Patti is one of our beloved staff members who just retired after her fifth season on the farm. She is like family and we love Patti. When you see the gardens on the farm, you will see her magic everywhere. My favorite story of Patti is on her first day of work, she took a scrub brush and “bathed” the Mulberry Tree. The Mulberry Tree is the most cherished tree on the farm, and her taking the time to scrub it and hose it down was a symbol (to me) of the type of person Patti is.
A – Patti Carrigan, Retired Landscape Designer @ OTL Q – Bridgett Blough, Co-Owner @ OTL
What is your favorite animal?
Cats, including the big and exotic cats because they’re gorgeous and make a lovely purrrr.
What are you most proud of with your work at Of The Land?
Last week, at the end of the day I was walking through G2 and all of a sudden I got welled up with emotion and my eyes teared up. I was so happy with how robust the second year perennials looked that it was a little bit overwhelming.
How did you end up in Battle Creek?
I worked for small companies and well known brands designing sweaters for Ralph Lauren, American Eagle Outfitters, Eddie Bauer, Liz Claiborne, and Brooks Brothers. My parents live here and I felt like it was time for me to help them out. I was working for Brooks Brothers designing mens sweaters in New Jersey and they laid off the entire mens design team to outsource to Japan and Italy. About 10 designers and assistants were laid off and I was in my mid 50’s and I didn’t want to interview again and decided to end my design career. I couldn’t imagine the scrutiny of the interview process of another major company. After I moved to Michigan, I took a wreath making class and I thought it was so interesting and inspiring and I asked the teacher if she needed any help. She called me two years later and I worked for her at her garden center. I took a Master Gardener’s course through Michigan State and my associate at the garden center told me about a job opening at Of The Land.
What do you like about working here?
There is so much opportunity here and I saw all the potential in the spaces and what they could be. You and Trent (speaking to Bridgett), supported me so I could have autonomy to create spaces based on my ideas. Similar to the fashion business, each company has an agenda and a customer so you design for the customer to be successful, with your own twists and strengths. My MO at my work is to make my boss’s job effortless. I think the more that I know Trent and you, I am able to implement more of your desires and your visions through my organization of texture, color, size, and shape; which is my strength.
How much of your design knowledge is based on your experience designing sweaters?
There is a lot of overlap between the clothing I designed and working with plants. I worked with Ralph Lauren for 10 years and in that world, there are specific looks every season, plus the classics like a polo shirt and khakis– those are like the perennials that come back every season and don’t change much. One year Ralph brought in a blanket from a tribe out West and he told me “make this blanket a sweater.” So my challenge was to make the right weight of fabric, the texture of the fabric, rough or smooth, colors, I had to source specific yarns and the colors. Then I design the pattern from the front, starting with the number of stitches per inch, rows per inch, what kind of buttons, etc. and I graph a pattern. With a suit jacket, you don’t design the fabric, you pick from a swatch. When you design a sweater, I am designing the fabric and it takes longer. A sweater stitch is a square grid, so it is similar to planting a garden bed that is lined with irrigation and walkways.
What have plants taught you that sweaters couldn’t?
Mother Nature has her own agenda and you just have to work with it or you aren’t going to be successful.
What do you want people to know about the plants, or the spaces, or the gardens here at Of The Land as they walk around and look?
If you aren’t in the gardening world, you might not even see things because it is so overwhelming and there is so much to look at. I see a lot of smiles when the clients arrive on Friday, when I am here prepping last minute items for the weddings.
Is there any advice you’d give to a beginning gardener or someone who wants to learn about plants?
There are no mistakes. Take the challenge and see what happens after the season and that is when you learn. That is when you learn– when you challenge yourself. I am not a natural gardener, I have to think and think it over again to try to do the best I can do. I am always thinking about things and it takes me a while; I get anxious and nervous, but I just keep striving to do better each time.
