attest to this as well. But it's nice because we can have lots of straight lines. We can have plans. We can have, you know, sections. Beautiful. In my case, swaths of color.
Alexis: And so you do have the opportunity to make plans. But... a lot of the time you have to twist on the fly, right? Because hailstorm comes in or the ground's too wet. And so ah nature kind of gives us, ah gives me an opportunity to ah quickly change course.
Alexis: And i have a reason for doing that that's not myself. because I can't let myself be the problem, right? ah But Mother Nature is the problem. And so I'm like, well, that's just what she gave me. And so I can roll with it.
Alexis: And that has been, i think that's what keeps it exciting and fun and why we plan every year. And while we're while we say, well, there's always always next year, there's always next season ah when we grow things. So I don't know, that's that's sort of like my garden style. I like to have like very pristine lines, but man, if I've got extra plugs of something, I'm throwing them in everywhere.
Brett: So do you, and this is for you, Jessica, as well, do you would you be more likely, do you think, and and just to say the quiet part out loud about this episode, we're sort of trying to let you know a little bit more about us, but also there's different many, many different ways to approach plants and gardening and and thinking about stuff and know thyself as a starting point to then be able to either embrace that and go with that or or correct it.
Jessica : Hmm.
Brett: Would you be more likely to reach, you know, you sort of start your start all your plants, you get to June or July and you would you more be more likely to have the experience of, man, i started way too much stuff or I put way too much a bit off way more than I can chew or man, I really wish that I had planted even more than what I did, but I was kind of cautious and or or so somewhere in between.
Jessica : I'm probably going to plant. We're probably going to start more than because I'm going to think, well, what if something happens and they don't all make it? Or what if, right? Like, what if we break a bunch of while we're transplanting them or whatever?
Plant People: That structure, yeah.
Jessica : And we can find a spot for them, right?
Brett: Sure.
Jessica : Or just like...
Brett: We can find a spot for him.
Alexis: We'll figure it out.
Jessica : but about a smart forum again so We can them.
Brett: The eyes of the gardener there.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : We can sell them at the market.
Plant People: We can handle it.
Jessica : we can you know or My husband brought me home two flats of marigolds last year. did I need two flats marigolds?
Alexis: Okay.
Plant People: lot of marigolds.
Jessica : Not really.
Plant People: lot of marigolds.
Jessica : But we just put marigolds everywhere. We had marigolds everywhere last year and we just made it work. um But I think I would always do more. Maybe that's mine and Sean's downfall about that.
Brett: What about, what about like, ver what about variety?
Jessica : that's He just brought home 12 chicks the other night. So we don't need 12 more chickens.
Brett: Like, like, do you feel like you accidentally do too much variety of stuff? Like too many different varieties of stuff?
Jessica : that's That's a good example of how we've grown over the years, right?
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Brett: Hmm.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Jessica : Because we used to do so many varieties of tomatoes. And now we've like really narrowed it down to ones that we know do really well.
Brett: Hmm.
Jessica : What sells at the market, ones that are going to produce well. And we still like maybe add in one or two like new ones to But where you don't have like 20 varieties anymore, we're down to like 10, say, varieties that we know are going to work for us.
Jessica : um
Brett: What happened when you had too many, what happened that made you change?
Jessica : So that is something.
Jessica : ah Sometimes labels not being right out in the field, not exactly knowing what we had, ah being really disappointed in some that like we purchased a lot that were supposed to be good and then they ended up being duds um and just making it easier to manage.
Alexis: and
Brett: Yeah.
Jessica : like we've we've We've reached our point where we know um like we can't really expand anymore unless we're willing to leave Leave our ah current adult jobs, right?
Alexis: Yeah.
Jessica : um Like we've reached that point of management in our system. And, you know, it took a few years of growing pains and just figuring out um what works and what doesn't work.
Jessica : And maybe we don't need to spend so much on something. mean, and every year there's at least one thing that he's like, we're going to grow this this year.
Brett: Sure.
Jessica : It's popcorn this year. We'll see how that goes. So...
Alexis: I feel like this, I feel like this perfectly fits in.
Brett: Managing enthusiasm.
Alexis: I just gave a talk on growing for your market. And so I was talking about a bunch of different flower types of flower markets, uh, that you could be in. And it was like the, you know, talking about quantities to grow, how many different things should you grow, you know, colors you should grow all these kinds of things.
Alexis: And, um, it like, the biggest thing I told people was grow your workhorses. So, you know, hope if you've got experience, then, you know, you know what works for you, what you can sell, you know, ah the the main things, ah but then experiment with one or two different things every year.
Brett: Thank you.
Alexis: And that's what keeps it fresh. And like, that's something that that I do where i make things justify the space and time that I put into them. But I also want like to be excited about growing something new and trying something out, even if I know it might suck or ah like I grow pansies, which are not great cut flowers in the grand scheme of things, but there there's something like special and cool. And I'm like, look at the little ones, you know? so
Brett: So which is there one of those two viewpoints that you said sort of play to your workhorses versus have something exciting for yourself?
Alexis: um
Alexis: isn
Brett: Is there one of those that comes more naturally to you and one of them that you have to kind of know and manage through experience that I need to focus more on this or is it? Yeah, I'm curious about that.
Alexis: um Yeah, no, I don't know. I feel like they equally, I like the order of it, but I like something that ah is going to be fresh, right? And I'm always wanting to, what's the new thing that's going to get people excited?
Jessica : ah Yeah.
Alexis: um
Jessica : Yeah.
Brett: Have you always done both or did one of those get added more recently than the other?
Alexis: no I have always done both.
Brett: Cause I could see, I could imagine somebody, and this is again, what type of gardener are you?
Alexis: Yeah, some but a new, yep. Yeah.
Brett: like I'm going to go in and make this just ah it' an efficient production system with the things that are most profitable.
Alexis: Yeah.
Brett: And it's going to be a hellscape that I am no way enjoy spending time in because it's so efficient.
Alexis: Yeah.
Jessica : Right. Right.
Alexis: We're
Brett: Versus, or someone who's like, vi let's just vibe up, you know, but throw out handfuls or whatever.
Alexis: going to throw some scenes.
Jessica : Yeah.
Plant People: Put some stuff out.
Brett: And yeah.
Alexis: Yeah.
Jessica : Yeah.
Alexis: Yeah.
Brett: Interesting. Wow.
Jessica : That, yeah, always makes it fun. Like, it's like, we always try something new like that. Like, we've always done that.
Alexis: and
Jessica : But like I said, like, just scaled it back some with we're doing.
Alexis: Yeah.
Jessica : But like, I just was telling somebody yesterday about how one year my husband got so excited because he was going to grow red, white and blue potatoes.
Alexis: ah
Jessica : And we did. And he thought for sure that they were just going to like month of July.
Alexis: Fly.
Jessica : Oh, they're going to fly. Nobody wanted our blue potatoes. No, but we ate so many blue potatoes.
Brett: put them all together and make match brown mashed potatoes.
Jessica : Yeah. He met. Yeah. He had his like little red, white, and blue container of potatoes to sell at the market. And they just did not didn't move.
Plant People: Oh,
Alexis: Aww, I love that.
Jessica : Right. So.
Alexis: I would have done the same thing.
Jessica : right
Alexis: I'd be like, these gonna fly off the shelf.
Jessica : But Barry. Yeah.
Brett: This is what the people want.
Plant People: this is going to be amazing.
Jessica : So excited. Yeah.
Brett: What about you, Ray? you You had a different, or what what was your ah tool or mechanism for knowing thyself and and what did you learn?
Plant People: Over time, like ah you know, we've done different things. You know, I guess Alexis and Jessica have talked about two tools. Well, a tool that I've used as far as personality profiles go is one that's, I guess, pretty well known or was pretty well known, ah Myers-Briggs assessment.
Jessica : Thank you.
Plant People: I've had that a couple of times.
Alexis: Amen.
Plant People: And ah both times, I guess, I've been pretty close on what I came out as, which, you know, was ENFJ and I won't go into a lot of details about that but that basically stands for and I try to translate that to gardening it's introvert or extrovert and of course I was an extrovert big shocker to those that know me I tend to be kind of introverted at home but at work I you know I'm a functional extrovert uh and um the N was intuition which in a garden that kind of translates um
Plant People: to experimenting and designing, which kind of makes sense. I was, I did a little, I'm not a landscape designer, but I did commercial landscape designs before I came into extension through a commercial um organization.
Plant People: And it was pretty interesting design install, which, you know, you learn a lot about people because you almost have to approach it as an investigator, what they think they want, what they actually want, but it was a real learning opportunity.
Jessica : Thank
Plant People: ah But that was my, E-N, N being um intuition is what it stands for. So that's the experimental side. ah F is feeling, which in a garden, that means I connect, I guess, to emotion more than I do just code logic. ah That's the way I connect to people and that's way I view the world. And let's see, E, N, F, and J is judging, which is i approach things with a kind of a structured approach.
Plant People: ah That's what it would translate into the garden. The flip side of that would be perceiving. That's the flexible go as you kind of go with the flow sort of approach. So ENFJ, and I was trying to think how that related.
Plant People: ah to my gardening, both in my former professional activities and then kind of how garden at home, but I'm sort of all over the place. Um, as an extrovert, I don't do a lot of extroverted stuff at home garden because it's all personal gardening.
Jessica : Hmm.
Alexis: Thank you.
Plant People: And part of that is just the way that our lots laid out. I don't have anything much out in front besides just landscaping in the back is where, ah my wife, um, She has, um, you know, a nice cut flower garden, that which grows every year and takes up my vegetable space. Thank you very much.
Plant People: Uh, but, uh, As far as just the way I want things to look in back, it's interesting when I started thinking about this because I do like everything to have boundaries that you know it's a landscape bed.
Plant People: Talking more about landscaping, it doesn't matter if it's flowers or vegetables.
Jessica : Thank you.
Plant People: I want it to look like it's intentional, but there's no straight lines in anything that I do. I'm very much a curvilinear designer, no straight lines. And when I prune plants, I like natural form habit versus rigid shearing, and that plays into That kind of played into my personality.
Plant People: But as far as the plants that go inside of the gardening, I like for them to have a purpose. Just me personally.
Alexis: m
Plant People: Like, I mean, tomatoes can be pretty, people. Lettuce can be pretty. Things that I grow
Alexis: Agreed.
Plant People: Yeah, I mean, it can be fun and functional. And that's the type gardener I am for.
Alexis: Edible landscaping.
Plant People: I love the edible landscaping stuff.
Jessica : uh-huh huh
Plant People: So I, the more I started thinking about this, I'm like, how in the world am I going to translate this in? But you really kind of can. And so that went along with the kind of the feeling section, I think is I wanted to be functional, but i also wanted to feel good about the garden. Like you said earlier, Brett.
Plant People: Uh, so yeah, I want it to look like an landscape bed, but at the same time, my favorite type of garden is a cottage garden. Uh, But I want that cottage garden to have nice borders, nice edging around it.
Plant People: So you can tell it's a landscape bed, but it can be a ride of color on the inside.
Jessica : Yes, i love that.
Plant People: You know, I love that. but And I'm also one of those gardeners that I realized the hardest thing to accomplish in landscapes and it's deceptive is simplicity. So I always err on the side of simplicity as far as adding elements and colors.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: If it's more of a aesthetic landscape, I will establish a landscape planting and then hang everything off of a structure. So I do approach my gardening activities as far as landscapes in a very structured manner.
Plant People: You apply all the principles of design, space, element, scale, all of that stuff. You apply that, but the garden out back, it's a ride of color. It's a different story because it's for us.
Plant People: And my wife is involved with that, and she is more on the artistic side of things.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: So she loves just everything that looks like a 70s rock concert. She loves the color and the noise and I, and I'm good with that too.
Jessica : Thank you.
Plant People: So I guess I'm a little bit here and a little bit there all over the scale, but I am a community gardener. I do love the community type. I'm an extrovert. So I do love plant swaps and things like that, but I also enjoy my time in the back of the garden.
Plant People: That's away from people that I'll go have a cup of coffee, sit and look at the, you know, geraniums or whatever. Yeah.
Jessica : I think that's really common for us in our field as I have so i've known you all for a while and I've known you know a couple of other extension agents because we get so um just kind of like how my personality thinks. It's like I'm more extroverted in my job than at home.
Jessica : And i see I see that across with a lot of people in extension because we extroverted. extroverts at work a lot of times and so then when we're like more introverted within our home lives and even with our even with our gardening yeah
Alexis: Don't speak to me!
Plant People: yeah I need my batteries to recharge.
Alexis: yeah Don't call. the answer is no. Yeah.
Jessica : I often in the spring just get peopled out like great great people interactions like a fantastic day at work but then time you come home I'm just like I'm just I'm done peopling can't people anymore
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: yeah
Brett: Yeah, I mean, chocolate cake is delicious, but if you have too much of it, you start feeling bad.
Jessica : really
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : Do you? Do you?
Plant People: Eventually your health is going to suffer.
Brett: Well, I mean, I would be happy to to have a ah cake off with you and we'll just see who regrets it first.
Jessica : Okay.
Plant People: Who gives up first?
Jessica : Yeah, who regrets that first? Yeah.
Plant People: I would do that before I would have a peach off with you.
Alexis: Who's gonna peak?
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: So Ray, are do you think you're more, the kind of the question earlier, do you think you're more likely to bite off more than you can chew or you're more likely to say, man, I kind of wish I had put out more?
Plant People: No, I kind of am a planner as far as structure goes. I try not to put out it because I'm thinking of one thing at home. How hot is it going to be in July? Yeah. and
Jessica : um
Plant People: Me personally, I'm always a planner. I want to know how much water it's going to take to automatically water that stuff to keep it alive so I don't have to worry about it. So I kind of try to hit the mark. I reflect on what I did the previous year and what worked well and apply that to the next year. So in that manner, um I'm pretty structured. So I try to err on the side of, once again, simplicity and a little bit too less than a little bit too much. So, yeah.
Alexis: So what he's saying is he's never wrong about Brett.
Brett: Have you all...
Alexis: brett
Plant People: Oh, not according to my wife who wants more flowers all the time.
Brett: Yeah, they were wrong. Everything was the plan.
Plant People: More flowers, all the flowers.
Brett: Have you all done the Myers-Briggs before? Do you happen to remember any of your...
Jessica : I have done it, but I do not remember. i just, i don't remember what I was, though. It's been several years.
Alexis: Yeah, I know mine was that I was actually more introverted than extroverted and that shocked everybody.
Brett: Yeah.
Alexis: But that could just be how I was feeling that day when I took the test. Yeah.
Plant People: Actually, you know, you've got all these tools. He's a nice AI tool. And so I was like, well, can I translate this over using a rubric? And I did, ENFJ. And it says, my my ideal gardens, based on my Myers-Briggs topology, is cottage gardens, no shocker, bursting with life and color in a mix of flowers and edibles, which kind of describes the situation.
Alexis: Love it. Super cool.
Plant People: Wildlife-friendly gardens, love that. Something to attract things like birds, bees, butterflies. We do have a little pollinator garden. At the very end, down next to Elkhorn Creek, where we live. Let's see. Shared community gardens. m I don't do that personally, but now at work, I'm all about that. Love those things.
Plant People: And therapy gardens, which I work with a couple of those at work on a regular basis, so that kind of makes sense. Peaceful corners with you know plants that can be used for a variety of purposes. But yeah, it's great.
Alexis: The idea of community gardens would... i think they are a beautiful idea, um but I would lose my mind personally. ah So...
Jessica : agreed
Plant People: they're not completely under control.
Brett: like could see I can see you winding it up.
Alexis: and i i If I had to argue with somebody about what is in my garden bed, i would freak out.
Brett: But they're a beautiful idea.
Alexis: Yeah.
Jessica : i could not imagine like with like pests and yeah stuff like that yeah brett i know everybody's like brett your turn
Plant People: no, everybody has their own plot. Everybody has their own plot. Yeah. Nobody touches anybody's plot.
Alexis: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Brett: Wow.
Plant People: Well, Brett, I was going say, seeing your beautiful backyard area with all these very interesting elements to your landscape, not only the front, but the back, I'm very interested in your insights into your own gardening activities.
Alexis: Brett, what about you?
Brett: Yeah. Well, so Alexis mentioned, and Alexis mentioned, how dare you, first off.
Alexis: he It's to show off.
Plant People: Flex. Flex.
Plant People: First of all, drop off a cliff, Alexis.
Brett: I told you that in compliments and now the whole podcast knows about it.
Plant People: How dare you?
Alexis: if
Brett: no So my ah my vantage point is through the the Enneagram, which I think is a really interesting, helpful way of understanding the world, understanding other people and yourself as far as motivations, your motivations to do things.
Alexis: As it is.
Brett: um so i And it's pretty common, i think, that when people find out what number they are they don't like it. Alexis' comment about too accurate or it really shines light on things about yourself that maybe you don't necessarily like, or you may have even worked to change or mitigate.
Brett: Um, but one of the things that I am a type three Enneagram, um, and one of the things about that type is that they like to be found impressive.
Plant People: Thank you.
Brett: They like for the things that they do to be impressive to people.
Alexis: Nailed it.
Brett: And,
Jessica : We all smiled at what the same time.
Alexis: We all smiled because we were like, his backyard. Nailed it.
Brett: and so and but But I happen to be married to a person who is significantly more chaotic in her approach to wildflowers and gardening.
Plant People: Thank you.
Brett: and so I think that there's a a tension there that... um plays out in our in our yard. And you can actually listen to our, ah we had we did a mini episode a couple, maybe a month or two ago, where Annie and I talk about the development of our garden across time. But even as I think back, so we had like a little mini horticulture system there with drip tape and header lines and all that kind of stuff.
Brett: Well, guess what? When you come over and look at it, that's really impressive. That's really cool. That's really interesting, intriguing, whatever. doesn't to be just like impressive in self-aggrandizing way, but just like wow, that's something I haven't seen before.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Brett: And then as we develop stuff further, it was like a little bit more of a hardscaping and some, some contouring and stones and stuff like that. Wow.
Plant People: Thank
Brett: And it feels like a, kind of like a park back there. And then on top of that, I've, you know, I added in all the bonsai stuff, ah which is, It's an like an art form where you are you're growing things and and and cultivating them specifically for the way that they appear to people.
Brett: So I think that's that's one way of understanding ah how and why I approach things the way that I have. But another another side of this is that... um For most of my life, I have have had ah like clinical major depression and anxiety disorders.
Brett: And i realized a couple of years ago when we were in the middle of a global pandemic, which turns out big trigger for major depression and anxiety disorders.
Brett: I would go and this is before we did some of our more intensive landscape changes.
Alexis: shocked.
Brett: i would just go and kind of sit outside and hang out out there. And i felt just a little bit better.
Alexis: in
Brett: It was kind of my one of the first times that i you know, i wasn't distracting myself. I wasn't, I was just sitting there listening, feeling, hearing, looking and started thinking, man, it would be really like cool if this space that we have here was more of a like retreat or refuge or whatever. And so that that also informs like i that's the the vision for what I want it to be. I want it to be like a little mini park with some landscaping and some
Brett: visually interesting things. That's like the, for me, what I need from it, what I've realized about myself, you know, is this quiet space, this quiet refuge place to to kind of hang out.
Alexis: Mmm.
Jessica : Thank you.
Brett: But then when we do it, I want to do it at the top level so that it's cool looking and really impressive. And there's a big, you know, Japanese informed archway, but not too appropriative. And and there's, you know, bonsai trees already.
Brett: So we don't need to go any further down that rabbit hole.
Alexis: mr
Brett: And also, but also um i have, you know, pretty strong values about a variety of of things. One of which is about just trying to provide a space for other life forms besides myself to thrive and and ah be happy.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Jessica : Mm-hmm.
Brett: And so we have a lot of stuff that's aimed at pollinators and um that's a big part of, you know, what we do as well. And so I think, Yeah, those are those are some overview thoughts of you know how i who I am as a person and how I – and I think the transition from the vegetable, intensive vegetable thing over to more of the landscape thing was me accepting like this is causing me more stress than benefit coming out of it.
Alexis: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Jessica : Yeah.
Plant People: ah too
Brett: And so let's do this. And now it's instead of being like, oh my God, this is a painful place to go and look and see it all the things that need to be done. And instead it's like, oh, look, this is blooming now.
Brett: Look at this. you know, these things are happening and and there's just a little bit more chill.
Jessica : Yeah.
Plant People: ah um When you're in a car, Cordy, I was going to just, oh go ahead, Jessica.
Jessica : So...
Plant People: Jessica.
Jessica : Oh, no, I was just saying that's why I love and maybe Alexis can relate to this. I love that separation I have of garden production with that versus like my flower beds at home and just like we're just going plant tons of sunflowers and enjoy them.
Alexis: z
Jessica : We're just going plant for butterflies and bees and going to love it for the heck of it.
Alexis: For the heck of it.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : Right. And so it's so nice to have that like refuge like you've been talking about to go to.
Alexis: Creative outlet.
Jessica : Yeah.
Alexis: Yeah.
Plant People: I always want spaces like that to be kind of ah relaxing. And that's a spot. And we've kind of protected that. We have lots of trees down back. And really, i just consider what little activities we do down there and a little patch of sun, flowers, a few vegetables, this, that, and the other, is it's just enhanced the tree line that's along the creek.
Jessica : Hmm.
Plant People: And that's my favorite feature is the shade by the tree line. So it's really just enhancing and working with what's there. know, I grew up kind of in the foothills of the eastern part of the state, and that's my biggest influences.
Plant People: ah Brett said almost like a retreat or refuge. That's the way I see my natural spaces is that number one, unless it has to be for food production, which in this case it doesn't. I look for that, and that area that's sort of natural and you can observe kind of natural cycles and things kind of taking place. But yeah.
Brett: And it is absolutely remarkable how much plants soften and enhance and they bring both like noise and quiet to a space and even like affect the like when just having plants that are growing and some of them you know lower down it compared to when we had sort of almost like bare ground vegetable beds.
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
Jessica : Right.
Jessica : right
Brett: it feels like 20 degrees cooler, just visually looking and seeing plants instead of just exposed soil or mulch or whatever, you know, plastic or whatever.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Brett: It just feels palpably different because there's these established anchor plants in the landscape and they're kind of put, they've put on some mass now and they're getting there. And then all the annuals and stuff we fill in with in between. Yeah.
Brett: Yeah. Yeah.
Alexis: ah ola I'll remind people if you are in a ah production, if you're listening and you're you're saying, well, that's all great and I do have you know my areas, but that doesn't make my production area any less stressful when I walk out.
Alexis: a Reminder, silage tarps are magical. If you don't know what a silage tarp is, even if you're a home gardener, they can be great. big They can be big black tarps and you throw it over your problem areas and they just disappear.
Alexis: Okay?
Plant People: That says a lot of making about your personality.
Alexis: Now, granted, you need you need to look you need to look at your, you know, this is an opportunity to look at your systems.
Plant People: I'm not sure, but.
Alexis: How can you, do you need to take on less moving forward so so that you can manage things better, blah, blah. blah But also it makes you feel a lot better to not see those really weedy areas or problem areas.
Jessica : Thank you.
Alexis: And, ah you know, i know black tarps are not the most um beautiful thing to look at. But it is way better than feeling bad about myself about all the Johnson grass that grew up because it hadn't stopped raining in two months.
Alexis: So I just wanted to share that with some people.
Plant People: Sometimes it's just about feeling good.
Brett: I also
Alexis: It's a blank slate and you just pull it off when you're ready. No harm, no foul.
Brett: also think too, like in your all's case, where where the um the production system and the like the growing space is part of a... like economic consideration and it's not, yeah your your retreat might be different from my retreat.
Jessica : Mm-hmm.
Brett: You know, it could be that maybe you look to get some houseplants for your living room or you look to maybe create a little space, you know, where you can sit and read and hang out and, or just, just like, I think just those, for me, those, those, those,
Alexis: Duh.
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
Jessica : huh
Alexis: isn
Brett: the way that the, the built environment in part, in the case of my case of a garden affects your mood is pretty wild. You know, all the, all the architects and landscape architects are like, yes, our whole thing, it's sort of our thing.
Plant People: yeah
Alexis: duh
Brett: um But it has a huge effect. And, and if you are thinking about putting out a garden and you're, you know, you know that you're the type of person who tends to go overboard, well maybe know, know that about yourself and pull back and don't quite, like quite go overboard because then you don't don't want it to be a stressful experience or,
Plant People: it does
Brett: I don't know. I think this is interesting and it's interesting to hear from you all.
Alexis: it's also okay to just like lay in the grass does anybody else just do that sometimes just kind of like lay there and look at the clouds don't I don't need it to be anywhere in particular sometimes I'm just like I I need to now and and I just feel the earth beneath me mm-hmm
Jessica : ah all All the time.
Brett: Yeah.
Brett: Yeah.
Jessica : Totally been doing that.
Brett: And we have, we have public spaces like parks and um that you can go to and and enjoy that. You don't have to have this.
Alexis: Horticulture is everything.
Brett: Yeah.
Alexis: that's what That's what Brett said once, and I'm rolling with it. Sometimes you just need to lay in the grass, okay?
Brett: Yeah.
Plant People: Watch the clouds.
Alexis: Ground yourself. Take your shoes off.
Jessica : ah
Alexis: You know, don't walk through any white clover, but...
Jessica : As you started, right, as you started this podcast, we all need to drink some water and go sit out in the sun, just like little plants.
Alexis: Yeah. Yes.
Jessica : And that's what, that's what you need sometimes.
Alexis: A little...
Jessica : Just even on these like still kind of cooler days, it's getting ready to warm up, but like the sun is out.
Alexis: hey
Alexis: a
Jessica : I have totally been going out there and they're like, I'm photosynthesizing right now. Like, like,
Alexis: yeah I saw i saw a video of some girl. She said, I'm going to go sunflower. And I was like, what? And she walked outside and she just ah stood there and tilted her head back and looked at the sun.
Alexis: and Because, you know, sunflowers, they say always follow the sun, even though like, but anyways, she goes in sunflower.
Jessica : who
Alexis: And I just thought that was such a cute way of saying that. Just go sunflower.
Jessica : yeah
Alexis: Go outside and get some sunshine.
Brett: Yeah, I would listen to that Post Malone song while I do it too. I'm
Alexis: I know.
Plant People: We started out all thorny. Now listen to us. I mean, we we were we were in this whole vibe.
Jessica : Now listen to us.
Brett: in...
Alexis: yes
Jessica : Now
Plant People: It felt like when we started out, now we're in a much better space thinking about all of the beautiful things that plants can do for us.
Jessica : i'm
Jessica : Yeah, I'm excited now. I've just been thinking the whole time. I'm like, I'm going to do this and this and this in the spring and we're going to plant this.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: isn
Plant People: going to go plant some oxalis.
Brett: i mean
Plant People: I actually seeded clover in lawn the other day. I was close.
Brett: So I'm in the middle of this is, i would say March is kind of the peak of repotting season for bonsai things that are in that trajectory.
Plant People: I was close.
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
Brett: And so I'm getting to dig things up that I have done. I did things to last year, not dig, get them out of a pot that did things to do last year and see the development of the roots below the surface.
Brett: Cause you don't really, work the way I'm doing it, you don't really see it.
Alexis: Yeah
Jessica : Oh, that's cool.
Brett: And then every year you get to see this progress and it's sort of this nice metaphor for a lot of things in our lives where we don't necessarily appreciate the progress that's kind of passively happening all the time. And it's important to have some sort of a check in where you're able to say, OK, and to that to that end, I want to give a shout out to Alexis, who at the extension conference ah recently won the outstanding extension specialist award from our professional organization.
Jessica : Woohoo!
Plant People: Woo!
Brett: It was again, one of those there's been so much happening and so many things going on.
Alexis: Thank you.
Brett: i wanted to take just a moment to ah pull pull her out of her pot, check her roots. Things look great. She's doing so much awesome stuff. And this this podcast has just been a shot in the arm, I think, for me, as we've been doing it when she was an agent. And now as Jessica came on board and of course, Ray and I have been here, been here the whole time, though he is not bald.
Brett: And I'm one bald boy.
Plant People: I'm working on it. I'm working on it
Alexis: But we are the brunette girls, so I do appreciate the flip of the switch here.
Jessica : No.
Alexis: So, fall boys to brunette girls.
Brett: There you go.
Plant People: Bald, blonde, and brunette. We've got our own rock group, basically. But congratulations, Alexis.
Alexis: Thanks, guys.
Jessica : Yes.
Alexis: I ah maybe have set the bar too high, ah but we're just going to...
Plant People: You have bossed girl too hard now.
Alexis: i
Plant People: have set the...
Alexis: I've girl boss too hard. No, it's okay. i ah I really enjoy getting to help people get to be on this podcast. Hopefully that's ah you all enjoyed listening to this one.
Alexis: to Something a little bit different, but hopefully you know you can pull something away.
Jessica : Thank you.
Alexis: if you're looking to start a new garden or revamp one that you have to better fit maybe your personality style or to embrace a part of your personality that you want to you know, improve or see more of. So I think that's, those are all good, all good things. And, you know, when in doubt, throw a tarp over it and forget about it until next season. And that is I'm going to tell you it's perfectly okay.
Alexis: So don't listen to anybody who tells you it's not because you can trust me. I am an outstanding extension specialist here. So go drink some water.
Brett: If not you, then who?
Plant People: certified.
Brett: not you than who
Alexis: and if not me, then who, right? Go drink some water, get some sunshine, follow us on Instagram at Hort Culture Podcast.
Jessica : Thank you.
Alexis: Leave us a review and tell us what kind of garden or style that you're going to try ah new or, you know, remedy or whatever it is you're into. We would love to hear ah Feel free to also shoot us an email if you've got questions about, you know, maybe how ah tell me more about cottage gardens, Jessica, maybe maybe that's what you want to know.
Alexis: ah Feel free to reach out to us. But ah basically, just, you know, go drink some water about it. You'll feel better. I promise. Thanks for joining us. You guys will talk to you next time.
