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About this blog

Joe Fearn is a professional groundskeeper. We writes about reconciling economic, aesthetic, functional, and environmental needs in the landscape.

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Entries in this blog

Operations

A Campus Tulip Tale...

It seems every landscape site has a “thing” it is known for. Intentional by the Grounds team or not, this "thing" is usually something our patrons identify and bond with. It can be the play of the course, the design of the gardens, the maintenance regime or something else. Flower bulbs are a thing that many of our operations undertake. Bulbs have relatively low resource entry point, are proven performers with little preparation, and have broad appeal. But when even homeowners employ a gardening
Operations

Autonomous mowers?

Recently I commented on a TurfNet Forum post under the heading “Robotic Mower Readiness Score”. My response expressing resistance to autonomous mowers (AM) was a knee-jerk reaction to a larger topic I feel strongly about. I expressed a positive but secondary response to the AM matrix assessment the original forum post was based on. In hindsight, my larger topic response lacked deep analysis of this issue. Regardless, and despite my propensity to shoot from my often less-than-fully-informed hip,
Sustainability

Supplemental Fundraising Makes a Difference

I do not know of many teams or departments in any organization not feeling the pinch of shrinking budgets. This seems especially true for our grounds management operations. My operation receives a budget that allows us to serve our organization adequately, but not completely. We are in a constant state of making do, altering priorities, and putting out fires. I liken it to the game Tetris. Our work drops on us and we try to make it fit as fast as possible thereby continuing the game. But, if our
Operations

What About Snow Ops?

Winter weather is an essential part of most grounds operations, and no matter where in the country you work, dealing with winter weather is challenging. Here at University of Kansas we have just recovered from a bona fide blizzard which dumped 14” on our campus. The storm started Saturday, January 4th and moved out the next day. Since then, we have had consistent temps below freezing except for 2 days at 33F. Admittedly most of our winter weather is not this significant but there are common impa
Operations

The Straight Poop...

If you follow TurfNet and golf course management in any way, you will surely hear dog stories. Dogs are frequently companions for superintendents, adorn shop wall calendars, and even get “hired” to chase geese. One of our editors even wrote a dog tribute recently that has over 11K views!   Let me say right away, I love dogs. Not all of them, mind you, but most. I had dogs growing up and my family has enjoyed our dog Drover for 13 years now. Dogs and their owners are frequent visitors to any
Joseph Fearn

Joseph Fearn in Operations

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Operations

Little Flags, Big Headache...

Utility locates are a common and essential part of any groundskeepers’ work. Contacting the locate entity for whatever state you are in is standard before any digging on site. While I understand and wholeheartedly support the rationale for utility location, the actual results have a significant impact on my operation. This impact is rarely acknowledged by the locate entity or my own stakeholders. For every locate request the usual result is a yard full of flags. The purpose of the flags is fine
Joseph Fearn

Joseph Fearn in Operations

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Recognition

We Don’t Get No Respect...

“I don’t get no respect.” Many people are familiar with this adage from comedian Rodney Dangerfield. This sentiment was the lead to his routine lamenting the difficulties he faced when no one gave him his due. Our grounds crews are often in the same boat. While people seemingly appreciate our work, we are consistently forced to subordinate our objectives and viewpoints for others. I recently had a dispute with another employee where our work overlapped and was in conflict. I tried to explai
Joseph Fearn

Joseph Fearn in Recognition

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Recognition

Share your story, trumpet your accomplishments...

Telling your work story is an important part of a successful operation. Bringing attention to the ways your team performs its work or the benefit you bring to your organization is just smart business. Far too often we are so busy working that we forget to share our accomplishments. And the people that depend on us are too busy to notice. Putting your head down is sometimes necessary but opening your mouth is sometimes important too. Being vocal on behalf of your team can be powerful, but when so
Joseph Fearn

Joseph Fearn in Recognition

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Sustainability

Sustainable Organic Material Management

Organic matter (OM) is everywhere in the landscape. Given that OM is a key component of nutrient cycling and soil structure, it only makes sense we treat it as a valuable commodity. In any landscape OM is generated when we intervene mechanically (think mowing, pruning), when we clean the landscape (think leaf removal). OM is also utilized/handled (think mulching or soil amendment). Every time we “manage” OM we incur a cost whether financially or in ecological disruption. Added to this cost is th
Joseph Fearn

Joseph Fearn in Sustainability

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Operations

My Hope for 2024 ...

Planning is the linchpin to success. You may be successful with planning, but the odds are longer. In grounds management having a good plan will help the manager communicate direction to the team, help build excitement toward an outcome, alleviate problems before they arise, and build the organizational support essential to fulfilling the plan. Last blog I looked backwards in order to understand where our operation is and how we got here. This blog I look forward to 2024 and share some of the bi
Joseph Fearn

Joseph Fearn in Operations

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Review

Looking Backward at 2023...

Ah, the New Year. The annually recurring time when we reflect on our previous 365 days and take stock. It is a time for looking back and grading out what we accomplished, but also what we struggled with. I get caught up in this time as much as anyone. In this blog I’ll stay in my professional realm and give, at least from my perspective, a clear-eyed assessment of where I took my work, and where my work took me. This assessment may not meet with agreement by all in my organization. It is my view
Joseph Fearn

Joseph Fearn in Review

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Sustainability

Managing Landscapes in a New Weather Paradigm...

As of writing today Kansas City is 6.49” below our average YTD rainfall of 27.42”. Additionally, over the last 6 weeks our average temperature has been 3F over average. In the last 28 days we have had 12 days over 80, 7 days over 90, and 9 days over 100. One of those days the high was 112F. Most people don’t dig into climate numbers to this extent, and it is important to know this isn’t just my opinion. But rainfall this summer is not the focus of this writing. Rather I want to share my sense of
Joseph Fearn

Joseph Fearn in Sustainability

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Technique

Pruning on a Commercial Scale

Pruning is an essential horticultural task in all grounds management operations. We prune to control growth, promote flowering, improve aesthetics, and remove dead/dying plant parts, etc. Pruning on a small scale is relatively easy and will not usually be disruptive to the overall maintenance operation. But what happens when you are on a 1000+ acre campus and the magnitude of pruning exceeds the labor resources you can throw at it?  Poor plant selection and years of poor pruning
Joseph Fearn

Joseph Fearn in Technique

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Operations

The Case for a “Strong” Groundskeeper...

Local governments are managed by different types of relationships between elected representatives and appointed/hired staff. There are several types that basically take the place of executive/legislative branches and divide power amongst these various parties. One variation of this government is known as the “strong mayor” system where the mayor has almost total administrative authority with discretion to set priorities, establish budgets and decide most personnel decisions. While the city counc
Joseph Fearn

Joseph Fearn in Operations

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Resource Management

Investing in the Landscape...

Our grounds management efforts, no matter the purpose or location, require funding to carry out the goals we are expected to perform. Some fortunate grounds managers amongst us may have ample budgets that readily support these expectations. My personal experience, and that of many peers I have heard from, reflects a different financial reality. Usually, we are expected to make dollars stretch, or simply forgo some of the grounds improvements we propose. Here at the University of Kansas, I am, fo
Operations

It’s Been a Year...

Hard to believe that I have now been at the University of Kansas for a full calendar year. Regardless of anyone’s tenure at their current job, every one of us was new at some point. We can all relate, albeit to different extents, to the dynamics accompanying completing one year at a job. It is a significant milestone. The title of this blog addresses this significance in two ways. First is the passage of one years’ time. Groundskeeping is affected by the annual seasons, requiring us to experienc
Joseph Fearn

Joseph Fearn in Operations

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Teamwork

How Can You Win When There Is No Finish Line?

It is student move-in time here at the University of Kansas... a great time for our Grounds Crew and for the university community overall. 5,000 students returning to campus is a big deal.  Our team begins focusing on residential areas in the weeks preceding in order to put our best foot forward. Making the campus landscape look good is a labor of love benefitting our campus community, but also benefiting our team. Finding satisfaction in these moments can provide a deep sense of accomplishment
Joseph Fearn

Joseph Fearn in Teamwork

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Sustainability

Raising Mowing Height Makes Sustainability Sense

Grounds management in any organization is a complex undertaking requiring the performance of myriad tasks necessary to fulfill the desired strategic objectives. For many, if not most of our grounds crews, sustainability is one of those strategic objectives. While sustainability is a moving target based on one’s definition, sustainability for me means decreasing resource consumption while increasing resource service. Too often pursuing sustainability is a complex undertaking resulting in difficul
Resource Management

The Hills of Kansas...

I have lived in the Midwest for a number of years. Although some may group all the Midwest into one image, this does injustice to the amazing variety of landscapes (not to mention people) that are here. One common Midwest misconception I had heard was that Kansas is flat. When I drove across Kansas, from Missouri to Colorado, I walked away (drove away as it were) believing this. I remember the hours of straight and flat driving until finally catching a glimpse of the mountains looming far ahead.
Restoration

Restoring the Landscape?

In my work I come across the term landscape restoration on a regular basis. Not every day, but frequently enough, and it usually comes from a stakeholder with an environmental agenda. I think this is a great thing. First because I love to hear from any of my stakeholders, but also because I think having an environmentally sound landscape is a very good thing. But what even is landscape restoration? Like many of our landscape management approaches, this phrase means something different to everyon
Joseph Fearn

Joseph Fearn in Restoration

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Motivation

Building a Real World 'Employee of the Month' Program

Everyone knows that having a skilled, productive, and engaged team is a critical aspect to a successful operation. For this to occur, the hiring and retaining of good workers is essential. Given the current hiring/retention environment, if you are able to onboard an employee, keeping them is another significant issue requiring sound management and smart retention policy. Employees will stay on a job if they feel the compensation they receive is fair exchange for their efforts. Of course money is
Joseph Fearn

Joseph Fearn in Motivation

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Sustainability

What Am I Missing?

I don’t want to wait any longer. I have long contemplated a sustainable landscape that that is acceptable to my organization, achievable by my team and profession, and importantly, beneficial to the environment/ecosystem. But year after year I dance around this subject making gains here, losing ground there, and never really getting down the road to something that answers all of these hugely diverse and sometimes antagonistic objectives. The sad truth is I really cannot say what I am after. What
Joseph Fearn

Joseph Fearn in Sustainability

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Teamwork

Checking All the Boxes – The 3-P Approach

This past month I was fortunate to assume the Landscape Manager position at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. I say I was fortunate because I really enjoyed my job at Mississippi State and wasn’t looking to change roles or location. The job at KU however would be a return to the Head Groundskeeper role and also a return to the Midwest. So I applied and after a visit, an interview, and a first candidate dropping out, I was informed I was getting the nod. In my mind this is the career
Joseph Fearn

Joseph Fearn in Teamwork

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Teamwork

Is Your Crew Sustainable?

Based on the title of this blog you may be thinking how your team works with native plants, resource conservation, or uses alternative fuel. I am thinking of sustainability from a different vantage point. Crew sustainability asks 'can your team survive?' Put another way, this blog asks can you survive AND be successful over the long term? The landscapes we manage are constantly changing. Most often our responsibilities are increasing while the resources we are provided by our parent organization
Joseph Fearn

Joseph Fearn in Teamwork

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Being a Good Employee Is Not Easy, But It Is Simple

All of us want to be good employees and work with good employees, but how does that happen? Companies utilize many ways to quantify employee performance and determine who is measuring up and who is not. There are job descriptions, annual evaluations, coaching sessions, employee reward programs and other approaches to get the best out of people. But far too often there is disagreement over who is doing a respectable job. The lack of clarity can be frustrating for employees who are doing a satisfa
Joseph Fearn

Joseph Fearn

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