Me on my Clipper cleaning some Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus seed

Back from CLM intern training at the Chicago Botanic Garden and I’m having to re-adjust to my regular life.  The gauntlet of botany, monitoring, protocol and safety information we got was intense for sure.  Most of it was great for refreshing all that information that I’ve lost in the three years since finishing school.  Meeting the new crop of interns was awesome and tromping around the city and the burbs was a great way to relax after long days of filling my head with information.  The setting for the training wasn’t too shabby either.

One of the Japanese gardens at the CBG

So, now I’m back in Bend picking up where I left off, cleaning and packaging endless mountains of seed from the 2010 field season.  (Nita keeps telling us that we’re actually making great progress and 2010 will be done before we know it.)

I can’t believe it – This week marks my one year anniversary at the Bend Seed Extractory!

So what have I learned and how have I grown?  I could say that I’ve learned about hundreds of native plant species that are commonly used in ecological restoration all over the western US, which is true…  I could say that I am better equipped to understand the need for native seed availability and what it takes to provide viable native plant material to a quickly growing market, which is also true…    But…

Without a doubt the biggest way that I have grown this last year is through observing and interacting with the people that I’ve worked with.  In this last year I’ve seen one manager retire, a supervisor move into that managers role, learned to co-exist with the most difficult co-worker I’ve ever come across, and had to train a hand full of new employees with a huge range of ages, experience levels and personalities.  I’ve spent lots of time observing people interact.   Tense social and professional situations happen frequently here as I’m sure they do in most professional settings.  I’ve been asking myself how I might handle them if it was my responsibility and what the possible outcomes could be.  This year I’ve gained a confidence in myself that I know is going to push me to places I might never have considered before coming to work at the Bend Seed Extractory.   Thanks CLM!