Speaker 1: Hey there, I'm Mangish. They're a co host of Part
Speaker 1: Time Genius, one of the founders of Mental Flaws, and
Speaker 1: this is Humans Growing Stuff, a collaboration from My Heart
Speaker 1: Radio and your friends at Miracle Grow. Our goal is
Speaker 1: to make this the most human show about plants you'll
Speaker 1: ever listen to, and along the way, we'll share inspiring stories,
Speaker 1: tips and tricks to nurture your plant addiction, and just
Speaker 1: enough science to make you sound like an expert. We
Speaker 1: are on summer break right now, but the truth is
Speaker 1: Molly and I can't stop won't stop our plant addictions,
Speaker 1: so we're bringing you some mini episodes to brighten up
Speaker 1: your feed and grow your plant curiosity. Throughout the summer.
Speaker 1: We're dropping incredible stories from growers, fund advice from experts,
Speaker 1: and we'll have some great conversations around fascinating plant facts.
Speaker 1: For this episode, Molly and I took a field trip
Speaker 1: to explore Governor's Island and all its natural wonder in
Speaker 1: New York City, and I think you're gonna of it.
Speaker 1: So just a little background. Governor's Island is a one
Speaker 1: seventy two acre island in New York Harbor, just east
Speaker 1: of the Lower Tip of Manhattan, and since the early
Speaker 1: eight hundreds, the island has been this important military base.
Speaker 1: Today it's not really that. It's one of the largest
Speaker 1: public parks in New York City. They have lavender fields
Speaker 1: and public hammocks and modern art installations. There's clamping and
Speaker 1: food trucks, playgrounds and urban farm and this last spring
Speaker 1: they offered a flock of sheep residency on the island
Speaker 1: through the summer. That's right, they gave residency to some sheep.
Speaker 1: And one other thing I love about the island is
Speaker 1: the only way to get there is by ferry. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we are in the cabin on the ferry to Governor's Island,
Speaker 1: and I'm glad I got on this ferry rather than
Speaker 1: the one to Staten Island, because although I'm sure Staten
Speaker 1: Island as gorgeous gardens, I don't know how many sheep
Speaker 1: they have. How about you? What are you excited to say?
Speaker 1: I'm determined to find your sheep. Every time I go
Speaker 1: to Governor's Island, I find something new I'm delighted by.
Speaker 1: And on this trip, I was on a mission to
Speaker 1: find the sheep they brought to the island this year.
Speaker 1: And then the hammock grows right across from that entrance. Nice,
Speaker 1: and we're certain they're still sheep there. I don't know, however,
Speaker 1: those sheep seem to be continually hiding from us as
Speaker 1: we searched. But in our quest to find the flock,
Speaker 1: we stumbled across another hidden gem. I wonder, what's going
Speaker 1: on our here? That's okay, legit, gardening happened right here.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, oh my god. It starts smelling so good,
Speaker 1: Oh my god, so good. I'm just gonna roll around
Speaker 1: all these different kinds of let's walk through here. We
Speaker 1: stumbled into the lavender fields of Governor's Island. It's a
Speaker 1: small patch of garden containing four main varieties of lavender,
Speaker 1: along with some lesser known ones like my favorite, this
Speaker 1: new varietal I learned about called fat spike. In total,
Speaker 1: they have over five hundred individual lavender plants, and the
Speaker 1: lavender was apparently planted on the island in June of
Speaker 1: two thousand seventeen. But here's the really wonderful part. Every Sunday,
Speaker 1: the public is welcome to harvest some of the blooms,
Speaker 1: and one of the loveliest parts of the spot, aside
Speaker 1: from the incredible fragrance and all these glorious waves of
Speaker 1: purple is watching all the different pollinators flutter and buzz
Speaker 1: from plant to plant. You know, lavender is such a
Speaker 1: unique plant. Aside from attracting pollinators, a single lavender plant
Speaker 1: can survive fifteen to twenty years in the right environment.
Speaker 1: They are super sturdy, heat and drought tolerant, and they
Speaker 1: can grow in a variety of soils from being potted
Speaker 1: indoors or out in the backyards. But you know, I
Speaker 1: was told if you're planning outside, it might be best
Speaker 1: to choose late spring or early summer when the soil
Speaker 1: is warmer. After spending a good half hour wandering through
Speaker 1: these gorgeous purple blossoms, Molly and I accepted a bouquet
Speaker 1: of freshly cut lavender from some of the gardeners there.
Speaker 1: It was such a sweet gesture, and then continued on
Speaker 1: our way in search of these evasive sheep. You might
Speaker 1: be wondering, Mango, why are you obsessed with these sheep? Well,
Speaker 1: the wooly creatures go by the name's flower sam, Evening
Speaker 1: philip aries, and my favorite chad and they've been imported
Speaker 1: from Albany, But they are not on the island to sightsee.
Speaker 1: They're here to work, and their residency is designed to
Speaker 1: help keep the invasive plant species in control. And for
Speaker 1: the next four or five months they're going to be
Speaker 1: super busy feasting on grasses, fragmites, mug war and sun flowers.
Speaker 1: But in the full lushness of the Hammock Rove area,
Speaker 1: these sheep were not easy to find. Sheep chip chip
Speaker 1: chip chip chip chip chipchip cheep. What's she called? Shipipchip
Speaker 1: chip cheep. No sheep yet, it's like a scavenger hunt. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we honestly asked everyone we saw, and we nearly gave
Speaker 1: up after finding one empty enclosure. But then, just like
Speaker 1: the fresh lavender, the smell of the sheep wafted in
Speaker 1: on the wind and we caught a big whiff of
Speaker 1: them before we could see them. So Molly and I
Speaker 1: followed our noses straight to them. I definitely smell them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know, We're just gonna have to follow our noses stronger.
Speaker 1: I know, I agree. I sent this stronger, and eventually,
Speaker 1: peeking between the branches of a second enclosure, Molly and
Speaker 1: I finally found all five of those beautiful fluffy monsters.
Speaker 1: Sam evening flower philip aries and yes, of course, Chad
Speaker 1: like that looks like there, I think, yeah, basking in
Speaker 1: the shade over there. Oh two two of them and
Speaker 1: did that make my day? So okay, we've been looking
Speaker 1: around for a while. Yeah, so we've been wandering and
Speaker 1: there are three paths we could go down to try
Speaker 1: to find the sheep, and we took two of the
Speaker 1: wrong paths and asked a lot of people who pointed
Speaker 1: in vague directions which I forced you to chase down.
Speaker 1: And then finally we bumped into one guy who said
Speaker 1: he had no idea where the sheep were, and they
Speaker 1: were right around the corner for room. And we've been
Speaker 1: but we couldn't really see them very well. But we could.
Speaker 1: We were We're like real like creeps to the sheep.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, completely creep. Were sheep creep sheeping toms. But
Speaker 1: then it was it was so joyous to like spot
Speaker 1: like one fluffy tail and then see there's another body
Speaker 1: next to it, and then another body and then like
Speaker 1: the whole crew was there. Yeah, yeah, you were so excited.
Speaker 1: I know, it's a good day. Someone hands me a
Speaker 1: bouquet of lavender and you get to see sheep. It's
Speaker 1: pretty good day's work. I agree. I agree. That's it
Speaker 1: for today's episode, but check back here again soon for
Speaker 1: more bonus episodes this summer. And don't forget no matter
Speaker 1: what season it is or where you're at in your
Speaker 1: gardening journey, there are some incredible resources is waiting for
Speaker 1: you on the Miracle Grow website. Humans Growing Stuff is
Speaker 1: a collaboration from I Heart Radio and your friends at
Speaker 1: Miracle Grow. Our show is written and produced by Molly
Speaker 1: Sosha and me Mony Fatiga there thank you so much
Speaker 1: for listening.