Beginning of the Last Year

Whoo boy, it's getting closer. T-minus 12 days until the start of my senior year of college. How insane is that??? From this Thursday until the end of the month I'll be completely occupied with the Minnesota Marching Band's pre-season training camp (can you say 12-hour rehearsal days?!) I figured I'd do my semester intro post now so that I'm not scrambling to get it done once school rolls around.
I'm only taking three classes this semester (whoo-hoo!) which is down from my usual four. This is the awesome part about senior year. I only need to take six more classes to graduate so three per semester sounds like a mighty fine option to me! I will say that technically I'm taking 5 classes because both marching band and pep band count as classes because I receive credit for them. But honestly, they're not academic classes with homework and tests and all that, so I don't generally count them when people ask me how many classes I'm taking.

So what classes will be taking my time away from blogging and gardening you ask?
First, we have my one and only horticulture class this semester: Plant Production I. This class is all about nursery operations. So I'll be learning about crop data, utilizing economic data, pest management, and governmental regulations in relation to the nursery industry. I'm a little up in the air with how much I think I'll like the class. It's a required class for the horticulture major, so I have to take it, whether I like it or not. It's not really something that's related to the focus I'm trying to take with horticulture (education/sustainable and local food) but who knows, maybe I'll really enjoy it.
Second, I'll be taking Intro to Entrepreneurial Management, another class that I have to take to finish off my degree. Because I chose the "Business Option" in my degree (as opposed to the "Science Option"), I'm required to take so many business-related classes.
Third, and finally, I'll be taking World Food Problems. This is the class I'm looking forward to the most. We'll be talking about food security, food production/storage/utilization in developing countries, and how ethical and cultural values, population and technology affect these things. This is the class I'm taking that is most related to my area of focus in my studies. This is a class that's also helping me finish off a requirement for my Sustainable Agriculture Minor.
And that's it! No fourth class to weigh me down this semester!

Besides classes, I'll be doing band (obviously), working at the farm until the growing season is over, working at the UMN Admissions Office once my farm job is done, serving as Historian for my band fraternity and volunteering time through service projects for the Mortar Board Honor Society. Yay busy life! Hopefully I'll still have time to blog, although it may not be as frequent as my blogging during the summer. But now I must get some sleep so I can have a blast running the farmers market stand tomorrow! Goodnight all!

Leaving/Going Home

The bad part about loving both the city you currently live in and the city that you call your hometown is that when you leave one to go to the other, it's incredibly bittersweet. As I've gotten older, leaving my hometown after spending time at home with my family has gotten more and more difficult. I'm sitting here, it's 12:13am and my flight back to Minneapolis leaves in just over 12 hours. A lot of me wants to just stay here, but I'll be glad to be back in the Twin Cities. I think another thing that's making this difficult is that the end of this mini-vacation to my hometown also means that my summer break is almost over and it's my last real summer break for, well, ever. After I finish this next year and graduate from college, summer break really isn't a thing anymore. How weird is that?

I've only got ten days until pre-season camp starts up for my last season of marching band (during which I will be on hiatus from my blog and related social media, but we'll address that at a later date), and 22 days until my last year, my senior year of college starts. I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around all of these last things that I'll be encountering over the good part of next year.

I haven't posted much at all this week, mainly because I've spent my time enjoying my time off at home instead of on the internet. So I'll probably have a post or two more for you before my marching band hiatus. Since things at the farm are going to get hectic as the harvest season gets into full swing, there will probably be at least one post about those goings-on.
Hope you all have had a lovely week!

Visiting Upper Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula

This weekend I took a trip up to the UP's Keweenaw Peninsula to go camping with my family. We've been making this camping trip for over 10 years and I've always enjoyed my time there. The Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan has a lot of great activities for those who enjoy the great outdoors. My experiences have been primarily set in the summer, where it's generally a lovely daytime temperature in the mid-70s/low-80s, and comfortable, cooler temperatures at night. Whatever your outdoor recreation preferences, this area is a great place to do what you love. I've put together a brief travel guide that touches on some of the great activities you can do in this area, and maybe you'll find that you're interested in adding the Keweenaw to your bucket list.