Typical Day
Julia Williams is a farm girl—born on a farm, raised on a farm, worked on that farm all the livelong day, every day, for her whole life. Now, Julia's trading in her pre-sunrise wakeup calls for a lab coat and test tubes. She's the first in her farming family to graduate college, and her lifelong dream to be a farm research scientist has finally become her reality.
Julia's day today promises to be a busy one. Being a part-time teacher, part-time graduate student, and part-time researcher adds up to full-time and then some. Up early (though not with the rooster's call), she's at the university by 8:00AM to teach an introductory course in commercial farming.
Later, she'll deliver a special feed mixture to the university's test farm, grade papers, and meet with the department head about her next research project. Julia's dedicating her life to supporting the American farmer the way she wishes her family had been supported when she was growing up.
After leading her morning class, one of Julia's students, Kyle, asks for a quick meeting. He has a couple questions about his research project, so Julia spends five minutes going over the particular requirements and narrowing down his choice of topic.
He has some interesting ideas that Julia wants him to further develop, but she can't sit around all day chatting. She tells Kyle to email her a more comprehensive proposal, then they can schedule a time to meet.
"Is this even grass anymore?" (Source)
Next on Julia's agenda is to pick up the special feed mixture she's testing for her current research project on cows. It's a mixture of dried, high-protein grass, oats, and a little coconut oil. When blended together in a precise ratio, she believes it can improve the cows' diet and produce higher quality beef. If the testing goes well, Julia's share of the licensing fees will pay for her Ph.D.
After picking the feed mix up and dropping it at her lab, Julia decides to check on her grandparents, who still live on the family farm nearby. Her Pawpaw Bob still can't believe his little Julia is a "professional farm researcher," which he thinks is a funny-sounding job. Julia doesn't mind; if your pawpaw can't be old school, then who can?
As she pulls her truck up next to the farmhouse, she sees her grandfather out on the porch, looking mad. But he brightens up as he sees Julia, and he kisses her on the cheek when she walks up.
After the warm greeting, Bob asks Julia for help with "the doggone hornet's nest" being built in his prized pear tree. Even though this isn't exactly Julia's specialty, she promises to check and see what can be done. Great, another thing to work on.
Julia cuts her visit short and gets back to campus, stopping for a drive-through salad that'll serve as lunch. As she eats at her desk, Julia updates her calendar, surfs for information on hornets, and takes five minutes to check Facebook.
Gah. Another Farmville request from her not-so-hilarious brother and a friend request from Kyle. She has no time for either of those. Instead, she grabs her next research proposal and goes to meet with the department head.
Having been raised on a farm, Julia doesn't believe in wasting anything. After talking with the adviser, her idea to create biofuel from a variety of excess and damaged crops gets the green light. Forget building a better mousetrap; if Julia can take crops that used to be wasted and turn what is essentially garbage into biofuel, her career will be set and the mortgage on her grandparent's farm paid in full.
Julia spends the next couple of hours in her office, grading papers and checking out sources for the biofuels project. By the time she's ready to lock-up, she's found some great information to support her research, but hasn't seen an email from Kyle. Oh well—all she can do is offer to help. She can't do her students' projects for them. Now it's time to rig up a little surprise for Pawpaw.
Julia stops at a small grocery store for a couple of simple supplies, then drives back out to see Pawpaw Bob. Out by the pear tree, she stuffs some plastic bags into a brown paper bag to create volume, then twists the top together and secures it with some jute. Finally, she hangs this from a loop of jute in a tree nearby. Pawpaw Bob doesn't believe it'll work, but decides to go along with it.
A few days later, Julia's working in her office when her cell rings. "Hey Pawpaw. What's up?"
"I need to say I'm sorry," Bob says sheepishly. "That crazy contraption you put in my tree is working. The hornets are gone. So, now I just have one problem."
Julia sighs. "What now?"
"I need some more bags and stuff so I can make another fake hornet's nest for when this one gets rained on."
Laughing, Julia says, "You don't have a problem. I put a stack of paper bags and the rest of the jute twine in your work shed. Grandma should have plenty of leftover grocery store bags to stuff inside."
"Thank you sweet girl. How did you ever think of that?"
Julia pauses. Should she try to explain Pinterest to him, or just call it a lucky hunch?