The first week of school has been nothing short of culture shock for this small town soul of mine. The thing about extroverts is that a good few of us are actually closet hermits. I like to think I have periods of hibernation. My hibernation time ironically, is in the summer. So coming back to a world filled with people is like dropping a tame animal straight back into the wild.

Crassula 'Gollum' : I didn't think it needed another name. It's actually called Gollum's fingers for it's appearance.

Aeonium Haworthia:  nickname- Hayworth

PLANT BENEFIT #1
OXYGEN: of course you know that plants absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. However, normally plants reverse the process at night. Succulents however do the opposite helping you breath better when you sleep. promoting healthier and more restful sleep

Pachyphytum Bracteosum : Bub

PLANT BENEFIT  #2
NATURAL AIR PURIFICATION:

"Rooms filled with plants were shown to have 50%-60% fewer molds and bacteria in the air than in rooms devoid of plants. " -Ambius

"Plants remove toxins from air – up to 87 percent of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) every 24 hours, according to NASA research. VOCs include substances like formaldehyde (present in rugs, vinyl, cigarette smoke and grocery bags), benzene and trichloroethylene (both found in man-made fibers, inks, solvents and paint). Benzene is commonly found in high concentrations in study settings, where books and printed papers abound.

Callisia Repens 'Pink Panther' : Jacques Callisia (gold star to anyone who gets that reference)

PLANT BENEFIT #3
STRESS RELIEF : Visual exposure to plants is shown to decrease blood pressure levels. foliage plants can also reduce noise pressure that we tend not to notice on a regular basis.

Pachyphytum Hookeri: Pan

PLANT BENEFIT #4
INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY: Gosh knows we all need that. studies have shown a 12% increase in productivity in offices where plants were used.

A very young Aloe Vera pup! : Stuart

There's plenty more benefits and facts to why plants are awesome to have. But you can go look them up yourself heh.

Air Plants 1&2 yet to be named but i kind of want to name them after the scallion characters from veggie tales ;P

My new studio desk. I love it. It's right next to the giant window and the balcony. The sunlight streams in at just the right angle. <3

As today is the first day of school *hyperventilate*, I decided now would be a good time to remind myself exactly why I'm going and why I want to be a Landscape Architect.  *deep breath* Ok...

Should we start from the beginning? No, that would take too long..... oh screw it. From the beginning!

Senior year of high school I still had absolutely NO CLUE what I wanted to do or who I wanted to be. I was pretty lost. All of my friends had pretty much already graduated and I found myself without my little bubble of comfort. Luckily there were a few kind souls who were charitable enough to claim that I had been their friend all along. haha. This sounds like such a sob story, I swear it's not. This was pretty much exactly what went through my mind at the time. I count myself very lucky to have made the friends I did.

 As we progressed through the year I just sort of went through the motions of everything without any real conviction. I took AP classes and didn't take the AP Tests, I know... I didn't understand alright? and I'd been convinced that they wouldn't help me anyhow. Basically, I was in denial that I was a step behind everyone else. Even my best friend at the time knew what he wanted to do. He's one of the most laid back but put together guys ever, it was so annoying ;P

Application time came and went, I realized I needed to do something and finally applied to a few colleges only a couple days before their deadlines. Some I knew I could get into, some I had no chance with but mostly I just felt that I wanted to go to the school my sister had gone to. She'd hated high school and sort of shut herself in but when she came back from college she'd changed into a new person. I wanted to see the cause of that.

I applied to college with interests in Psychology, Philosophy, Ecology, and Architecture. Which basically tells you just how scattered my thoughts were. And some time later, I got a letter in the mail asking if I wanted to be part of the Landscape Architecture program and my "dream" school. I had no idea what that meant. I googled the term and read the first few lines of wikipedia,

 "Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor public areas, landmarks, and structures to achieve environmental, social-behavioral, or aesthetic outcomes.  It involves the systematic investigation of existing social, ecological, and soil conditions and processes in the landscape, and the design of interventions that will produce the desired outcome." 

With that information but still no real clue what I was getting myself into, I accepted the offer. Vaguely wondering whether every other student had been offered this opportunity. (I learned later that wasn't the case but I still really know exactly why they'd picked me.) It just seemed to fit all of my interests together I sort of just felt like God just plopped this in my lap and said, "There, take it or leave it."  So I took it and they sent me a book , "Becoming a Landscape Architect"by Kelleann Foster. I didn't really read it until later in the summer right before I left for college. But when I read it, the definitions given by landscape architects really caught me. it started to make more sense. 

"Landscape Architecture offers an opportunity to meld creativity with a love of the land and the ability to create places that are everlasting in a way that [benefits] the ecology and the quality of a community's life."
~Roy Kraynyk

"Landscape Architecture is... the hybridization of art, science, economics, and politics at different scales."
~Julia Czerniak

"One of the things that we say in our office is, 'the sky is mine.' Landscape architecture isn't just confined to dirt and bushes, it is all things that are under the sky."
~Jennifer Guthrie

"We're a combination of art people and engineering people -- ... get a civil engineer and an artist together and get them married and have children, then their children would be a perfect fit to be landscape architects"
~Scott S. Weinberg

*As an update, I want to be a landscape architect who also works in and incorporates graphic and interior design.

"SO BE IT! You will be the Fellowship of the Ring!" "Great!.... where are we going?"

Wednesday morning found me awake bright and early to mentally prepare myself for the hike of the day. It's been sort of an annual tradition for me and my friends to get together to go hiking, eat good food, and have a little jam session. Each of these little reunions means a bit more now that we're all leaving for different places and walking different paths. This hike was pretty tough, we were all quite literally dripping with sweat towards the end. But it was a nice bonding experience and definitely made us depend on each other for moral and sometimes physical support.
Michael
Position: Fearless leader #1, Resident hiker, & semi knowledgeable guide.
Interests: -Photography, although he was shooting film today so his photos will probably come later.
              -He also likes to try to walk across tree bridges at risk to his own life.

 Now, you may notice that this blog post's pictures are significantly higher in quality. That is because I didn't take them! haha!.... *sigh* Introducing...
Willis!
Position: Photographer, Chill Pill, Guy who cares if you trip
Interests: -Graphic designer, video producer, and photography hobbyist at KGFX Designs.


This is about half a second before I take that step and my foot slips into the stream. Everyone's feet got wet at one point or another throughout the hike, luckily it dried pretty quickly in the afternoon heat.

The River's just past the tracks!

We made it! Say hello to the Susquehanna River.

It's a beach so of course drawing in the sand was involved

Serioiusly though... Lord of the Rings moment.

Michael found a caterpillar!

"Where?" "There! Next to that gigantic spider..."

A little lost and hungry... okay VERY lost and hungry.

But we'll still stop and take a family photo. Because we're all tired as heck. I think we only hiked about 4 miles or so but all the slippery slopes and uphill trekking took a lot out of us.

Say "Hello" to Bubble and Squeak!

Now I know that the title seems a bit obvious, I know what you're thinking. "Of course tomatoes grow tomatoes, now if you said 'Growing tomatoes from bananas' then I'd be more impressed" Yeah, Okay. Bear with me here. It's not as straightforward as you'd think.
Usually, we buy the seeds of the produce we want to grow. But what if I wanted to grow raw seeds? Straight from the very fruit I'm eating?

You'd think that just sticking a few raw seeds into the ground would do it. And it might, but it'll take a lot longer and there's actually a proper way to do it, that mimics the natural process the seeds would go through in nature. This will yield healthier plants and allow you to save and store the seeds of your favorite types of tomatoes for future use!




For most seeds, storage usually only requires cleaning, drying, and refrigeration. However since tomatoes have a special kind of wet seed (seed with pulpy coating), extra care must be taken.
The "wet" part of the tomato actually contains substances the keep the seed from germinating, this is to make sure that the seed is in a safe environment to germinate.

In order to remove these substances, as well as kill off any molds or diseases that may be present in the seeds, we put the seeds through the process of fermentation. To do this, simply scoop out the seeds of the type of tomato you want to grow, and place them in a glass or plastic container (covered! fermentation doesn't often smell nice) and leave them at room temp. for 3-5 days mixing or swilling it around every day.

I'm using Yellow Pear Tomato seeds because I love their color and sweetness.

Just a nice little walk through Longwood Gardens/Conservatory. It's a beautiful place to just have some zen time when things are stressful.  I love plants and the way they influence spaces so I felt like Alice in Wonderland here.

It's only 10$ for students with IDs!!

*I realize the quality's not the best in these videos but I'm working on getting a new camera!

If you want to see more (and better quality) images check out the my other blogposts from my winter visit here and here!