Why Plants Matter: Beauty, Resilience, and the Quiet Legacy of Chad Washburn

In this episode, we sit down with Chad Washburn, Vice President of Conservation at Naples Botanical Garden — a self-described “fancy gardener” with a global reach. From restoring prairies in Indiana to building a world-class garden in Naples, Chad’s story is one of deep purpose, quiet leadership, and unwavering connection to nature.

We talk about the human side of conservation, the emotional power of plants, and how tropical landscapes are more than just pretty — they’re vital. You’ll hear about his stormwater revolution (yes, he made stormwater sexy), how hurricane recovery became a healing mission, and the sacred time he shares with his kids through fishing and flowers.

This one’s packed with soul, science, and surprising humor — and might just change how you see the trees outside your window. 🌳💚

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Transcript

Chad Washburn Full Podcast 4k

[00:00:00] I think one of my favorite things is to have someone come in who's from a different culture or from a, you know, grew up in a different country and see something and immediately transported back to their childhood. Like my grandfather had that tree, we ate that fruit growing up. I haven't seen it in 40, 50 years.

Everybody was so happy. There were Puerto Rican flags everywhere and there was music and there was so much resiliency. He tells people that I'm a fancy gardener. I just like, you know, that's, his dad's a fancy gardener. I'm like, we've seen kids wrap presents. They use leaves to wrap little, you know, pine cones or, or things.

The imagination is just incredible and you really see that come out in that, in our nature play area, leave the phone in the car and go through the garden. Like that would be just, you know, an exercise in something that, um. It was good for my soul. He said, storm water's not sexy. Well, we can make them sexy.

You know, a lot of people move into a community because they've got a waterfront view around a lake. Well, if it's just turf down to the edge, that's, that's not necessarily very attractive. So, hey everyone, and welcome back to the spotlight on good people, where we [00:01:00] shine a light on the humans that are making the world more compassionate, more kind, and more connected.

Today's guest is a true force of nature, quite literally. Chad Washburn is the Vice President of conservation at Naples Botanical Garden. He's a plant geek. Yeah, a father, a global leader in conservation, uh, strategy, and someone who spent nearly two decades protecting the fragile Florida of South Florida and the Caribbean.

He's been at the forefront of stormwater innovation, beach dune restoration, urban forestry, seed banking, and global botanical collaboration, all in the name of nature-based solutions. His handle on X as it best. At why plants matter. And after today you'll understand exactly why. Yeah. So welcome Chad.

Thanks. Thank you. It's great to be here. Thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah. Cool. Um, so I gotta ask like, what got you into the world of, in your fascination with plants, some of those things? I think, I think growing up, uh, I grew up on a [00:02:00] farm and, um, you know, we were, all of my friends lived in, in town and they all, you know, they all got to play together and I don't think I got that as much.

So we, we spent most of our time outside and it, it was one of those things that just I think developed and grew over time. And I think when I got to college I realized like, Hey, I, I really, really like this. I really enjoy this. Um. I had a, a job in college in, uh, I got a job in the greenhouse and I went to school in a small, uh, southern Indiana town.

And in the middle of winter, all of my friends, it was cold outside. I could go in the greenhouse, I was in my shorts and t-shirt, I was gardening. Mm-hmm. Loved it. I was like, you know, I think there was a little bit of an idea then that that was something I was passionate about and wanted to go into. But, you know, what kind of jobs are there in plants?

You know, I thought at the time I thought I wanted to be a doctor. And then, uh, over time that that passion just kind of grew and grew and, and opportunities opened [00:03:00] up. And, uh, next thing I know, I'm, I, this is what I do for a living. So it's, it's just, it's always been there, I think. But, uh, I think it took the experiences that I've had throughout my life to realize that, um, that was the thing I was most passionate about.

What was school like for you? Were you a good student? Were you, I, uh, I was a. Good student in the sciences. I was a good student in biology. Um, really loved that, was really passionate about that. Um, in college I went to a small liberal arts school in Southern Indiana and uh, it was great 'cause I could study philosophy, I could study English, I could study all of these different things, but I, I, being a small school, you could kind of focus everything around what you're passionate about.

And it kind of went back to the environment for me. Taking, you know, I did a lot of environmental literature. I did, uh, philosophies around human relationships to nature. Um, you know, and then when I graduated that kind of, you know, was [00:04:00] tied all that together for me. I felt like I came out well-rounded, um, not just.

Plants, but all the other aspects around plants and how they connected with people and their importance to our lives and, you know, what, what they can really provide to our communities. Hmm. I never even knew that existed, that, uh, connection and relationship between the two, like humans and plants. And that I, I think maybe it was the field was evolving.

'cause I, I, I look at FGCU now and they have a lot of, uh, uh, many, um, I don't know all the programs they have, but I, I I imagine they didn't have as much to offer. They have way more to offer now than they did when you were back in your day where it was sort of seemed emerging, maybe. Yeah, yeah, definitely.

I think that, uh, you know, and as you drive around Naples, it just, it's, it is beautiful. It's absolutely gorgeous. But one of the things that makes it beautiful is that tropical landscape. That lush, tropical landscape that we have. And I think that you forget that, and I think, you know, I, [00:05:00] I, I remind myself that, that, that, you know, we don't always see the plants, but they.

Make up a big part of our community. They, they give us, they give South Florida the feel that, you know, it's this tropical paradise. Yeah. And it is paradise. It is. I mean, I, I love when I'm from Philadelphia, but been here a long time, and I love when family comes down and they, they look at our median. Yeah.

And they go, oh my gosh. Yeah. That median is beautiful. Yeah. It's gorgeous. Yeah. Well, manicured and perfect and pretty, and just the, the green, I mean, it's, we, it is paradise. I mean, it's hard to go on vacation from here because it's such, just such pleasant v it's beautiful. I think we forget that as we drive around, you know, it's, it's easy to forget, you know, you're going somewhere and you're just like, oh no, this is paradise.

I slow down and just enjoy this. We really do. You know, and we're going into summer now, and that's when we, it is hot, but that's when we get our time and things slow down a little bit and we get our chance to, to take that deep breath and, yeah. Enjoy Naples. Yeah. Enjoy Southwest. It's not any hotter than anywhere.

I mean, people could talk about how terrible it is, but it's great. I, it's okay. We get our roads back a little. Get a restaurants back out. [00:06:00] Yeah. Restaurant. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Enjoy. Yeah. How did you get. To Naples, how did, what brought you here? What happened in this journey? Yeah. So, uh, at the time I was working at a company in Indiana and we were restoring prairies and, uh, I liked the job.

What was that? What is, so it was like going into a, a wetland or, or a prairie that, uh, has maybe got invasive species or it's degraded. What is prairie? So it's like a, it's like a grassland with wildflowers. Okay. It's a native ecosystem in the Midwest. Okay. So that was in, in, in northern Indiana, we had a lot of these open prairies.

Um, so we'd go into those areas and restore them. We'd plant the right native plants there. Sometimes they needed fire, uh, as part of their ecosystem, really to manage them. Yeah. Wow. So, so I, I, I loved what I was doing and I really had a great experience doing that. But, um, at the time, I, uh, was, uh, engaged and, and got married and we said, all right, whoever has the first job opportunity will move [00:07:00] there.

And, uh. Looked around, looked around, looked around for jobs, and at the, my, uh, at the time, wife, uh, decided that, you know, she got a job here at, uh, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida. So we moved down here and I kind of came kicking and screaming. I just, I was like, I, I wasn't sure I wanted to be here. I knew so much about the environment in the Midwest, and, uh, you know, here we are, you know, 20 years later and I feel like I've, you know, this is home.

This has become, you know, I've got this connection to the environment and, uh, I didn't know what I was gonna do when I got here. And, uh, you know, I, I worked a little bit at the Conservancy for a little while, but talking to some people and they said, oh, we we're starting a botanical garden here in Naples.

I said, I've done that before. So I helped, I had helped start the Belize Botanical Garden in Central America. And, uh, I said, oh, I've, I've got experience doing that. And, uh, you know, I'd, I'd like to come out and check it out and, you know, again, next thing I know. 18, 19 years later, I'm still here doing the [00:08:00] same thing.

And we've as a team built a community botanical garden. Yeah. From the ground up. From the ground up. I mean, we start up. Wow, I didn't realize that. Yeah. Wow. There was, uh, when we came to the site, there was nothing. It was just like a, a, a blank slate, which was a lot of fun to have that, that, that amount of, uh, you know, freedom and, you know, to, to, to do that.

Uh, it was tabula rasa, completely blank slate, and it was, what was the word? Tabula rasa, blank slate. It was, uh, you know, just a, an opportunity for us to go in and just, uh, you know, do what we wanted and make it, make it a, a, um, you know, a, a beautiful tropical, you know, place for the people of the community.

Yeah. So that's pretty cool because I, I, you know, we, my, my business or our business is, is hair. Yeah. I know. Ironically hair, right. I'm not even a stylist, but, but to watch. The artist and the stylist create, or Paul Arsenal we were talking about has that can blank canvas and creates from that. And you were able to create this.[00:09:00] 

It is, I I couldn't, I can't even put it into words. Uh, for me, when I went there for a wedding and, and, and saw it for the first time, I'd always heard about it, but had never been. And once I went, I was uh, just blown away by the what exists in this community, like how beautiful it is. And just felt like I was taken to another world.

It was so special. Thank you. Thank you. That's, that means a lot. 'cause that's what, that's what we wanted. That was what, you know, we wanted when you come to the garden, that just like, you're taken away to a different place. Yeah. I had no idea. Like she's, they told us that's where the wedding was going. How are you gonna have a wedding in a garden?

It didn't make sense. It didn't compute until I got there. Yeah. And saw it and had the experience of the place. 'cause it left me really moved by nature, by beauty of nature in our awesome, in our backyard, you know, right here. So cool. Yeah. And, and that's one thing that I think. And we get a lot of visitors to the garden from other countries.

And you know, we have a Caribbean garden that, uh, you know, has plants from all over the Caribbean and Central America. We have a Brazilian garden, we have a [00:10:00] Southeast Asian garden. I think one of my favorite things is to have someone come in who's from a different culture or from a, you know, grew up in a different country and, uh, come in and, and, and see something and immediately transported back to their childhood.

Like, yeah, my, my grandfather had that tree. You know, we, we ate that fruit growing up and mm-hmm. I haven't seen it in 40, 50 years. Mm-hmm. And just that. You know, we don't realize those connections we have with nature. Yeah. Until you, until you, you know, you slow down and appreciate that. And once you do, it's just that like, oh yeah.

You know, that, that, that memory of, you know, that just floods back. It, it, it, um, it's powerful. Yeah. Yeah. Alright. Hey everybody, stop the action. Stop the podcast. I've got some news for you. Since you've made it this far, you're gonna get rewarded. We're giving away $100 gift certificates to Robert of Philadelphia salons.

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Well, you're really well connected in the, in the re in the Caribbean and, and throughout you have relationships. And tell me about that, like what you, because you, a lot of your work that I see online involves collaboration with other communities like that. I think, uh, one of the collaboration is so important.

It's, it's kind of the, the foundation of the garden's work and, um, one, one of the early hires opportunities that we had was hiring somebody whose job it is to [00:12:00] bring people together. So on the conservation team, we have a person whose job it is to just bring people together, um, and, and find ways that we can work and meet each other's needs and listen to the community.

But, um, so in, in, uh, I dunno, it was around. In 2006, we hosted a conference in Belize at the Belize Botanical Garden that I had helped start years earlier. We had all these gardens from around the Caribbean in Central America come in and we tried to figure out how could we better work together. And, um, we, we kind of started a, a, an informal group there.

That was kind of a, a, the inception of this, this group working together. And as I left Belize, I said, you know, that that group is something that I feel like needs a hub, needs a connector, needs a voice to kind of. You know, when you leave college, it's hard to keep connected to all your friends. And you always have that one friend who, who pulls everybody back in.

And [00:13:00] we needed that one friend that would bring everybody back together. And I thought, you know, I, I, I've always, it'd be fun. I'd like to take on that role. I'd like to be that person who, who, you know, maybe quietly in the background brings people together and continues to those conversations, those bar stool conversations we have after a conference or those kinds of things.

And that's where the rubber meets the road. That's where things really happen. Mm. And, um, we had a, we, we, a few years went on and we, we kept those connections going and then when we built a garden here, had a realization that we, we could formalize this, that we could be that position. We could, we could do that.

And that's what we've become. We, it's, we're the secretariat, I guess is the formal term for, for the region. But we bring together about 200 gardens from around the Caribbean and Central America. And, uh. We, we do it to work towards, you know, a kind of a strategy together, but it's as much that as it is bringing the people together.

I mean, like [00:14:00] some of my best friends Mm, now are the people that are a part of that network mm-hmm. The people that we work with. Mm-hmm. And, you know, there's not a single one who isn't passionate about something with the environment or with plants or with nature or with education and, um mm-hmm. Yeah.

It's become, you know, uh, it's become a central part of my life. Yeah. I love it. Yeah. And you also were, uh, involved with, well, we've had. Some of the worst hurricanes we've had in the history of my time here in the last 10 years. It's been kind of tough. Yeah. Um, so not only did you guys go through it, but also you went down to help, uh, or you went down to Puerto Rico, I think at, we were talking about at Irma.

Yeah. Yeah. It was after Irma. Uh, Puerto Rico had been hit by Irma and Maria, and we'd been hit by Irma here in South Florida. Mm. And we cleaned up and, you know, did our, did our work here in the garden and, you know, we're feeling exhausted, we're feeling tired, we're feeling, you know, the whole community, you know, just, [00:15:00] it had a huge impact on our community.

Did you know? Did Yes. Yes. It really did. Everybody. Mm-hmm. And then, uh, we had an opportunity to go down and help at an arboretum in Puerto Rico. So we, a couple, couple of us from the garden loaded up some chainsaws, loaded up some equipment, and went down to hit all these rare trees in this arboretum. And they're just, some of 'em are tipped over, some of 'em are, are broken up.

And we thought, oh, we can go down and help out. And I think, um, you know, we showed up with this equipment and, you know, we. We, uh, I don't think we had any idea what we were gonna show up to. And we got there and, you know, there was so much devastation 'cause they'd been hit by two storms. Yeah. But it was a game changer for me in terms of how I, everybody was so happy.

There were Puerto Rican flags everywhere and there was music and there was so much, uh, just this resiliency, I think, uh, in the community. And I just, okay, alright, I've gotta take a step back and, you know, we're feeling sorry for ourselves here and what Yeah. What we [00:16:00] went through as a community, just realizing, you know, part of it was just the spirit of the people.

Yeah. But, but realizing that they kind of saw it as, oh, we're all coming together, you know? Mm. That we're all, you know, we're, we're coming together to do this. So we did the cleanup there and, and you know, we learned a lot. We learned a lot about. How to do it right. How to save rare trees. We collected a lot of seeds, collected a lot of plants and cuttings and brought back, and we've since shared that back with them.

But I think we learned a lot about ourselves on that process. It was kind of a, you know, I think for us it was a good opportunity to kind of heal after the, heal ourselves after the storm and, you know, but Yeah. You know, come at it with a different perspective. Yeah. But now when their storms, you know, The Bahamas had, uh, hurricane Dorian and, you know, we had learned so much here.

I was actually in a, was I. I was in, uh, no, I can't think of where we were. Um, but we were with some of our colleagues from The Bahamas and we were sharing [00:17:00] like how to prepare for hurricanes. We had, we knew what we had been through, they knew what, uh, you know, their past experiences. So we're writing down a list as Dorian is bearing down on The Bahamas and like, okay, what, what do we need?

What supplies do we need to get to you the day after? What can we, you know, what do you need? 'cause what you need on day one is different than when you need on day five. Mm-hmm. And day seven. Mm-hmm. So now we've kind of become this, this group that, you know, we all help and support each other and we've all learned how, how to be resilient mm-hmm.

In the face of those storms. And I think it makes it a little easier going into this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The human spirit was something that was pretty remarkable out of what we've been through in the community. But to see that being, uh, going outside of our bubble, even going to other places and contributing in that way.

Yeah, it's gotta be really. Uh, I, I, I don't know what it's gotta be like for you, but when you go to another region of the world, were you in Australia, did you say? Yeah, I was in Australia for a [00:18:00] conference. Yeah. Yeah. When you go to another region of the world, it's not the tropical or the area that we're from.

What is that like for you to see Yeah. Other parts of what's happening in the, I guess in, uh, there's so many things that are similar because, um, you know, in Australia they face a lot of issues with, um, wildfires and everybody in the community knows everything about wildfires because they've, that's impacted everybody.

Like, like, you know, when, when we have hurricanes here, we are all watching the weather page. We know all the, we all have our favorite weather person that we watch, you know? Mm-hmm. It's not like it's, it's, it's ingrained in what we, you know, our personalities. And there it was, it was fire. And everybody knew, knew, knew about that.

So we kind of, that we all face different issues everywhere, but they were using plants to figure out, you know, like we reduce. The number of plants around our buildings, you know, that can carry fire. And they were, you know, managing ecosystems. The other part of it, going to these other countries, it's neat to see how they, how they, um, how they, how they face the [00:19:00] challenges that they're, the, those big challenges that they face, like wildfires or hurricanes or flooding or those, those big environmental challenges.

But from a personal perspective, when I go to these places, I, I, I look around Naples and I know almost all of the plants, and I go to Australia and it's like being on Mars because it's just like, I don't, I don't know any of this stuff. Yeah. It, it just feels very foreign, you know? And in a way it's neat, but in a way it's like, I look around and I'm just like, I don't, I don't know any of this stuff.

Yeah, right. Like, you know, I drive around here and I can put names to everything and Yeah. Don't, don't know anything. So it, in a way it's a lot of fun. So yeah, in a simplistic way, when I go back to, if I haven't been for, I haven't lived there for many years, but even when I go to Philadelphia in the summertime, uh, I go in the winter, everything's gray and.

There's, there is no foliage. It is different than what we live in, but when I go in the summer, the sense of the tree, the fragrances of the foliage and things are just, it's such a different world for me. [00:20:00] Seeing, I, I have no idea what I'm looking at, but I just know things are a lot different than here when I'm there.

Yeah. But I can only imagine for you, uh, um, from the world you live in to see it's gotta be like Mars. Yeah. When you go somewhere else. Yeah. It feels so, so different. But I think that's part of the, the, that's the fun part of, of doing all that is kind of getting outside your, your bubble and mm-hmm. You know, and then hearing the stories that people tell when you go to these places.

And I imagine you see that here. You get, I mean, you've been here for in 40, A long time. Yeah. Long time. 40 how many years? 45 years. Yeah, 40. I mean, that's incredible. And like the number of people that come through here. Yeah. And you know, during season, I imagine you get, well, I guess all year people from all over the world and Yes.

I imagine you hear incredible stories. You know, just that, that, that's, I think that's a neat thing about Naples is. You know, so many people come here from all over the world. Yes. You know, it is, it is really kind of cosmopolitan. Yes. You know, throughout parts of the year. And that kind of shifts where people are coming from.

So Yeah. It makes Naples a neat place. It it is [00:21:00] very, very special. 'cause people do come from everywhere. 'cause it is so special. It is a very unique area that's got, um, that's a, a draw for people from all walks, all parts of the world. Yeah. And, and you do hear and learn so much from the people who come from everywhere.

You know, they have a lot to contribute to us. Yeah. But I, I love that part of Naples too. Yeah. I think that's special that, you know, whether I can have a conversation just yesterday with, um, someone who has been coming down from Chicago for so many years, or somebody who comes from France for so many years, or wherever they come from, and just, uh, to listen and learn about what's going on in the world.

Which is why I, which is why I really enjoy this. 'cause there's so much that I don't know about this paradise that we live in and the. The curators and the visionaries that make it what it is because, um, I think as we go into summer especially, this is very appropriate that you and I are having this conversation.

Yeah. Because I think there are parents and families looking to see what do we do in the [00:22:00] summer? Where, where do we go? What do we do? Yeah. And, and I know that for anybody who hasn't, I know it's for, for children, for adults, for everyone. What a special trip that is to, to go out to the garden and take a look at it.

How would you recommend, while we're talking about it, that people see the garden? What's the, what's the way to do it? Oh, that's a great question. I think, um, I think my, my favorite part of the garden is that every, I, I'm there every day during the week, but every I go, I walk through the garden every day and every day it's different.

Every day it changes. And I think sometimes it's subtle and sometimes it's big changes. Like a, a tree will be in flower. Big tree and you know, bright pink flowers that wasn't there the day before, you know, wasn't blooming. And I think, I think my best advice on it, on, uh, experiences, the gar experiencing the garden is just walk through slowly and, and, and look at everything, um, come back because it does [00:23:00] change.

It changes, you know, kind of, it's alive. It's, it's a thing that I think that's one of the things that makes it so special that, you know, every time you walk through, it's a little bit different. And, uh, you know, I think people ask me, what's your favorite part of the garden? And it's different every single day.

It depends on kind of the experience that I had the day before. Um, you know, I, one of my favorite things to do is walk through the garden with my kids. And because I hear what they have to say, I hear those, you know, I hear Dad, I don't like that, you know, dad, that, that, you know, or Dad, this is my favorite spot.

You know, so that, that changes. But I think, um. I dunno, the best way to experience it is I think with a friend or a family member, just walk through slowly and enjoy it. And I think it's, it's about, you know, being in the moment. Um, we've done a lot to you. You said the word curate earlier. Um, we've done a lot to curate [00:24:00] those moments.

Um, one of our big exhibits right now is, uh, a frame in Flora, and it's actually just big frames around a view. And sometimes it's just a small group of pots, but sometimes it's a long view. Mm. And it's, it's treated just like a museum. There's several of 'em have a bench in front of them. There's a tag like you would see in the museum.

It explains what you're looking at. And that's just that chance to stop and look. Yeah. And enjoy. Yeah. Um, you know, I, I really love that. Um, yeah, we've got a cool thing now called Nature Play, um, that it's in three different areas of the garden and it's really. Connecting kids back to playing in nature. Mm.

There's no directions, there's no, there's a lot of loose parts. Uh, could be pine cones, um, leaves, uh, there's, uh, kids do some weaving. Um, there, there's lots of places to, to play and explore in nature, but, um, it's having those experiences that [00:25:00] we had as a kid, you know, you played outdoors, you did, you weren't in front of a screen.

Um, you know, watching kids do that. I mean, it's just, it's incredible. They reconnect with nature and some of those kids are gonna have my job someday, so, yeah. You know? Yeah. I really hope so. Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And especially in, in this, you know, where parents are looking for, uh, a.

Disconnect or pulling the plug on the iPad. Yeah. And well, what do I do with them then? What, what do they, what, what happens then? Yeah. 'cause before it was, they would just kick us outta the house. Yeah, yeah. And say, go figure it out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Come back with the sunsets. Right. You know? Yeah. Yeah. Uh, but there, you know, there being an area where they can create play, uh, without a rule or without having to say, do it between the lines.

Just have at it here. I think that's a beautiful thing. And yeah, the imagination we see is just incredibly have kids doing place settings. And during their flower show, that's part of the flower shows, they have these really elaborate, [00:26:00] ornate place settings at the flower, the garden club designs and kids were doing that.

We've seen kids wrap presents. They use leaves to wrap little, you know, pine cones or, or things. The imagination is just incredible and you really see that come out in that, in our nature play area. So, yeah. Yeah. And you said something that I, I didn't even think about. Which has come back again because it's ever evolving.

It's not static. It's not like looking at it once, it's not like going to a museum. You saw the painting and there it was. Yeah. But this is always changing. It's always going through its own season there. Yeah. Which I didn't think about that aspect of it. Yeah. Yeah. I like that. Um, and I didn't think about this either, but, but you know, as I, as I fight, I'm always fighting for, um, well, some sort of inner peace.

But, but, and, and that always requires meditation or some type of quiet time or, or just being able to be present. 'cause it's really difficult to do, to be present. 'cause we're always on the go and, you know, life's happening and, you know, sometimes it [00:27:00] takes a tragedy to get you present back in the moment.

But, but that is, uh, a place to go where it. It forces you to be present. I mean, it's actually, you're, you're just in nature. Yeah. And it's a way to just really, uh, center. Yeah. Which I hadn't, hadn't thought of as a practice. Like it could be actually a practice for me because I sometimes only, uh, get to that place where I know that I'm at peace or centered or, you know, when I separate myself from everything and turn the phone off, which is so hard to do.

But to actually be able to leave the phone in the car Yeah. And go through the garden like that would be just, you know, an exercise in, in, in something that, um, is good for my soul. Yeah. You know, I love that. Absolutely. Yeah. How would, you talked about your kids. Yeah. And I know your kids are a big part of your life.

Yeah. And I could see that in, in learning about you. Yeah. How would your kids describe what it is that you do? Oh, this is a great one. 'cause my, my son. Whenever anybody asks me what I do, I always look at my son and he kinda laughs and he is like, so he, he tells people that I'm a fancy [00:28:00] gardener. I just like, you know, that's, his dad's a fancy gardener.

I'm like, okay. Because it is hard to explain, you know, like, what, what you do. So dad's a fancy gardener, so sometimes I'll just say that I'm a fancy gardener. Leave it at that, you know? Yeah. So, um, yeah, my daughter, um, it is one of those things, uh, um, I, she's mostly just with me on weekends and, um, I, I, I, she knows that plants are important to me.

She knows that that's something that's really, you know, a core part of who I am. And, uh, we do a lot with plants. We plant flowers all the time, and I, I continually planting flowers and, and, and picking flowers with her. And, um, she, uh. I think she just, she's grown up thinking that there's just flowers everywhere, you know?

Mm-hmm. Just, that's, that's a how it is, how life is. There's, there's just plants and flowers everywhere, so, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. You said before you came here, you dropped your son off at school. Yeah. You took him to school. So that, I, I, I think that's cool. 'cause that's time alone. Yeah. For, for [00:29:00] you guys that Yeah.

He's forced to be with, he's a teenager. Is he 15? He's 14. 14. He'll be 15 a couple months, so, yeah. Yeah. Uh, so is that a part of your regular, uh, habit with him? Yeah. Yeah. I take him to school every day, but, uh, our, our big thing, well for several years has been fishing and that kid, I mean, growing up in Florida and you're on the coast, you know, like you growing up outdoors, kid just absolutely loves fishing is right.

And we would be out. Gosh, like on weekends we'd be out 6, 7, 8 hours a day fishing and just, you know, that's such a good thing for, for, you know, growing up in this area Yeah. To have that, that connection and, um, oh yeah, I loved it. Uh, although I'd get a little bit bored after that and he'd, he'd be, but not him.

He'd, no, not him. He'd be looking at the water fishing and I'm looking at the plants on the beach, you know, I, I'm turned around. He's like, where's dad? Dad's, dad's a half mile down the beach, you know, with a, you know, down on my knees looking at plants. So, yeah. But, uh, we, yeah, that, [00:30:00] that, uh, I think that's probably, you know, plants are important and I love my job and I'm passionate about my job, but at the end of the day, I, I think now the reason I do my job using plants to address problems in the community, um, it's, it's because of my kids.

You know, I see so many changes in the environment and changes in our world around us. And, you know, I, I, I wanna leave the world a better place for my kids. And that's a, that's a lofty goal. That's one of those things that just like, you know, that can, that's a really tough thing to, to do and actually be able to accomplish and say, you know, like, I, I changed the world in a way that is much better for my kids.

And I think, I think that's what drives me is that, is leaving the world a better place for my kids. And seeing that you can actually do that. Mm-hmm. Working with the environment, with our work on the beach or work, uh, in the community, planting trees, um, [00:31:00] you know, that, that moves the needle. And I think I, I, you know, I, I, every day I think about that and what, you know, how will, how will this impact my kids?

But then a great part about that is how will, how does it impact everybody in the community? Everybody's kids, you know, that's, yeah. You, um. Tell me about the world of stormwater. 'cause I know you have, uh, worked on that a lot. Yeah, so stormwater is something that's, uh, yeah, we don't think about it as very sexy.

You know, you go to a mall or you go to someplace, there's a stormwater system that's a part of that, that facility. But what, what does, does that mean? Uh, yeah, so, yeah, so it's, and we, we, we mostly don't know because you don't see it. Yeah. It's usually just a, a like a turf grass bowl in the back somewhere.

Yes. And you don't even necessarily know that that's part of the storm water system. But that's not doing, that's not providing a lot of function. It's like we've designed our storm water in South Florida to prevent flooding, so it sweeps all that water out into [00:32:00] the gulf. And, you know, the idea is that just, it goes away.

It doesn't flood our community. But, um, and we've dedicated a lot of space to that. And we all have canals. We've got, most of our communities have multiple storm water ponds, and they're usually grass, turf grass right down to the edge. But those systems can be actually something that's beautiful and they can function, they can actually be, you know, I said storm water's not sexy.

Well, we can make them sexy. You know, a lot of people move into a community because they've got a waterfront view around a lake. Mm-hmm. Well, if it's just turf down to the edge, that's, that's not necessarily very attractive. Hmm. You know, so we can plant those areas with. Plants. And those plants can be attractive.

They can bring in birds. Um, so then you, you again, you, you know, you slow down. You start watching that and you start seeing those interactions and waiting birds, you know, fishing there, catching insects. Um, you know, that that's a slowing down a connection to nature. But [00:33:00] we, by having those plants there, they're helping to clean the water that can slow the flow of that water without causing flooding.

We can, we can design these things in ways that actually treat that water. And that's important because we've had red tide, we've had these algal blooms off the coast. Mm-hmm. And that impacts everybody. Mm-hmm. I mean that when the Gulf has, um, you know, this red tide blooms, tourists don't want to come here.

Right. And, you know, that's our lifeblood. Mm-hmm. That's our. That's what keeps all of us in business, you know? Yeah. So it, you know, that's a long connection. But, you know, how we treat our landscape, how we treat, uh, the, those, those parts of our community that are important, that have, that have function or can have more function impacts every single person in the community.

And it doesn't matter if you never go to the beach, if we have red tide that Im, that impacts you. If you work in a hospital, um, in a church, in a school, your job [00:34:00] relies on tourism in some way. Mm-hmm. Um, there's a connection to that. So, uh. No, that's moving the needle by, there's 10,000 stormwater ponds in Collier County and most of those are grass.

10,000. Yeah. And that's a study of out of Florida Gulf Coast University. Wow. And most of those are, are turf grass right down to the edge. And, um, turf grass, meaning Flo Tam or whatever, kinda Flo Tam or just, yeah. And that's not good for the environment. That's not, that's not helping to treat that water.

In fact, that can add, add pollutants because when we mow that the grass clippings get, that's grass clippings are a pollutant. Oh. Um, you know, when we fertilize, that can get into the ponds. Mm-hmm. So changing that over to a more natural, you know, more native plantings. So, you know, I come at this from the environmental side, but I make sure that when I talk about things like stormwater, that it's not just talking about the environment, the environment's important to me, but I know a lot of our community members, that's maybe not as [00:35:00] important, but economics.

Are important to everybody. Mm-hmm. You know, that's a message that connects with everybody. And if we don't have, if we have less red tide in the gulf, or we can decrease the number of days or the severity, that's economic. Mm-hmm. That's, that, that's, that's dollar values. We can tie that Sure, sure. We can tie that back to, to people because when there's red tide, you can't go to the beach.

You go to the gulf areas and you can feel it. Oh yeah. You cough. Oh yeah. Um, that's hurts. Tourism do. Yeah. Mm-hmm. So it's, it's all of this work around storm water or hurricane recovery or beach student restoration. It ties back to the environment, but it ties back to economics and it ties back to people.

Um, it impacts everything. How, how, how does the environment affect red tide? How are humans, uh, what are we doing to cause it or. Yeah. So red Tide is something that, um, you know, we don't know everything, uh, but we do know that, um, it may not [00:36:00] be caused by, uh, pollutants like fertilizers and, and nutrients, but we do know with certainty that, um, fertilizers and nutrients feed red tide and make those blooms larger.

Okay. They, um, can make them last longer. Mm. Um, they can take a small bloom and make it, you know, a very large bloom. And then we get fish die offs. And we get fish kills. Mm-hmm. You know, you don't want to go to the beach when there's, you know, that's not a reputation we want have in enable. So, so, um, yeah.

So we do know that that's something we need to do is reduce our reliance on fertilizer. Um, and we can do that through plants. We can do that by changing the way we connect with our environment. What would a, um. A retention pond. I don't know what they're called in communities because I have two of them in my community.

Yeah. And the houses are more expensive that are on that pond. On that thing. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Uh, the, um, what would it look like where it was more [00:37:00] friendly or, or actually a better than just a grasp going right to the edge. What's, what's the difference? So we plant native plants and they, we, we, you know, we focus on native plants 'cause they're not gonna become invasive.

They're not gonna become a problem. Mm-hmm. But we plant them, um, you know, it's called lit literals, and it's the, you know, plants that are growing in the water side, their roots or, or down into the water. Um, plant native plants there. And we've got like workhorse species that, that do a lot of the function.

But then, you know, we add a lot of beautiful plants to that and like irises or native or water lilies. Um, you know, and then we plant plants, a buffer planting on the upland side. And again, um, we plant it. For that natural function. And that can be a lot of grasses. There's some mob flowers we can put in there.

There's some trees, there's some flower. You know, uh, we have a native magnolia that's got a beautiful six inch white flower to it. And when we do this, um, you know, you had Paul Arsenal on recently and, you know, talking about [00:38:00] Paul's paintings and, and that Paul truly captures the sense of place in Florida.

And when we do these kind of plantings, we wanna capture a sense of place. We, it can be artistic. So, um, in the garden, when we designed our storm water system, we designed, when you pull into the garden, you don't realize that, um, there's a little bit of a pond in the front that's disconnected and it's, it's got some other plants to it, but around the circle drive that is part of our stormwater system.

Hmm. And we sat down, uh, with um. Artists work like Paul Arsenal, um, Clyde Butcher's, uh Oh wow. Cool. Photography. Yeah. So when we designed that, it wasn't just designed with landscape architecture and we worked with a great landscape architect, Ellen Goetz, um, and the design of those. So it was that landscape architecture and nature and art, you know, we brought together form and [00:39:00] function and when we sat down to do that and, um, brought all that together, and you don't know, we made stormwater sexy, you know, we made it, we put out something that it's right out front when you go to the garden.

Uh, one of my favorite things just to, people go for concerts and it's, we have the water garden stage and it's on the water garden. When you look down that it's a river of grass that's part of our stormwater system. Like we have concerts in the stormwater system. That's Oh, cool. That's, that's cool. You know, we've made it something that, it's a feature, you know, it can be something that, you know, for all those people that, that pay more for that house on the water.

Yeah. We, we can make it more attractive. So yeah. There are even, uh, um, trees on our property. I wasn't aware of this, that there is like a, a county, uh, law or an ordinance that required the builder to put a certain tree on each property that, um, I, I talked about trimming it back and the, the, uh, the, uh, landscape company said, no, that's a tree that [00:40:00] has to stay.

That's a, whatever the ordinance is Yeah. For that tree. That's a native tree would be. Yeah. Or that would be something, because I have no idea what it was. Yeah. But I just remember them saying, no, they, they have to plant that at every property. They have to, there's certain ones that they have to do for that.

Yeah. And our property backs up to a, what's called a preserve. Yeah. Which, um. You know, I guess can never be, be touched in any way. Yeah. And we can't, you know, do anything on that side of it. And we have this, um. Of course they built all the homes up on this mound of, or, you know, were elevated over that. And then they had originally put in, um, sea oats along the, the back of that.

And what a lot of people have done, instead of the sea oats is spend a lot more money to put these like rocks in over top of that. Yeah. And they've, lets get them pretty and put rocks in. But the sea oats were there originally, and I'm not gonna spend $30,000 to put their rocks in for something like that.

Yeah, yeah. But, uh, but some of the sea, the first landscaping company, uh, you know, kinda let them all die. There's like one or two left, but I was thinking maybe I should put those back there to keep from the [00:41:00] erosion or whatever happens back there. Is that, is that something that I'm kind of asking for advice something?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, yeah. Uh, without seeing it, well, um, no. In my own community, this was something our, our lake bank was, um, basically eroding and people were losing their lawns. And the solution to that was not. You know, hundreds of thousands of dollars of rocks. It was plants. So that's what they're doing.

They made the right decision. So, you know, and, and, um, you know, plants are more, um, I guess they're forgiving. They can, they grow and that, that kind of, um, you know, grow and evolve over time. So, yeah. Mm-hmm. I would, I would definitely do plants. It's cheaper, much cheaper, and I think it's a better solution.

Okay, good. Yeah. Confidence with that, because I was not about to have these guys put a bunch of rocks back there. Yeah. And I just, I, I actually love the way it looked when the, when the natural oats or whatever it was that they had back there, just, it was a pretty look and, you know, looking into the preserve, we get the, uh, bobcats that come along back there.

Oh yeah. There's nothing better than seeing that. I love seeing that bobcat [00:42:00] just spread along the back. Yeah. Oh, that's beautiful. It's, it's, that's, that's, that's beautiful. That's what like, we in the garden, we get, we get panthers. We get bobcats. Oh, we get, uh, Panthers too. Yeah. It's just incredible. And that, that, you know, like if, if your house backs up to a preserve like that, those things that you see, you know, that's, that's, uh.

That's, that's part of living here and it's a part of, part of Florida. But love, it's cool that you get to experience that. Yeah. We hear coyotes sometimes back in there and just, yeah. I, you know, we'll see the snakes and my wife doesn't like that, but I love seeing 'em. That's part of where it's, we came to their home.

We're living in their house. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Good way to look at it. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Is there, um, someone who is your inspiration or a mentor for you or who you've kinda changed the course of your life or you continue to look up to or has made you who you are? Wow. Yeah. I think, um, going through college, I think I aligned myself and connected with the professors that, um, [00:43:00] were less teachers and more taught me to ask the right questions.

They're like, Socratic, Socratically. They, they, um. And I think, um, I had some great advisors in my undergraduate program and my graduate program that I think really changed the way I looked at the world because they, they taught me to maybe more ask the right questions than, you know, to learn that way. Um, yeah, I think, uh, a, a couple of my college and, and undergraduate and graduate, um, and then I think, you know, I have to say my parents, Hmm.

Um. I look back, I see how hard it is now being a parent. It is, it is. It is one of the hardest jobs. I, I could imagine. You know, anybody that, that has children and you're just like, [00:44:00] you know, being there for them and you, you, you've gotta be there for somebody else, you know, a hundred percent of the time.

And I look back and realize how busy I am now, and I look back and my parents almost every weekend took us camping, canoeing, all of those kinds of things. And I think, you know, I just, I can't thank my parents enough for what they did when I was a kid. I look now and I'm like, gosh, like, I don't know how, how they could have done all that they did to take us on all these adventures.

Yeah. You know, with fewer resources on top of that too. Yeah. Fewer resources on, I, you know, they didn't have iPhone, you know, they couldn't set up campgrounds and hotels like, you know, from their phone, you know? Yeah. They didn't have that. They're looking at Wood All's Director Gold. Yeah. It's all paper, you know, phone calls and, you know.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, yeah. And they're back home. They're India. Yeah, they're in Indiana. India. Yeah. They've got a farm there. Um, how would, uh, mom describe you? Oh, I think, uh, I think my parents always had concern. [00:45:00] I think they always, like, you know, I wasn't, I started out as pre-med and um, then I, day I graduated from college, I, I decided to move to Belize that literally that day.

Wow. For a couple weeks, which ended up being about two and a half years. I think they always had this like, worry a little bit, but, um, I think maybe, I think she would say. Free-spirited or curious. I think she always had this worry that like, what's it gonna go on and do? How are, how are you gonna get a job?

You're, you're living in the middle of Rainforest in Belize. Like, it's not a real job, Chad, you know, you know, there's that, that's not a, you know, and again, that goes back to my kids saying, dad's a fancy gardener. That's not a real job, you know? But, uh, I think it's that, that finding, um, finding a real job in that, so, yeah.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. What would you say to, um, somebody who has a, a young student, young person who has an interest in [00:46:00] what your world is? Uh, yeah. Um, I think, you know, I work with a lot of students from FGCU and I think to me it's inspiring to work with them because they're asking so many questions. They're curious, and I think it's that, um.

I tell them to look up and look at the big picture. You know, quite often we get focused on one thing, especially as a scientist. You get into your research and you get really focused on one thing, but looking up and looking at the, looking at the big picture, um, you know, I think that allows us to ask more questions.

How is what I'm doing relevant to the world? How does it impact the world? How does, you know, you get focused on that one thing. But, um, you know, one of the things that we say on our team is look up, you know, at our conservation team at the garden, look up. 'cause you know, you get really focused on this one thing and it's like, oh yeah, look at all this going on around me, and this is how, what I'm working on [00:47:00] connects with all of that.

Mm-hmm. So, um, yeah, and I think, I think on the other side of that is working with students keeps me on my toes. You know, just, it it, you know, it's a two way street. Sure. Yeah. What do you do? When life gets hard or when you are facing tough challenges or in, in any area of life, what's your outlet or what's your go-to and how do you handle things like that?

Uh, I, it's funny because, you know, I, I, I work in a garden every day, all day. And, um, you know, that's my life, but that's what I do is go home and garden and it's just, um, that hands in the dirt. You know, I guess I, I do science all day, but I think when I go home, it's my chance to do gardening as art. You know, I get to, um, you know, I, my daughter and I do cut flowers all the time, and we bring 'em in and it's, you know, designing that and like that sense of, you know, I, I can, I can bring some [00:48:00] art to it.

Hmm. Um, I, every day, the thing that I do, you know, we, we, we all come home from work and, you know, just you, you're, you're wound up a little bit and you're just, you know, you've had a busy day and. So not always the best day. And you know, and you come home and it's hard to slow down. Again, going back to you gotta be there for your kids and mm-hmm.

You know, be, be present and yeah. First thing I do is walk out into the garden and I'll, I'll just walk around the garden, even if it's five minutes. Um, but that's that. Okay, slow down. That's that time to just kind of reconnect and come and breathe and then, um, you know, yeah, I can come back in and, and be there, be present for my son.

So that's cool. Yeah. If you could only work with one species for the rest of your life, man. Oh man. Wow. Um, so my answer today would probably be, um, palm palms. [00:49:00] I like, I really, I love palm trees. Um, and I, I would say that the, that Florida thatch palm is one of my favorites. Uh, if. You know, we talk about palms.

We, we talk about plants sometimes, what they're, you know, if, if it had a personality it would be a tuxedo. I mean, like, it's a native plant, but they're very formal looking and I love using them around town and put putting 'em into plantings. 'cause they look very formal, but they look like Florida. They, you know, so they're that very attractive.

But it's in a sense of place, so, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Okay. That's cool. Yeah. Yeah. How many different, uh, palms are there? Oh gosh. There's, there's thousands and thousands really, you know, I feel like, yeah. Wow. I, I, um, yeah, just when, you know, I, I, I just, when I think I know most of 'em around town, I'll see a new one and it's really, that's kind of what's exciting, so.

Wow. Yeah. That's incredible. Yeah. Yeah. There's not just this small finite number. I had no idea there would be that many of them. Yeah. Yeah. There's, there's lots and I, yeah, there's, there's [00:50:00] always something new to learn, so. Yeah. Yeah. It's fun. What do you miss about back home? Oh, I. SI, that sense of place is so much of that connection to nature and sense, sense of place is, is like the core of who I, who I am.

And leaving Indiana was tough because you were on a farm. I was on a farm, you know, and I went to grad school in Bloomington, Indiana. And um, I, I had a connection to just the Midwest, and I loved the prairies, I loved the forest, the elevation change, you know? Mm-hmm. Like, it wasn't like mountains, but, um, I think, you know, I missed the spring ephemerals.

The spring wildflowers, the um. The smells. Mm. Um, you know, I, you could, I could walk outside with my eyes closed. You could drop me off with my eyes blindfolded and I could tell you, okay, it's spring or it's fall. Mm. Just by the smells and [00:51:00] just like that connection to that. So leaving that was really hard.

And I think, um, always summers are our time, our slow time, and I get that chance to go back and immediately I just, I wanna be outside. I wanna be, you know, those smells and that. Mm-hmm. I, I, I miss that. I miss seasons. I miss, I miss a lot of that. Yeah. So, you know, the summer's my time to go back and reconnect with them.

Yeah. So, and when it's a little quieter around here, uh, you get to. Do a little bit more in this area. Is there a restaurant, is there a food that you like in our, oh gosh, uh, Naples, that's one of the best part of Naples is food. You know, I love, I I I love, uh, I, I love it. Um, I, I, I shouldn't give away my too many of my favorite places.

Right. You know, just, just, uh, I like to explore. But, um, I think right now, uh, um, I, I tried bi collet recently. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. What a gem. Yes. We are so lucky to have bi collet. Yes. I just, it was my first time there. It was just like, okay, this is instant [00:52:00] favorite. Yeah. Um, and then I like cocktails at, uh, the cave.

It's a great place to go. Uhhuh Uhhuh. Okay. It's the wine bar up, uh, on, uh, airport Road and yeah, they do great artistic things with cocktails. Uh, great, great place. So yeah. Yeah, I would say right, right now, those are my two favorites. Yeah. Do you, do you have a favorite? What your, you know, I, you mentioned fishing for now, like my new favorite.

I haven't, uh, recently I went there for lunch and I just stopped. I, I, I didn't understand. It's been there for a while. Yeah. And I just didn't understand it. I saw some articles written about it and I, I, uh, I didn't know if it was part of the bike thing because there's a bike store there, and then, but then I heard people talking about it and I went, and what I really loved was that.

So much of the menu has got things that are on the outer edges of food, like Yeah, yeah, yeah. Different stuff. Yeah. You know, just not the mainstream normal stuff. And I love that. Yeah. You know, that's why I like to go to other cities and, and experiencing other ethnic Yeah. You know, [00:53:00] restaurants and things like that, that have a little bit of, you know, more flavor, more spice, more diversity in it.

And that menu just blew me away. Yeah. Just seeing what was on there and everything we tried was just Wow. Over the top. Yeah. It was special. I, that was a good one. You know, when you've gotta go to Google, when you're looking at the menu, like, what, what is that ingredient? Yeah, exactly. You're like, I'm, I'm gonna have a good experience.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That was exactly it. Yeah. I saw some of the things on there. I wasn't sure what it was. Yeah. But hey, we're gonna try it. Anyway, we ended up ordering some extra stuff, my son and I, and yeah. Really that was one that stood out for me for sure. Yeah. And, and then we went to, um, oh gosh. Um, I.

The up, oh, uh, bay. Uh, not Bayside. Bayside is at the, the village, uh, the Bay House. Oh, yeah. Uh, which is in a beautiful, oh gosh. The, the dining room is beautiful. I mean, it's, it's on the estuary there, the waterway in the back there. And it's by that new Perry Hotel. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I knew where And great seafood.

A phenomenal, we [00:54:00] were there last Friday night, which I thought it was Saturday night. I thought after Easter it wasn't gonna be, they were packed. Yeah. It was mobbed Really still so busy. Uh, but I. Loved it, you know, great, great seafood. I had the, um, like a seafood stew. They called it this, I think it was a St.

Augustine stew. It had mussels and clams and, uh, fish and shrimp. And it was, it was, it was awesome. Really, really good. My wife had black grouper, which was amazing. I love black grouper. And, um, yeah, so that's a new one. I love seafood, so I, uh. So if your son ever Okay. Catches a lot, I'll be happy to buy anything.

Whatever he does. He does, he does. Is he backwater fish or what's he, what's his name? Yeah. Mostly just coastal. Uh, you know. Yeah. Um, it, I, our favorite is mullet just because they're, when you catch 'em in a cast net and then we smoke 'em and Oh, they're so good. It's, you know, it's a Florida Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

No, I remember they have cast Florida. Yeah. Yeah. I love smoke mullet. Yeah. I love it. I don't see it anywhere. I haven't been able to get it, but I remember having it a lot growing up around here. It was, you know, we and that watching [00:55:00] the schools Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's so awesome seeing just so many packed together like that.

Oh, it's, it's unreal when they come in. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's one of those, you know, like, uh, that's, you gotta go to a real Florida cracker Yeah. Restaurant to get that. Yeah. You know? Yeah. Yeah. And you know, there aren't as many of those around. I'll have to try Bayfront. Uh, I stopped by Perry just to look at a Yeah.

Beautiful rooftop bar. Oh, it is? Yes. Great, great, great. Uh, yeah, the view, the view over the bay is gorgeous. Yeah. It's real pretty. I just went up to see, like, I'd seen the View and they were packed again. It was probably the same Friday night that you were Yeah. You, I went up, I, I live up there. I thought I'd just drive over and see it.

Yeah. I like to explore and, you know, I just wanted to see, see what it, um, what it looked like. Um, you mentioned, uh, different, uh, go, going to try different types of food. Um, I, I think a, a food mecca globally, someplace I haven't been, but I want to is Oaxaca in Mexico. Here's so much about food in Oaxaca and their connection to all these different, every like, you know, there's famous dishes, but every family has [00:56:00] a different recipe for it.

Like mole, you know, it can take hours to make and every family has their secret recipe. Well, there's a, I, you know, I, I talk to friends who are from Oaxaca and like, where do I go in Naples? And I, I dunno if I should give this away 'cause it's truly a gem, but. Um, and it doesn't look like a restaurant from the front La Waha, Kenya on Davis.

There's a little like bodega in the front and you go in like, am I in the right place? Yeah. Like what, what? You walk through the little bodega and it opens up to this restaurant and it just like, and they ha it's true Mexican food and, and you know, from Oaxaca and Adam was there over the holidays in there.

I can't think of what the drink was. There was some drink that they only make for like 12 days. And the night that I was there, I was so excited to try this drink and, you know, I tried to order it and they're like, oh, grandma is the only one that's allowed to make it. And grandma was sick that night, so grandma wasn't feeling well, so grandma didn't make it.

And it's just this like Wow. Special that that's a real special thing. Yeah. Like I gotta go back and get this. I gotta try [00:57:00] this. You know, love those places. Yeah. Yeah. Love places like that that are just kind of off the beaten path and just different and, um. Something you wouldn't expect, like a surprise place to go.

You know? I love that Brandon Davis. So not far from here too, so I'm gonna check it out. Yeah, good. Because there, there are, and I'm learning that too, that there's so many variations of Mexican food. There's not just the generic, there's so many specialties. I'm, I'm a sauce guy. I love different flavors and, uh, spices.

We're going to, um, my wife and I to celebrate her birthday, we're going to, um, back to St. Bart's next week actually. Awesome. And what's neat about ST for me is staying in one of the, um, vr, vrbo, or, um, villas that they have there. Is a lot of times they'll leave the other people who have stayed there will leave their spices in the, in the cabinetry.

Oh yeah. And it's things that maybe I haven't never cooked with before, but I love to buy the fresh fish down there and then use whatever's in the, in the cabinetry. There were spices that I had never used the last time we went, and it was fun. 'cause of the French culture and the French Way [00:58:00] there, it's very French, but the influences of the seasonings that they use.

And I love to cook and Oh yeah. So that's, uh, exciting for me to get to, um, go and eat fish and uh, uh, you know, just create, uh, from whatever's in the cabinet. And my stomach's sc grumbling here. I just like, yeah, like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I, I, I, I think, uh, you know, I, I started during, um, COVID was when I was, when I really started cooking, and I just, like, I fell in love with it.

And so I, I do, you know, I do a lot of HelloFresh. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I learned a lot. Learned from Hello Fresh. Yes. Learned a lot. And like, I don't, you know, I don't have time to meal plan, but that was one of the things that I kind of committed to, you know, with my son was like, I'm going to. Like, make our food, I'm not gonna mm-hmm.

You know, buy frozen things. And he learned to cook. And in fact, uh, oh gosh, I can't think of the, the brand, but, um, you know, he's, I think over Christmas for when he was 13, he asked for a set of knives. He got really into cooking. Awesome. And now it's great [00:59:00] because as a 14-year-old, I can turn over whatever to him, whether it's fish, he'll clean it and cook it, or steak or vegetables.

Wow. You know, he, he's, he's learned to do that. And I think, you know, that's a, that's one of those things that I think everybody should learn that. Yeah. Yeah. Not necessarily to be a chef, but if you can feed yourself. Yeah. Like you can, you've got it made and it's a lost art. Yeah. It's special. But then you connect with people and like Yeah.

Do What's your favorite? Do you have like a favorite. Thing that you cook? I really don't, I don't, you know, growing up in an Italian family, I don't even cook a lot of the Italian foods that my mother and my family cooked. I, I'm not a big pasta eater. I was in the day, but, um, not, not, I just, um, I'm kind of all over the place Yeah.

With what I like to do. Yeah. Um, it just depends on sometimes what's on sale in, in the grocery store, and I want to create something or, or what I have that's left. I'd like to create, uh, you know, just from nothing. Sometimes I, I'm not even sure what it's gonna end up being. Yeah. I wife just [01:00:00] say, what are you making?

I'm, I'm not really sure, but here's what we have and it will end up, you'll, I'll let let you know when it's done, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. That's cool. So that cool. That's fun for me. That's my, where my creative outlet, but I enjoy, um, when I have the time, but it's also therapeutic, kind of like, uh, you know, what you do for your therapy.

It's kind something that I like to do that, you know, kinda, um, I kinda get lost in it, you know, I'm not, I'm not, uh. I, I like that your son has a set of knives. I makes me think of my knives. I gotta get 'em sharp. Yeah. Because there's nothing like a fresh set of knives. Real sharples hinkles. Hell yes. Gotta henkel.

Yeah. You like he wanted It's a real deal. Real deal. You know, those are great. Yes, we did knife safety and, you know, learning all that, so that's awesome. It's great. 'cause I can turn, I, I reel back a little bit. It's great because I can just, you know, get fun things for him to try and explore. And we like to go to, uh, there's a, a plaza in Tampa that has an international grocery and there's one in Cincinnati that it's kind of a mecca for us.

And every year we go, every [01:01:00] summer my son and I go there and we set a budget and we're gonna buy, you know, this, you know, this is what, how much we're gonna spend. But, you know, just, we bought like. You know, aged soy sauce and this like, you know, just incredible, you know, all these different spices and all of these different things.

Mm mm The downside to that is that I now have a 14-year-old who's got a palate that just, that's awesome. I just like, uh, we went out last night, you know, we got, we got, uh, ramen on the way home and I'm like, I'm getting like a $15 ramen. And he's like, he got the salmon and he got this. I'm just like, oh, created a monster, you know?

That's great. Yeah. You know. Yeah. Got good taste. He got good taste, but uh, you know, just someday he's gonna have to, you know, have to have to feed himself, you know? Yeah. Have to, well he can fish. Good job. And he can clean his own fish, which that's a big Yeah, that's a big deal. Yeah. Cleaning fish is something I still never have.

My son could do it. Yeah. He's a real fisherman like my father was, which I'm not, but yeah. That's a talent and something that's special. Being able to clean, good skill. Yeah. Um, what's the music [01:02:00] that's playing for you? Uh, when you're either at home or, uh, chilling out or. Lifting your spirit or in your car?

You know, I, uh, I, um, I grew up listening to my parents' records and during that time, you know, they had the Beatles, they had CCR. Um, I can still hear their records that I played growing up, and I just, they, they only had 20 or 30 records, but that was the soundtrack to my life, and that's continued throughout.

And I think that in college I discovered the Grateful Dead. And I don't look like a guy that would, you know, but would be a big deadhead. But I, I, um, I have exactly one bumper sticker on my truck, and it's a little grateful Dead steely. I, I followed the Grateful Dead. It was did year, it was after Jerry had passed away.

But, um, yeah, you know, I, I love that kind of music. I like, um, a lot [01:03:00] of singer songwriter, um, uh, guitar. Um. Uh, I, I just, um, yeah, I, I, in the same way with cooking and food, I, I think I like a little bit of everything. I, I just, um, yeah, Tyler Childers is a big one right now. Um, you know, singer songwriter, uh, America, kind of Americana kind of music.

And I think the Grateful Dead for me is Americana. I see it as that. Um, you knows a lot about music. What is it about the Grateful Dead? Uh, what is it about that music? Because it's not like, oh, they have this one song, they have like this, this, this whole just their way. Yeah. What is it about the Grateful Dead that that has the following that they have?

I think it's, um, I think it's 'cause it's different every time you listen to, it's a lot of people, it may sound exactly the same, but I think, I think it's different every, you know, every time they play it's a little bit different. And um, you know, I think. I, um, in, [01:04:00] before I went to grad school, I, um, I, my best friend and I jumped in a car and we drove from Indiana to California and then up to Oregon, and we did two things.

One, we bought a National Park pass and we, I think we did 15 national parks. Wow. Awesome. And then we, um, followed the Grateful Dead. And I think, I think part of it is that it's different every time, but part of that is like just that connection to that memory in time that, um, you know, I, I i three months with nothing to do, but just enjoy life.

Yeah. Um, I picked up the book Travels with Charlie, um, it's, uh, Steinbeck and read that on the t say he was older and retiring and he, uh, he and his dog drove across the US And I think that, um, so many songs by the Grateful Dead are about places in the US and I think, um, that. Traveling, you know, we talked about, you know, central America and the Caribbean, and how much I, that's been a part of my life, but, you know, growing up, [01:05:00] you know, seeing your own country mm-hmm.

I think that that, um, that sense of exploration is there in the Grateful Deads music. It's there in, you know, our food culture that, you know, both of us, you know, enjoy. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Um, travel, all of that. I think, you know, I think that's again, part of just, you know, going back to my mom worrying about me, that sense of adventure and, uh, yeah.

Yeah. How about, you mentioned a book, but how about any other books in your arsenal or anything recently you read that's like something that's, oh, most of what I've read recently is, uh, scientific papers. That's in my, in my career. That's where I'm at. But, um, I, I, I think, um. Uh, my favorite couple authors are Kurt Vonnegut.

Mm-hmm. Um, you know, he, he, he lived in Indiana and I think there's a connection there, but he's just got a witty sense of humor. Yeah. Just a really kind of dry, witty sense of humor. Um, and then I would say Herman Hesh, [01:06:00] um, it was a German writer, and in college I really got into his work and I would buy different translations just to see how they compared.

And, you know, that's, it's been fun because my son has realized, you know, reading some of these classic books, you know, he'll hear references to them on the radio or in conversation and things, so. Mm-hmm. Um. I've got him reading some of those. I've gotta get him to read Vonnegut. I've gotta, you know, that's one thing I just keep saying.

I keep putting the books in front of him. Yeah. But I think he's like, dad, you know, he'll, he's exploring. You don't wanna do what your parents tell you. Course do Course. You know, all of those books are sitting, sitting there. Someday day it'll click, it'll go, yeah, he was right. Dad, dad was right. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So, but I, you know, that's one of those things that, you know, on my retirement list is get back into those, you know, Vonnegut and Hesh and all these, yeah. Any podcasts in your rotation? Anything you listen to? Uh, I like a lot of, um, uh, science Fridays. Um, I, you know, this American Life. Um, I think it's all [01:07:00] the storytelling podcast.

Hmm. Um, there's, there's one, uh, called 99% Invisible. And I, I, I, I really, I think I like it because, you know, it's about design and I. Good design is 99% invisible. Like, you don't, you kinda have to stop. Oh, that's a really, you know, um, I, I think one of the, you know, one of the ways to describe it is, um, around chairs.

I know this is gonna sound silly, but, um, a really well designed chair is designed to disappear in a room full of people because people are sitting in them and they're just kind of, they're, they're being used. But, you know, you look at it like a Herman Miller or a, you know, like you, you just, furniture can be art and you know, you, you don't realize that until you know, you're looking at it and it's just this.

This piece of art with no one sitting in it. But then they're designed to just kind of become invisible as we use them. Mm-hmm. That's a really cool podcast. 'cause it connects to nature, it connects to, um, everyday things. What's the name of it again? [01:08:00] 99% Invisible. Okay. By Roman Mars, uh, is the podcaster.

Great, great podcast. And it just, he's a storyteller and he tells, you know, talk about all the things that are around us in our everyday that we don't really realize how much they're designed for us as people. Um, they're kind of art, so, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I, uh. I, I, I learn from this too, so it gives me other, other ones to listen to.

'cause I, I, I'm all over the place, whatever the next recommended one is, I'm always, you know, looking for. Do, do you have a favorite that, you know? Uh, I, I'm kind of all over. I, I, when I wanna really disappear, it's weird. I, I, I'm obsessed with like, these crime one, sometimes they just really odd saying, but like, I just like to deep dive on some of these cases that I think, how could somebody have thought this way and thought they could actually get away with that?

Yeah. What's behind it? Yeah. Um, but I love, I love, I've gotta keep my mind fed with [01:09:00] positivity and good thoughts and things because my mind just naturally wants to drift towards the worst awfulize things. Yeah. So it's, I I'm always listening to either, in fact, I'm listening to. One of the audio books I'm listening to right now is by Tiffany McQuaid, who has the real estate agency right next door.

Oh, okay. And she's a super energetic, positive, uh, just got a great spirit about her and her book is awesome. And, you know, last couple days, I'm, I'm sad to say that I'm almost at the end of it, which I don't like. 'cause she's got a lot of great stories Yeah. In it, A lot of positivity. Yeah. A lot of uplifting stuff.

So it really helps feed my soul, you know, in books like that, that I have podcast. I'll check it out. Yeah. Yeah. It's something that I, I thought might be only the real estate world. Yeah. But she really personalizes it and adds her dimension to what she sees from life about it so much more than just the business that she's in.

And I, I really love that. That's been one that's been good for my soul. Um, I, if, if there was something that, is there something [01:10:00] that, um,

people should know about you but don't? Mm.

Wow. That's a, that's a really complex question. I, I am, uh, I, um,

yeah, I, I am a really quiet person and I have, you know, I, we talked about my, my connections in the Caribbean and that, that being to connect with people and, um, you know, I, I, for my job, I'm always on stage or on the news or doing, you know, talking about sharing about the environment and talking about it.

But at the end of the day, I like to be home and quiet and with my kids. And, um, you know, I, it's a, it's a challenge to, to be an introvert and, and, you know, make yourself an extrovert during the day and doing that. But, uh, yeah, I, I really, I, I value [01:11:00] that at home and those experiences and that time just, yeah, my, my, my quiet solitude.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Get it. Yeah, we have a new segment, um, that I'm gonna try out on you here. All right. Sort of in the fun segment of, uh, things gu big. Let's get deep. Let's get deep. All right. Okay. All right. So you get to pick a card from this deck there. All right. Uh, let's see. You can pick anyone out there.

Yes. Help yourself and you can answer whatever it asks. No pressure, but we love a good, honest moment.

So, great question and maybe a weird answer. Uh, I'm terrible with names. I'm, I'm horrible with names. I ca I'm, I'm always, I forget. You know, I, I, there's people I work with every day. I'm like, I can't, I, I, I, I just struggle, but I can remember every plant name. So I, I, I, I had to think on this one. So my wife is a [01:12:00] lot like that too.

She doesn't know any of our neighbors. She knows their dog, their dog's name. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. That's so funny. You know, I can, I can name their plants that, plants that are on their desk, but, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Totally. Totally. So what celebrity crushes did you have growing up? Oh, that's a tough one.

Um, I don't know, maybe a, uh, I don't know. Uh, maybe a weird answer. Uh, Jeanine Graffo maybe. Mm-hmm. She's comedian. Yeah, yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Maybe her. Sarah Silverman. I don't know. Don. I don't, uh, yeah. Sarah. Sarah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I think it's maybe just that, that maybe it's the, maybe it's the sense of humor, you know?

Yeah. I just, yeah. So, yeah. Yeah. That's a funny one. Uh, yeah, that's, that's, uh, yeah. I'd have to, that's one I have to think about too. Yeah. Yeah. Haven't heard Sarah's name in a while or Janine's name in a while, but I like 'em both. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe not traditional, not like your, you know Yeah. Movie star, you know, like that, that, uh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

But somebody that, um, [01:13:00] yeah. 'cause I, I would think of somebody not as mainstream for myself too. That would just, wouldn't be the one, uh, the, I don't know who it is today, but back in the day, whether it was, uh, Christie McNichol or Raquel Wells. Oh yeah. I dunno. Whoever the, or for my dad, it was probably Sophia Loren or whatever.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Uh, this has been awesome. I really, yeah, I, I really can't thank you enough. I had no idea what this was gonna be like going into it. Same, same. So this is a great, great experience. I loved it from the moment I got here. I've had a great experience. So, yeah. No, you bring a good energy with you.

Thank you. Everybody felt that coming in, and when I hear Maria doing her thing with you, I knew it was a special moment that got created out there, and I really appreciate you. Thank you. That was wonderful. And, uh, yeah, I'm, I'm excited to talk to Maria again after this. I just, I feel like I, I feel like I know, I feel like I've known her for years.

Yeah. She's an old soul like that. For sure. Absolutely. So, yeah. Thank you very much. I, that's been a wonderful a hundred percent. You've given us more than just facts, and that's what I love about it. You've given us a [01:14:00] lens and given me personally a lens to see nature differently. In a special way. You remind us that conservation isn't about control, it's about connection.

It's about restoring, listening, and respecting what's been here long before us. Yeah. Thank you for the work you do, for the legacy you're building. Thank you. At Naples Botanical Garden and for showing us why plants really do matter. So everyone out there listening, if you needed a sign to plant something, to learn something or to protect something, this is it.

Thanks, Chad. Awesome. Thank you. Really had a lot of fun. Yeah, thank you. Me too. I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Yeah. Alright. If this episode made you smile or think or just go, that was kind of awesome. Do us a favor, subscribe, like, or drop a comment. It's like applause for us. It helps us keep the good vibes going.

We appreciate you. Thanks so [01:15:00] much.