[speaker001:] so Cathy what do you do in the way of lawn and garden work
[speaker002:] well we have Bermuda grass here do you have that there
[speaker001:] um I don't know exactly what that is
[speaker002:] it's a kind of grass that dies in the winter time
[speaker001:] um I don't
[speaker002:] do you live in an apartment or a house
[speaker001:] yeah I live in an apartment
[speaker002:] so you probably don't do any lawn care
[speaker001:] yeah that's that's actually correct
[speaker002:] oh okay well we used to have a service come in and fertilize and such but we ran in some into some money trouble so we do all of that ourselves now does the grass die there in Iowa in the winter time is everything brown
[speaker001:] um it turns brown yeah
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] guess it freezes and everything so
[speaker002:] yeah so right now we do nothing because it's brown and it doesn't grow until later on in the spring
[speaker001:] so does that mean you have to replant each year or
[speaker002:] but no huh-uh it just goes dormant and then it starts it's you know it rejuvenates itself in the springtime there are people that uh that reseed in the winter time and grow something called winter grass or something like that I can't remember exactly what it's called and so it's green in the winter but you have to seed over all of this other stuff that's there and it's kind of hard to grow it's kind of foolish as far as I'm concerned
[speaker001:] I see
[speaker002:] so did you grow up in Iowa
[speaker001:] no I'm actually from uh uh the Seattle area we lived outside outside of the city in the country and uh we have five acres of land up against a hillside where I grew up and so we did have a garden about a one a half acre garden big size
[speaker002:] oh yeah
[speaker001:] and grew standard things like corn beans and we had some trees apple trees fruit trees you know and apple trees and
[speaker002:] did your mom do any canning and that kind of stuff
[speaker001:] oh yeah
[speaker002:] huh
[speaker001:] did lots of canning and we even made an annual trip out to eastern Washington Yakima area to get uh peaches and things like that to can in addition to the the fruit we got out of our own garden
[speaker002:] huh huh we have a garden here but in Texas it's really hard to grow a garden because it's so hot and the sun is so intense that you know the
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] the tomatoes come on and they kind of fry right on the plant so it's real hard and the bugs you know if that doesn't kill it the bugs do so I have tried kind you know with just very little success to have a garden here did you enjoy it did you like to do it when you were there
[speaker001:] oh yeah I enjoyed um working in the garden um my dad was a big um fan of organic gardening
[speaker002:] huh
[speaker001:] and so when we um did our garbage and stuff we separated all the banana peels and egg shells and stuff that
[speaker002:] yeah you had a compost pile huh
[speaker001:] yeah yeah and always picked a different place in the garden to dump it out had our own rototiller and rough even though it was a large plot we used a rototiller for the whole thing and so that was it was quite a bit of work for all of us but we five kids and
[speaker002:] how many how many were in your family
[speaker001:] uh six kids altogether
[speaker002:] was it something that the kids mostly took care of
[speaker001:] actually dad did more than his share but uh we always had our our assignments to help out
[speaker002:] yeah yeah
[speaker001:] so and mom did very little of the gardening although she did most of the canning and other things
[speaker002:] yeah what was your favorite thing to eat
[speaker001:] um oh to eat oh um the our big crops were were green beans and corn and I guess I liked the corn
[speaker002:] uh-huh yeah
[speaker001:] and so now that I'm in Iowa I should be get be able to get lots of uh
[speaker002:] you'd think so
[speaker001:] corn on the cob huh
[speaker002:] so what took you to Iowa
[speaker001:] uh I just graduated I I'm working at the University of Iowa
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] um on a post doctoral fellowship I just graduated out west with a PhD in physics
[speaker002:] where did you graduate
[speaker001:] uh Brigham Young University
[speaker002:] I knew it I'm a member too that's why I was when you were talking about your garden and everything and your mom canning I thought this guy's got to be got to have roots there somewhere
[speaker001:] uh uh  yes and uh so are you originally from Texas
[speaker002:] no I grew up in California
[speaker001:] I see did did your family have a farm or were you more in the city
[speaker002:] no it was more in the city but we did have a um a little garden out in the back because anything grows there you just stick it in the ground and it it grows
[speaker001:] uh-huh oh yeah yeah my wife is from southern California and their family has a an orange tree and a lemon tree out back
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] and they grow a few things they tried tomatoes and stuff but not they don't have very you know just a small small backyard so there's not too much else they could do there
[speaker002:] yeah do you have in in your apartment