We’re just a bunch of turkeys out here!
Okay, so we’re not a bunch of extroverts at Morning Sky Greenery (MSG) and this is how I know! It all began last fall when we were called and asked if we would be interested in being interviewed for an article that would feature our nursery for an upcoming issue of the Country Folks Grower magazine. Of course, we could not refuse the opportunity! I set up a time for an interview for later that week. The interview was on Thursday and after it was over, I felt like it went pretty well. I was quite impressed with the knowledgeable questions of the interviewer. I was also asked to provide around 15 photos from Morning Sky Greenery from which they could choose to use for the article. They needed the photos within the next couple of days, because they were in a hurry to get the article to press.
I thought to myself, “Oh, this will be easy! We have a lot of very nice photos of flowers, as well as some great shots of the nursery and greenhouses.” I found some “good ones” and started to send them over, via email, to “Country Folks”. A little later, I received an email from the magazine saying that there was one problem. 🙁 They really wanted some photos of our employees doing their everyday work at the nursery and asked if I could send some photos of employees, not flowers and greenhouses. That’s when things began to get a little bit more interesting!
It was the end of the season and most of the MSG employees had gone back to college or high school. The others were taking a little time off to enjoy some relaxation after the busy year. “Hmmmm” I thought to myself, “Surely, I could find a few pictures of employees….somewhere.” During the growing season, all of us take pictures at MSG. There are so many interesting things to photograph! I thought, “Certainly, there must be some pictures of employees, planting, watering or doing whatever.” I began my search. First I checked my home computer. I found a few pictures of Mary and Katie collecting seed in the fall. Nice, but they were all facing away from the camera. I found several photos of Katie making goofy faces into her cell phone, while sitting in the middle of a native prairie remnant in a road ditch. That, surely, wasn’t going to work for the magazine article. I also, found a few photos of myself from the past, but nothing very current (that I liked, that is!).
I decided I’d better try to text, email or call some of my recent MSG employees, to see if they had any pictures, out there, we could use. I thought there may be a photo or two, possibly, on a cell phone or some that may have been left on the the MSG desktop, that I did not know about. Ray mentioned that he, Jen and Jessie had taken some artistic photos of themselves holding their favorite flowers. He sent them over to me. I took a look at them and thought to myself, “Oh my, these are way too cool!” Jen suggested I look on the desktop in Jessie’s folder. She thought maybe he had taken a few photos from June 2010, when we had our big wind storm. I checked his photo folder, but all I found were photos of over-turned packs and pots and a photo of Jessie’s shadow taking a photo of the storm damage!!! Geesh, what a comedy! “Just a shadow of an employee”, I thought.
I searched and I searched and all I came up with were a whole lot of pictures of nature, but very few pictures of people….. let alone employees! Not only that, but the photos of employees I did find were less than adequate for a feature article about Morning Sky Greenery in a national grower magazine!
I came to realize that we are all so focused on the micro-world at Morning Sky, that we have done little to celebrate, by way of photography, the people who work here! We have taken all kinds of photos and videos of butterflies and caterpillars, green tree frogs and salamanders, snakes eating salamanders (Thank you for the video, Katie! :-*), bees and beneficial insects and even a posse of wild turkeys (Thanks for the fantastic photos, Kristen!) that have been hanging around. I guess you could say that these creatures do good and very important work here too! They get paid in pollen, nectar, plant material and in the food chain that exists at MSG!
Perhaps we are all just a bunch of wildlife enthusiasts (or turkeys…NOT!) at MSG and we tend to forget about how we all fit into the natural scheme of things! I must admit, that all of this leads me to my 2012 New Years Resolution for Morning Sky Greenery! This year I plan to take, as well as encourage others to take, an abundance of photos of the people who fit in very nicely with the natural community we all cherish, dearly, around here! Keep shooting! (Oh, and if anyone wants some wild turkeys… 🙂 Thanks to all who work and have worked at Morning Sky Greenery! Please know that you are loved and a Happy New Year to all of you!!
PS: You can find out ” the rest of the story…” when you’re here for a visit this coming growing season!
Hey those goofy picture of me in the ditch would have worked fine! All i had pictures of were butts in the air collecting seeds in ditches. I miss you all and the peace that comes with a greenhouse in February! Nice story Sal.
Katie, you are such a kick!
The turkeys just can’t make up songs like you and I did! We could have crafted an entire Broadway musical, had you stayed! We love and miss you at MSG!
Sally