Celebrating Karen: Off To A New Adventure!
As some of you may know, our Lead Horticulturist, Karen Dooley, will be leaving Green Urb Gardens for a new opportunity at the beginning of October. We are extremely sad to see her go, but we can’t wait to see where her future will take her!
Karen and I joined Green Urb Gardens at the same time, both of us jumping into roles that were a little out of our comfort zones. We both had a lot to learn, and I feel so grateful that I had Karen by my side as we built up our skills, knowledge, and confidence together.
Green Urb Gardens is a small but mighty team; the majority of the time it is just me and Karen on a job. There’s a special bond that forms when you are only around one singular person all day, every day. We like to joke that this dynamic could have only had two outcomes - for us to love or hate each other. Luckily for us, it quickly became clear that it would be the former.
It has been a blessing to be able to work alongside someone like Karen. I will miss all the laughs, all the hours spent recapping TV shows and movies, the EDM listening parties, the “would you rathers” that kept us debating for days. Most of all, I’ll miss working next to one of my closest friends. I’m sad to let that go, but endlessly excited to see what the future has in store for Karen. I know it will be nothing short of extraordinary.
~Mac
Although I don’t spend much time with these awesome women in the field, I know I will feel Karen’s absence greatly!
She joined Green Urb Gardens with a Master’s in Biology, a background working at Crone Lab studying pollinators, as well as 4 years working on the Tufts Pollinators Initiative. She brought a deep passion and knowledge of pollinators and New England native plants to our team that we truly needed to level up as an ecologically sustainable gardening business! I learned about different species of bees from her and she helped us hone our practices to further protect and support our important insect species. She also helped me grow as a manager through some tough, but always honest and compassionate conversations. Her feedback and ideas have definitely contributed to our company’s success!
I sincerely can’t thank her enough for all of the time, effort, hard work, creativity, organization(!), and care that she brought to our team. I hope this little tribute, and the collection of photos, will show at least a part of my gratitude for all she has done.
I wish her the best and know she will do great things in the future!
~Meghan
