Tooting the Horn

"I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit"

John Steinbeck

Getting the 2017 Outstanding Community Educator Award  from the Marion Soil and Water Conservation District It suffices to say that government work can be an absolutely thankless task, no matter how good you are at your job, or how much you try to go beyond the expectations (which for some can be minimal at best), there will always be someone who thinks that they should live in a society where roads, and drainage, drinking water, parks, natural areas and rights of way should all be free and  no one should have to pay for these things because all of these things are inalienable.  It would probably be best at this point  to remind folks that I don't make a living growing and selling flower bulbs, believe me I wish I could. But I don't, and most years I don't even make one of the monthly mortgage payments on the property where Illahe Nursery and Gardens is located  from flower bulb sales. I make my living by educating people in the Willamette Valley about the importance of clean water, and I do that for a small local government. This is where the thanklessness of the job comes into play, believe it or not, natural resource conservation is not an innate behavior. No one is born knowing that you have to keep your water clean if you want to drink it and not get sick, or you have to protect the soil on your farm if you want to be able to grow food on it for generations. Natural resource conservation is a learned behavior, which means it has to be taught to you by someone.  Most of the time doing that sort of education for a resource poor, primarily conservative town of 37,000 people, with a fiscal budget of zero dollars is an utterly thankless task. But every once in awhile, whether its a hand drawn thank you note from the 5th grade class at the local elementary school, or kind word from someone walking the dog in the park admiring the new tree plantings a bit of gratitude is felt.  I got a huge dose of gratitude this past month when the local Soil and Water Conservation District chose to give me the award for 2017 Outstanding Community Educator. It felt really good to know that someone thinks I'm doing a good job, and it felt especially good to know that the folks that are tasked with protecting the counties most valuable natural resources, clean water and friable soil, were the ones that felt I have been doing a good job. If you aren't familiar with the Soil and Water Conservation Districts, do a little reading on the dustbowl. I'm a huge Woody Guthrie fan and the John Steinbeck quote is no coincidence, as he is a favored author, both of who had to live through the dustbowl era and could tell you a thing or two about what happens if you are careless with nature and disregard the delicate balance on which we teeter between starvation and abundance. So here I am tooting my horn and feeling happy about a little bit of recognition for time I put in to try to teach people that if you don't take care of the resources around you they will soon be gone and with it the quality of life that we have all enjoyed.

I felt like a much needed vacation was in order, so quick trip down to Baja earned me some sun and my first ever Dorado. Don't worry I'll get back to pictures of bulbs soon enough, if the weather ever cooperates that is. After the mild December and January where we hit temps in the 60's multiple times and it looked like spring was pushing up the daisy's. We are now firmly back in the throes of winter. Temps in the low 30's with the occasional snow flurry in between wind whipped rain. Oh how I wish I was back in Baja.  Cheers, Mark