California Memories...

Right after college, I was working for a Midwestern garden center. Then, I decided to take a chance and focus more on the plant industry. That is how I ended up in Visalia, California working with Monrovia Growers as an inside sales craftsman. I met a lot of great people from all over the country, in addition to the workers in the field who made every order possible. Before being in sales, we all had to complete an internship in the field, working alongside the workers. Yours truly was pulling weeds, planting palm trees, counting ladybugs (as a biological, chemical free control), taking cuttings, trimming topiaries and trying to skate by in very little Spanish- every day was a new adventure. By the end of it, I did improve on the Spanish...

I was thinking about California lately. Here is a pic of the gorgeous Sierra Nevada mountains. This was the view from the nursery... courtesy of my friend, Hughes.

California was a great place, but I had a tough time settling in and getting comfortable. I did work with a lot of wonderful Midwestern customers, which I felt kept me grounded (and maybe sane, not sure!).

Being in California, we were surrounded by fresh, local produce- almost year round. The farmer's markets were usually pretty good. There was also a really great fruit stand near Lindsay, California where there were fresh grapes, oranges, tangerines, avocados, among other great items. I was focusing more on cooking, so I was in heaven. There were tons of citrus groves and in the early early Spring, it would be amazing to put the top down on the convertible and smell the orange blooms to and from work. Truly amazing.

I also liked to go explore the outdoors. The Sequoia National Park was really close and Yosemite was only maybe 20 miles away. I have heard the trout fishing was great but never explored it. Even once for work, we explored caves- as a team building project!

I did, however miss playing in the snow, even though you could go into the mountains if you had chains. It was a little strange for me to walk to the offices November- February with no snow or frost on my windshield...

Then on Valentine's Day, 2009- I made the move to Washington D.C. Still not the Midwest but that was to come!