Meet Cathleen Owen – Class of 2020

Cathy was born and grew up in Ohio where her family had a huge garden and raised vegetables for the family table. One unique thing about gardening in Ohio compared to Virginia are the stones. Cathy’s father began the garden each year by rototilling the area and the next chore was to throw the stones out of the garden plot before anything could be planted. 

Employed by the Department of Defense, Cathy lived mostly in Maryland, served two stints overseas and in 2019 was assigned to the Coast Guard Station at Dam Neck in Virginia Beach. While in Maryland she did some gardening, but when she moved to Virginia she wanted to get more involved in horticulture and this is what led her to pursue the Norfolk Master Gardener Class of 2020, the first year that classes were offered in the evening.   

To complete her fifty volunteer hours she participated at the Weyanoke Sanctuary, the Butterfly House and Potager Garden at Norfolk Botanical Garden, and the Square Foot Garden at the Fred Heutte Center. She was fascinated by the 4 x 4 frames and the large amount of vegetables that could be raised in such a small area. Of particular interest was the container potato project demonstrated at the Potager Garden, and this is something she plans to try at home.

During the COVID-19 restrictions, she has been tele-working and this allowed her to participate in some daytime projects, but she will be back at the workplace soon. She plans to continue volunteering at the Butterfly House and Potager Garden on weekends, as well as other evening and weekend activities that are offered so that she can accrue the needed hours in the future. She is also interested in participating in wetland projects when they are offered.

Cathy particularly likes being outdoors, and when she is not working or participating as an NMG her hobbies include running, kayaking, hiking and biking. She has three grown sons who all live out of the area.

Cathy is appreciative of the opportunity to be a part of the Class of 2020 and felt that the teaching staff did a great job of creating the needed opportunities to complete the class. She didn’t know what to expect when everything went virtual, but found it worked.

Be sure to give a shout out to Cathy when you see her and let her know how happy we are to have her in the NMGV organization.