Phillip Martin

Smith Gardens

Maintenance manager

What 3 to 4 professional and/or personal accomplishments are you most proud of?

• Certified FAA drone pilot. I gained this certification in order to further the drone program I started at Smith Gardens Bellingham site.
• Certified in stormwater management. I have grown a passion for understanding the impact our industry has on the environment and how best to mitigate it.
• Led the push for automation at our facility with our use of a PC-21 transplanting system, increasing our efficiency and accuracy with our planting.
• I grew up through Smith Gardens. I started out in the Selecting/Staging department more than five years ago, and within four months I was managing our tag inventory. After two years of that, I took on the role of production technician, where I oversaw the introduction of modern automation. After a year and a half in that role, I moved onto maintenance supervisor, and six months after that I became the maintenance manager for Smith Gardens Bellingham. In an era where employees job-hop so frequently, I view my tenacity to stay and grow through my roles as a both personal and professional accomplishment. It’s a story to remind people that you need to start at the bottom to be effective when you reach the top.

What led you to work in the horticulture industry?

• I was drawn to work in horticulture because of this industry’s impact on our world. How many bad days have been made brighter by the radiance of a flower is beyond calculation. As humans, we have an undeniable call to the earth, and my work has positioned me at the nexus of where technology meets nature symbiotically. It is a true pleasure to be able to assist with that balance.

What’s the best thing about your job? (Please select one)

• Co-workers

Describe to a 6-year-old what you do in life?

• In the world of maintenance we look to find and fix problems before they break things. Sometimes things break in weird ways, and we have to use our imaginations to find a fix. Either way, it’s the best job I’ve ever found because at the end of the day you can see what you got done.

What are your favorite hobbies?

• Drone photography
• Mountain biking
• Metalwork
• Carpentry
• Indoor/outdoor gardening 

When you’re not working, what are 2 to 3 things we could find you doing?

• Driving, biking, hiking in the North Cascades 
• Working on my DIY e-bike
• Working in my greenhouses — one for organic mushrooms and the other for young plants before they go to beds and planters

Do you have any unusual talents, or can you tell us something interesting about yourself that other people may be surprised to find out?

• My unusual talent is picking up skills very quickly. I’m autodidactic, which means I’m a self teacher. I have always been passionate about learning and have maintained the mentality that there is nothing you can’t learn if you set your mind to it. 
• But, if we are looking for something that no one would expect from me, it would be that I’m pretty good at singing, usually blues and soul. I’m just too embarrassed to do it around other people.

One thing you can’t live without?

• The only thing I can’t live without is music. I literally listen to everything, because how can you know what you don’t like if you don’t try it?

What are you (un)secretly good at?

• I’m very good with mechatronic systems. To the point where I have trouble understanding why they don’t make sense to everyone. But my goal is to understand them well enough to teach them to anyone.

What are your top three bucket list items?

• Dive with sharks 
• Discover something new to science
• Build an “experimental” aircraft because home-built planes allow for extensive modifications

What’s your favorite plant variety and why?

• Araucaria araucana, also known as monkey puzzle trees. I love these trees because of their adaptability and ancient presence. It’s a plant from the history books that can make itself at home in your modern garden (even in northern Washington). I think there’s something magical about that.

You’re buying a vacation package to anywhere in the world without a budget, where are you going?

• The Amazon Basin, with no budget that means you can do a whole lot of exploring. And how cool would it be to discover something new to science.