Yay Corn Fields - Never Saw Those in Wisco

Hey hey y'all. I am baffled on how I am still up and it's barely 9pm. I got to give it to my fellow Plant Pathologist/roommate/Wisconsinite, Emily (she works way longer hours than I usually). Oh but not for today! I had an 11 hour work day and drove a F350 dualy around the farm. To top if off, I got an incredible sunburn! Yay for corn fields.

“An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.” -Ghandi

Sooooo....last week Megan and I (yes, there is another Megan in the lab that is also working on the same project as I) made the Fusarium inoculum that we sprayed on the field today. Basically we made tons of small PDA plates from one big one, then used some solution to extract the conidia, count them with a hemocytometer - use that to determine the amount of conidia and how much we need to inoculate the fields and on and on and on. Then we grabbed the Fusarium and Aspergillus inoculum and drove a huge truck to the field and went to work (forever).

To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily. To not dare is to lose oneself. -Soren Kierkegaard

Oh it was oh so fun. I'm not even being sarcastic. I really do not like doing lab work and molecular crap - even though that's part of my project too I guess. Anyways, it was hot (in Wisconsin terms) but only a comfortable 88 with an insane amount of humidity. The normal. How do I spread inoculum in corn fields? I measure out 170g of twice autoclaved, Apergillus inoculated dead corn kernels and spread them evenly between the designated rows in specific plots. I made another worker walk the rows before I did to look for snakes. **NC has six venomous snakes that can kill me*** Sometimes when I'm standing in a corn field that's 3 feet taller than me and not within shouting distance of anybody, I wonder why did I move to a place where there are SIX venomous snakes?! In Wisco, there is TWO....you do the math. As I was saying, I made another worker walk ahead of me, stomp down the grass where they like to hide, and clear out the spider webs. No worries, there was only one scare. I successfully inoculated my plots without seeing a snake but in trade I swallowed a few bugs, got leaf cuts, and inhaled plenty of pollen. All in a good days work. I think driving the truck around was my favorite - and the boys didn't think a lil girl like me knew how to drive a farm truck. Get in the back seat and I'll take y'all for a spin down a bumpy dirt road. 

Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water. The moon does not get wet, nor the water broken. The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in dewdrops on the grass, or even in one drop of water.

Now the part ya'll have been waiting for - actually, that's a lie. Y'all are interested in the plank geeky side of PlantPath Girl; there's more of that coming for y'all. Promise. In the mean time...I am finally Skyping Anna and Ky!! I got a quick Skype session in with Anna about a week ago but I'd do just about anything to shrink the Atlantic Ocean so I could see her beautiful face again. And as for Ky...I haven't Skyped her since I left Wisco! I'd also build a super high speed railway to shorten the 16 hour ride between us. Can't wait to see my loves again.

"As a lotus flower is born in water, grows in water and rises out of water to stand above it unsoiled, so I, born in the world, raised in the world having overcome the world, live unsoiled by the world" -Buddha

Alright, plank geek is back. This girl has officially made a career plan. When did I suddenly become an adult? Beats being an indecisive undergrad!! So, for my elaborate career plan: VITICULTURE. Do you know how many diseases of grapes there are? The APS (American Phytopathological Society) has a compendium of grape diseases.
 http://www.apsnet.org/apsstore/shopapspress/Pages/40888.aspx 
Y'all know about my internships at the West Madison Agricultural Research Station Display Gardens through UW-Madison. There just so happened to be an acre or two of grapes that we did research on...and needless to say they caught my heart. That's the spark that is now a raging wildfire of viticulture passion. As of now, I'm applying for any vineyard job in the Raleigh area I can find. Next summer I will be doing the same (or continuing my job if I have one). Then in Fall of '14, I'm going to be applying for viticulture related plant patholgoy jobs across the country so I hopefully get a job offer by the time I graduate in Spring of '15. Isn't it weird to think that when I'm 22 I'll have a Master's degree? I'm too young for this...but I'm not about to slow down.

Wisdom doesn't automatically come with old age. Nothing does - except wrinkles. It's true, some wines improve with age. But only if the grapes were good in the first place.  -Unknown

This PlantPath Girl needs to get to bed! I'm becoming like my grandparents - sleeping at 7p and up by 4a. Ha! I'm not that bad yet! Anyways, in Eastern Time...it's bedtime! Write to y'all soon. Lots of love sent to the Midwest and England :)