I grew up in a small rural town in East Texas, surrounded by towering loblolly pines, winding muddy rivers, and thick, humid air you could almost wear. As a teenager, I mowed lawns and tended garden beds, but one client, Miss Trixie, had the most lasting impact. She had an incredible green thumb but limited mobility. As she guided me through weeding, planting, pruning, and fertilizing, she unknowingly planted a lifelong love of horticulture in me.

I cultivated that passion further at Texas A&M, earning a BS in Horticulture while working with a rose and peach breeder. That job introduced me to the land-grant system and the mission of extension work—and I thought, “What a fun career this could be.” I also met my wife there. She worked on roses, I worked on peaches, and we never stopped hanging out. Now, 10 years of marriage later, we’ve shared incredible adventures.

After graduating, I enrolled in Oklahoma State’s Masters International program, merging grad school with service in the U.S. Peace Corps. My wife and I spent two years in a remote Panamanian rainforest village near the Colombian border, teaching home gardening and working on clean water projects. Despite challenges like illness and isolation, it was rewarding to see families grow their own vegetables for the first time.

When we returned, I worked with Texas A&M Extension and Research on an irrigation trial for dent corn in the high desert of Arizona, living on a 1,000-acre farm. Later, a family illness brought us back to East Texas, where we spent five years teaching high school biology and environmental science while building a house ourselves, bit by bit. But after finishing the house, we longed for a change. In 2019, we packed up and moved to the Pacific Northwest, where I joined the team NWREC.

Living and working in the Willamette valley is such rewarding experience. It is truly a horticultural paradise, with some world class soils and growers. I get do something a little different every day, sometimes installing research trials or putting together workshops for growers, and there are always  endless opportunities to hone my horticultural skills.