Thanks for tuning in to this special follow-up episode of the Landscape Ontario Podcast. I’m your host, Karina Sinclair. I recently produced the April 2024 episode featuring the Green Thumbs organization. I hope you’ve had a chance to listen to that great panel discussion because those folks are working really hard to inspire kids to love gardening and get involved with green stewardship.
Anyway, after publishing it, I realized I have now been the host of this podcast for a full year! And although I’ve built a career out of telling the stories of others, having my own voice be recorded and published was a big step outside of my comfort zone. But I’m so grateful for this opportunity because great things happen outside of comfort zones.
I’ve had the privilege of talking with and sharing the stories of some incredible people within the landscaping and horticulture community who have been stepping outside of their comfort zones. I’ve learned so much and hope you have too, as we explored topics like building an awesome company culture, the four-day workweek, how to foster a love of plants in younger generations, using landscapes to prevent crime, horticultural therapy, plants that thrived in Landscape Ontario trial gardens, how the economy affects the trades, and the benefits of sponsoring apprentices.
But the story that started it for me was the first episode I hosted and published in May 2023 with a young man named Joe Steeves. Joe discovered a passion for plants and the effects have been transformative. He also happens to have cerebral palsy, a condition that challenges his fine motor skills. When he started working in a greenhouse, the regular practice of handling plants began to improve his hand movements, eased his anxiety, and built his confidence. Joe recently celebrated his 21st birthday and over the past year, has gained a wealth of experience working in different greenhouses and nursery settings. And soon, he begins a new role that he calls the “job of his dreams.”
So let’s follow up with Joe and hear about what’s been happening with his growing career.
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Karina Sinclair: It’s been one year since we last spoke, Joe, and I’m so glad that you agreed to come back on the show to give the audience a bit of an update of what’s been happening in your life and in your career since April of 2023. So welcome to the show.
Joe Steeves: Yeah, so happy to be here. Thank you for having me again.
Karina: I’m so delighted. I’ve been interested in following up on your career to see all the different skill sets and opportunities that you’ve had. Remind me where you were when we last spoke, I think you had just started a new job then.
Joe: So when we last spoke, I think we were discussing my plant passion and going in a co-op program at MacArthur’s and I really really took to them. It’s a great place to work and they were so supportive. Like, very “a family environment” and they were very accommodating and great people to work for. So since my MacArthur’s journey, I have been on several farms over the past couple of years after that. I was working for Susan Linkletter of Diddley-Squash Farm and I really liked that and I was in the greenhouses all day tending to crops and plants and Mountain View Growers — another great crew there, they’re so attentive and now I really have this incredible opportunity working with the town.
Karina: What will you be doing with the town and what town? Town of Moncton?
Joe: Town of Riverview
Karina: Riverview okay, and what do you get to do with them?
Joe: I’ll be the community garden facilitator and I’m super excited because they just got a government grant for a new greenhouse up there so that they’ve been expanding their community garden a lot. A big shout out to the Town of Riverview for this incredible opportunity because I can remember driving in the car with Mom, watching the municipal workers tending to the flower beds and saying to my mother “I would love to do that someday,” and this is the first stepping stone of getting towards that goal. So it’s great.
Karina: That’s incredible that way back then you spotted something that you wanted to aspire to and did you think that that would be you someday?
Joe: I sure hoped so. Just, it’s so incredible how the experience I got led me up to this point. So I’m very pleased to be working for the town now. I start May 6th and I can’t believe it because it’s my dream job. So I’m super thrilled.
Karina: Tell me a little bit more about what your responsibilities will be.
Joe: Some responsibilities as a garden facilitator will be up in the actual community garden right behind the rec centre and I’ll be helping tend to people’s garden beds if they need help, like weeding, designing, planting and things of that nature. Just communicating with the public and really seeing how their day is going and communicating with them and making them smile and I really pride myself of that, so, and it’s a dream job for me because I love being communicating with the public and I’m really looking forward to helping them with their gardens.
Karina: What do you think will be some of the biggest challenges for you?
Joe: Some of the biggest challenges might be maybe because of my CP, like, it hasn’t been a really big factor up to now, but sometimes with certain tasks, multiple tasks in a row, sometimes up I’ll need to make a list I can reference to that multiple task in a row and I can see myself really getting that down and just doing the tasks one step at a time.
Karina: So developing something like checklists and the order of tasks in being able to focus on one at a time instead of trying to keep it all in your head at once. That would probably help anybody, really.
Joe: Because realistically with my CP, it’s just the way my brain functions. I can understand and really process all that information. It’s just nice to have the phone on me just in case I can refer to that instead of them asking my employer over and over because that’s really important skill to have in the workforce.
Karina: Definitely. I wish you lots of luck with that role. I think that sounds like it’s a really good fit for you. Now something else exciting has happened in the past year. Tell me a little bit about your education opportunities.
Joe: So my education opportunity has been incredible this year, this semester, if you will. I took a Guelph University course to get my Horticulture Certification. So I really really enjoyed that. I found myself wanting to keep going because it came so naturally to me, like, just to expand my knowledge in the sector I love is a dream come true.
Karina: What kinds of things have you been learning in this first semester for you?
Joe: So the first semester in my Guelph University course, I went through plant identification. And I really learned about all the different plant families. Planting in, say, colder areas versus warmer. And taking that in consideration, I actually designed my own garden in my head because, not like an actual garden but just plotted out and everything on the computer because obviously it’s not the time of year to be planting a garden, but just to be able to do research on certain plants, where you’re putting your garden, so size comes to matter and sunlight requirements and things of that nature.
Karina: Do you have any professors in particular you’d like to give a shout out to?
Joe: Oh yeah! Amanda Tracey. She’s been really awesome, very supportive and patient of me. She’s my instructor so far for my Plant Identification. Not sure how it works for the other two sections of my course. It’s still about getting my Horticulture Certification. So, I don’t know if she’s gonna be teaching the last two or somebody else, but big shout out to her for her patience.
Karina: And how long will this program be? You’ve completed one semester online. What do you need to do to complete the certification?
Joe: So to get my Horticulture Certification there’s three sections of my course: the first one’s plant identification, soil diversity, pest management, and there’s three sections but five blocks, and then prerequisites. I have to get three prerequisites, essential prerequisites, and then I can pick two more to get my five, right? There’s countless options I could take and after all that I’ll eventually get my Horticulture Certification, hopefully,
Karina: I have no doubt that you’ll get that. Once you do earn it, what’s the plan or hope afterwards?
Joe: So afterwards, my big goal was to expand my knowledge in a sector I love, so afterwards, hopefully I can implement this into future job opportunities. Mind you, I don’t think I’ll be going anywhere job-wise if I get in my dream job, but you never know. Just having that knowledge and my passion for plants, I have a grow tent in my room and a house full of plants. So it’s just so ‘me.’
Karina: Any surprises over the past year? That could be something that delighted you, something that made you pause and reevaluate anything.
Joe: Well, big shout out to Mountain View Growers, too. They’ve been incredible with me and so patient and attentive and this was my most recent job before this job opportunity. So I was out harvesting in the fields every day, tying apple trees, supporting them and I was just loving it. Just being in the fields blasting tunes and where I was working somewhat alone. But big showed out to my orchard manager, she was incredible and just a big help during my development and is really great because all of them — Kim, Greg, Chanel and Mullai — really helped me feel accepted in workforce and really was my stepping stone to gain my confidence.
Karina: And with this new job that you have coming up, how did you discover it? Did you see a job posting?
Joe: I did some research on my own and I did find the job posting. The thing that really led me to this incredible opportunity is it’s right up the street from me. So I really was enjoying it and I volunteered there. So that’s how I got my foot in the door, and I really really loved it.
Karina: That would be a good strategy for a lot of young people looking to get into these different positions and gain experiences just to make themselves available and show that enthusiasm like you’ve done.
Joe: Yeah, exactly and showing your work ethic, also, before they have the opportunity to get to know you right? So, that’s a great opportunity.
Karina: Do you go back to school in September or do you have the summer off?
Joe: The way it is, I start my job on May 6. And of course, it’s a seasonal job so right when my job ends to start the offseason next year I’ll be starting another section in my course.
Karina: Hopefully, we’ll get a chance to follow up with you again to see how things are going and all of us in the Landscaping Community are cheering you on and are very inspired by how much passion and dedication that you’ve shown to something that resonated with you and that’s a fortunate thing to have found.
Joe: Yeah, for sure. I definitely found my passion.
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Karina: I always end up smiling when talking with Joe because he’s such a positive and enthusiastic person and he’s SO excited to be working with plants. I’m really impressed that he identified his dream job when he was a kid and has made that dream come true at the young age of 21.
I respect how all of the greenhouses, nurseries and farms that he’s worked on have been able to accommodate the challenges presented by his cerebral palsy. There really is room for everyone in the green trades. Let’s share more of these stories. If you know someone working in landscaping or horticulture who has had a life-changing experience by stepping outside of their comfort zone, reach out to me through Landscape Ontario and let’s share these amazing stories.
As always, we have a full transcription for today’s interview on this episode’s web page at landscapeontario.com/podcast. That’s also where you can find Joe’s first episode published May 3, 2023. The title of that episode is “Diversity and inclusion creates opportunities to bloom for those with physical challenges.”
Thanks again for joining me on this podcast journey. It’s been a great first year and I’m excited to bring you even more stories from the landscape community, so you know what to do. Subscribe! And catch new episodes for inspiration every month.
