Fruit project manager retires
After many Center Points articles, I am writing my last one.
In the summer of 2004, my husband and I left our home and gardens in Wisconsin to move to Carrington, ND to begin his Extension specialist career at CREC. I left behind a very exciting opportunity at a new genetics company where I was the very first employee. It was a bit heartbreaking for me. I didn’t calm down until we drove the prairie roads in the Coteau and I breathed in the calm of wide-open expanses of grass, flowers and wildlife.
In May 2006, our former director, Blaine Schatz, gave me the opportunity to come and ‘plant a few fruit plants’ on a shoe-string budget. That winter, I worked from home, ran away with the idea and planned the rest of the orchard you see today. What Blaine may not have known was that although I studied bacteriology and had an M.S. in food microbiology, I was passionate about horticulture. As a kid, I read plant ID books for fun.
The CREC Northern-Hardy Fruit Evaluation Project has been successful beyond our wildest dreams thanks to you, the people who also love to grow fruit. Each year, I am invited to provide information at in-person Extension educational events, video presentations, group and personal tours of the orchard and these Center Point posts. When I am done at the end of the month, we will have provided fruit outreach to over 18,000 people.
I can’t fully express how much I have loved working outside in the orchard, watching the crops develop into mature specimens as well as discovering all the birds and insects that both made me grimace and smile. As you know, many of my previous posts have been about insects!
The work of the fruit project will continue. Funding for the project has always been through CREC’s discretionary funds and grant funding. Our director, Mike Ostlie, is beginning the process to make the fruit project manager into a fully funded position. I hope some of you will help him with letters of support in the future. In fact, you could send us a note now so that we know we can contact you: NDSU.Carrington.REC@ndsu.edu.
Thank you everyone for your support and kindness over the years. I hope to enjoy more of the beautiful North Dakota outdoors with my newfound freedom.
Fruitfully yours,
Kathy Wiederholt
Kathy.Wiederholt@ndsu.edu
Fruit Project Manager
