Summer Bonus Episode: Finding Lavender and Sheep on Governors Island

We’re taking a summer field trip to Governors Island in New York City for this special bonus episode. We learn about the green ways the island is keeping the invasive plant species in check (with sheep!) and discover the incredible lavender fields growing different species of lavender. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hey there, I'm Mangish. They're a co host of Part
Time Genius, one of the founders of Mental Flaws, and
this is Humans Growing Stuff, a collaboration from My Heart
Radio and your friends at Miracle Grow. Our goal is
to make this the most human show about plants you'll
ever listen to, and along the way, we'll share inspiring stories,

(00:23):
tips and tricks to nurture your plant addiction, and just
enough science to make you sound like an expert. We
are on summer break right now, but the truth is
Molly and I can't stop won't stop our plant addictions,
so we're bringing you some mini episodes to brighten up
your feed and grow your plant curiosity. Throughout the summer.
We're dropping incredible stories from growers, fund advice from experts,

(00:48):
and we'll have some great conversations around fascinating plant facts.
For this episode, Molly and I took a field trip
to explore Governor's Island and all its natural wonder in
New York City, and I think you're gonna of it.

(01:12):
So just a little background. Governor's Island is a one
seventy two acre island in New York Harbor, just east
of the Lower Tip of Manhattan, and since the early
eight hundreds, the island has been this important military base.
Today it's not really that. It's one of the largest
public parks in New York City. They have lavender fields
and public hammocks and modern art installations. There's clamping and

(01:35):
food trucks, playgrounds and urban farm and this last spring
they offered a flock of sheep residency on the island
through the summer. That's right, they gave residency to some sheep.
And one other thing I love about the island is
the only way to get there is by ferry. Yeah,
we are in the cabin on the ferry to Governor's Island,

(02:00):
and I'm glad I got on this ferry rather than
the one to Staten Island, because although I'm sure Staten
Island as gorgeous gardens, I don't know how many sheep
they have. How about you? What are you excited to say?
I'm determined to find your sheep. Every time I go
to Governor's Island, I find something new I'm delighted by.

(02:21):
And on this trip, I was on a mission to
find the sheep they brought to the island this year.
And then the hammock grows right across from that entrance. Nice,
and we're certain they're still sheep there. I don't know, however,
those sheep seem to be continually hiding from us as
we searched. But in our quest to find the flock,
we stumbled across another hidden gem. I wonder, what's going

(02:44):
on our here? That's okay, legit, gardening happened right here.
Oh my gosh, oh my god. It starts smelling so good,
Oh my god, so good. I'm just gonna roll around
all these different kinds of let's walk through here. We
stumbled into the lavender fields of Governor's Island. It's a

(03:07):
small patch of garden containing four main varieties of lavender,
along with some lesser known ones like my favorite, this
new varietal I learned about called fat spike. In total,
they have over five hundred individual lavender plants, and the
lavender was apparently planted on the island in June of
two thousand seventeen. But here's the really wonderful part. Every Sunday,

(03:30):
the public is welcome to harvest some of the blooms,
and one of the loveliest parts of the spot, aside
from the incredible fragrance and all these glorious waves of
purple is watching all the different pollinators flutter and buzz
from plant to plant. You know, lavender is such a
unique plant. Aside from attracting pollinators, a single lavender plant

(03:52):
can survive fifteen to twenty years in the right environment.
They are super sturdy, heat and drought tolerant, and they
can grow in a variety of soils from being potted
indoors or out in the backyards. But you know, I
was told if you're planning outside, it might be best
to choose late spring or early summer when the soil
is warmer. After spending a good half hour wandering through

(04:15):
these gorgeous purple blossoms, Molly and I accepted a bouquet
of freshly cut lavender from some of the gardeners there.
It was such a sweet gesture, and then continued on
our way in search of these evasive sheep. You might
be wondering, Mango, why are you obsessed with these sheep? Well,
the wooly creatures go by the name's flower sam, Evening

(04:38):
philip aries, and my favorite chad and they've been imported
from Albany, But they are not on the island to sightsee.
They're here to work, and their residency is designed to
help keep the invasive plant species in control. And for
the next four or five months they're going to be
super busy feasting on grasses, fragmites, mug war and sun flowers.

(05:00):
But in the full lushness of the Hammock Rove area,
these sheep were not easy to find. Sheep chip chip
chip chip chip chip chipchip cheep. What's she called? Shipipchip
chip cheep. No sheep yet, it's like a scavenger hunt. Yeah,

(05:27):
we honestly asked everyone we saw, and we nearly gave
up after finding one empty enclosure. But then, just like
the fresh lavender, the smell of the sheep wafted in
on the wind and we caught a big whiff of
them before we could see them. So Molly and I
followed our noses straight to them. I definitely smell them. Yeah,

(05:52):
I know, We're just gonna have to follow our noses stronger.
I know, I agree. I sent this stronger, and eventually,
peeking between the branches of a second enclosure, Molly and
I finally found all five of those beautiful fluffy monsters.

(06:12):
Sam evening flower philip aries and yes, of course, Chad
like that looks like there, I think, yeah, basking in

(06:34):
the shade over there. Oh two two of them and
did that make my day? So okay, we've been looking
around for a while. Yeah, so we've been wandering and
there are three paths we could go down to try
to find the sheep, and we took two of the
wrong paths and asked a lot of people who pointed
in vague directions which I forced you to chase down.

(06:57):
And then finally we bumped into one guy who said
he had no idea where the sheep were, and they
were right around the corner for room. And we've been
but we couldn't really see them very well. But we could.
We were We're like real like creeps to the sheep.
Oh yeah, completely creep. Were sheep creep sheeping toms. But

(07:19):
then it was it was so joyous to like spot
like one fluffy tail and then see there's another body
next to it, and then another body and then like
the whole crew was there. Yeah, yeah, you were so excited.
I know, it's a good day. Someone hands me a
bouquet of lavender and you get to see sheep. It's

(07:40):
pretty good day's work. I agree. I agree. That's it
for today's episode, but check back here again soon for
more bonus episodes this summer. And don't forget no matter
what season it is or where you're at in your
gardening journey, there are some incredible resources is waiting for
you on the Miracle Grow website. Humans Growing Stuff is

(08:04):
a collaboration from I Heart Radio and your friends at
Miracle Grow. Our show is written and produced by Molly
Sosha and me Mony Fatiga there thank you so much
for listening.