I would like to say my career in horticulture started as a sensible investment of time for a low income family, trying make ends meet, or because of the absolutely positive experiences I had helping Grandma in the garden, but that wasn’t “the start”.
In reality my first horticultural experience was a little more embarrassing. When I was four years old, and some sesame seeds had fallen off my uncle’s Big Mac, he swept the seeds up off the table and put them in my hand and said, “You know if you plant these, you might just get a hamburger tree." To make a long story short I planted those seeds and watered them every day. My uncle came back to visit and my mom told him he had to break the news that my seeds were dead, but instead, he planted some grapefruit seeds in the pot and I had my tree, and I was addicted to plants ever since.
I attended the University of Saskatchewan where I completed a BSA in Agronomy with a minor in horticulture in 2013. I worked as a research technician with the vegetable agronomy program until 2016 when the program lead retired. I then joined the Fruit breeding program and am now the senior research technician for the program.