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Greetings!
My name is Jayme & I am from Talkeetna, yes, born & raised. I have been lucky to live in an area with wonderful plant & animal diversity & having a home near the Big-Su river, there were over grown sloughs & ponds to play in that were full of aquatic plants & one of my favorite things…frogs! I was also extremely lucky in that both my Grandmothers, from vastly different lower 48 regions (rural Minnesota & rural Arkansas), were plant lovers & taught me as much as they could about gardening, AK native plants, perennials, composting & how to harvest & prepare. I became a Naturalist at a young age without even knowing it was a thing!
I wanted to become a Horticulturist, but there was no major in the UA system, so I decided to major in Natural Resource Management taking the plant, animal, soil science option so I could take all the plant classes. After thoroughly enjoying every plant class I was able to get to & even creating my own interdisciplinary courses in Ethnobotany, I realized I had run out of options & decided to change majors because I simply did not want to be manage resources. I chose Human Services & after getting my Associate’s degree I then went into Social Work. For seven years I was able to find an equilibrium between my course work in winter months & botany field work in summer months & have been able to work for BLM, CEMML, the USSWCD & Alaska Botanical Garden.
Currently I am trying to finish up my BSW & have only a hand full of general requirements to get through, one just happened to be a 1 credit lab. When I found out that UAF was offering Bio 195 online, I was thrilled! Systematic Botany was the only class I regret not being able to take, so being able to learn more about this makes me so happy. In addition, I now know that there is the EBOT option at UAF & since I have so many plant classes under my belt, I hope to graduate with a minor in Ethnobotany, instead of NRM, which couldn’t be more appropriate for me.
I look forward to sharing my hometown landscapes & flora with you all & can’t wait to learn about the plants you share from the regions where you are at. My little Boston bull terrier, Myrtsy, will be my enthusiastic partner in crime & probably show up in landscape photos from time to time! Here’s to having a wonderful summer!
Welcome Jayme,
sounds like you are enrolled in the right class. I hope you will pick up a few more details of the flora that have so far escaped your keen observation. Yes, horticulture is my passion too, and I am happy that I can somehow integrate it into my job by either bringing plants home from the field to our property or to grow them in the UAF greenhouse. Looking forward to Myrtsy featured in your pics.
I saw that you brought a moonwort home & it’s growing-love it! I can’t wait to get to the plant submissions!
Hello Jayme,
I also come from a social work background, though found my way to the plant world by way of a childhood interest in Native American culture. AND I just visited the Alaska Botanical Garden last July. Very impressive! Of course, I was drawn to the prairie plant display and found it interesting that some of the founders were from the prairie. This is my second summer in the EBOT program. Last summer I went to Hooper Bay for the field study. I’m also thrilled to be in this class to learn about botany and look forward to having you as a classmate.