Office Hours

Giselle Kowalski:
Hi everybody, my name's Giselle, and I'm the digital marketing strategist here at Texas State University. You're listening to Office Hours, and today I'm here with Adrianna. Adrianna, what's up?

Adrianna Elias:
What's up? What's up?

Giselle Kowalski:
How are you doing?

Adrianna Elias:
Good, how are you?

Giselle Kowalski:
I'm great. So you got to speak with Dr. Nicole Wagner from the agriculture department here at Texas State. How was that?

Adrianna Elias:
Super awesome. She is so much more zen than I was that day, so I think in comparison, it was really fun to listen to that dynamic along.

Giselle Kowalski:
Yeah. Yeah, she's, no pun intended, very grounded, and she had a lot to say about how everything's going to be OK. And if it's not OK, it's not the end. And that was actually really reassuring advice.

Adrianna Elias:
Yes, it was. Especially that day.

Giselle Kowalski:
Yeah. So we hope you guys enjoy this conversation with Adrianna and Dr. Nicole Wagner.

Adrianna Elias:
Can you introduce yourself and what you do here at Texas State?

Dr. Nicole Wagner:
My name's Nicole Wagner and I am an assistant professor here in the Department of Agricultural Sciences. And with that role I teach, so I teach classes in the discipline of horticulture and also soil science. Some of the research that I've been doing focuses on the use of compost, looking at different production methods in fruit and vegetable production on that spectrum of regenerative agriculture, which is basically cultivating crops that are more sustainable, if you will, in an ecological framework.

Adrianna Elias:
Nice. OK. So to start us off, what's your favorite season and why?

Dr. Nicole Wagner:
I love something about all the seasons, but I would have to say being outside and growing crops this summer can just be really brutal. So right now I'm just very anxious for fall and cool weather to start. But that being said, spring is such a hopeful time, and it's just really invigorating. So I have to say spring.

Adrianna Elias:
We're going to get to the real stuff now. Where are you from? Where'd you grow up?

Dr. Nicole Wagner:
So I grew up in Minnesota, so winter is not really my favorite, although I do love winter in Texas. So I'm from Minnesota originally, and then I lived in Montana for a number of years, and I also lived in Washington, D.C., and never thought I would end up in Texas, but here I am and I love it.

Adrianna Elias:
Did you grow up mostly in Minnesota?

Dr. Nicole Wagner:
Yes. I did.

Adrianna Elias:
What was that like?

Dr. Nicole Wagner:
It was wonderful. So big change of seasons. Speaking of seasons, playing outside a lot in the snow, loving snow, but I realized how different the climate is, definitely. Moving further south and having more sun. We spent a lot of time outside. I mean, I was always outside, catching salamanders and frogs and bugs and getting my hands in the soil, I love growing things.

Adrianna Elias:
What was your first job?

Dr. Nicole Wagner:
My first job was working at a popcorn stand in the mall. It was this little Amish kind of buggy that they converted into a popcorn stand. So it was a very cool job. I felt very cool to work at the mall selling popcorn.

Adrianna Elias:
That's like the hotspot of work is at the mall.

Dr. Nicole Wagner:
Right. In the ’80s. That was really cool.

Adrianna Elias:
So where'd you go to school then and what'd you study?

Dr. Nicole Wagner:
My undergrad and master's was at the University of Minnesota, and I studied agricultural engineering focusing on soil and water resources and then also for my master's horticulture. And then my Ph.D. is from Montana State University and that was land resources and really the focus was on agri-ecology, so it was agriculture related. My disciplines, so there's definitely some multidisciplinary components to my education, but it was all focused on various areas of agriculture.

Adrianna Elias:
What made you want to go into that?

Dr. Nicole Wagner:
I think I was just born with a love of plants and animals, so it always spoke to me, whatever with agriculture, whatever to be raising and taking care of plants and animals and that was it.

Adrianna Elias:
So studying it was a whole other world. There's so much more out there.

Dr. Nicole Wagner:
Yes, and when I went to school, I wanted to learn how to farm. I didn't exactly learn how to farm during my bachelor's and master's, but I learned a lot of the science, which was great. And then after that I worked on a number of farms.

Adrianna Elias:
Of those farms. Is one of them your favorite?

Dr. Nicole Wagner:
All of the experiences were amazing. I worked on a large farm in Minnesota. I worked on a small diversified organic farm like a market garden, like Bobcat Farm here, and that was wonderful. That was in Montana, and I also helped at a large organic goat dairy that made cheese, so we made goat cheese and that was very cool too.

Adrianna Elias:
That sounds so cool. So working with the environment in agriculture, what's that taught you about life?

Dr. Nicole Wagner:
Well, it's definitely given me a strong connection to the earth. I would have to say that is the inspiration and the really profound aspect of agriculture as a discipline is the connection with food and the environment and human's impact for better or worse. And it's a rabbit hole that's just fascinating to me. And also learning how to restore our ecosystems. With that, I would have to say being tied to the earth, you really learn about the cycles of life and death, especially raising animals that can be very moving. It can also be sad because you're witnessing what goes into our food supply. You're witnessing the whole spectrum of life. It's beyond having pets. There's more to it than that, making some hard decisions from an agricultural standpoint. So I would have to say, just in a nutshell, those are some of the things that it taught me.

Adrianna Elias:
I think watching farm animals, where they go, and the way they're mass-produced too, I feel like that can be something to be said about society. So the whole thing with humans and better for worse with the environment, that's a whole other layer to what you're studying.

Dr. Nicole Wagner:
So I have a few heroes who are in the agricultural sphere, and one of them actually is Marjory Wildcraft. She was actually from Bastrop, Texas, and she has an organization, it's called the Grow Network. And one of the things that they do is they educate people on how to garden, how to grow some of your own food just to be more connected and also more resilient. But one of the things that they work on is to try to eradicate, minimize, the inhumane treatment of mass-produced animals that is very prevalent in our country.

Adrianna Elias:
What's something that your younger self would not believe about you today?

Dr. Nicole Wagner:
Maybe resilient. I've become, I mean, life just throws a lot at you and there are things that used to freak me out and make me really anxious, and now they don't bother me. I think that is one of the most profound things of aging is that you just become very grounded and more confident, and you let things roll off you more. I would have to say that would be something that would surprise me.

Adrianna Elias:
What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given? This is a deep one. I don't even think I could give one out.

Dr. Nicole Wagner:
Oh my gosh. I'm going to have to think about that and get back to you.

Adrianna Elias:
That's a big life question.

Dr. Nicole Wagner:
Yes.

Adrianna Elias:
You have to dig real deep. You're the project director and faculty advisor out at Bobcat Farms. How have you seen that space grow and flourish since you've began that project?

Dr. Nicole Wagner:
So we started with basically a raw piece of land, and by raw, I mean it was pretty poor soil quality conditions. So it's classic Texas Hill Country, very clay, calcareous soil, and the water quality is very hard, a lot of minerals in that water. And then it was just a ton of rocks like boulders. It was like, OK, here we have this plot of land, and we're going to try to grow vegetables on it, which was really challenging, because anytime you tried to just dig in the soil, there'd be more rocks. It's like the play, Grew Rock. A lot of challenges, but we enlisted some practices that are, again, from some of the case studies and the examples of some of the farmers and heroes that I follow. And we did a lot of building beds based on our organic materials that were locally sourced just within our vicinity.
So we built two culture beds. We built no-till, no dig beds, like Richard Perkins. So he's a farmer that's living in Sweden, and we built a hoop house, and we've been incorporating regenerative agriculture methods. So we are working on restoring the soil resources. We're working on catching water, so permaculture design and managing the landscape to hold more water, a lot of compost, making composts, different methods on that. And then, of course, all the students that are helping amazingly. We're seeing this massive transformation. So now people go out there and it's so different because it was just this degraded plot of land, and now we have all kinds of vegetables growing, and we are going to be planting an orchard later this fall. So we're very excited. We're putting up an aquaponic system in the hoop house, and we are building a post-harvest education pavilion also later this fall and adding bees.
So there's a lot of fun things. It's really changing rapidly, and I'm so proud of all the students that have worked so hard and it's fun. It's really beautiful. When I show people before and after pictures, I love doing that, because it's like-

Adrianna Elias:
Look at all this work we put in. I like that. You've accomplished a lot in your field, from research papers to being awarded grants and leading million-dollar projects. What advice do you have for students who are currently in the process of making a name for themselves in their careers?

Dr. Nicole Wagner:
I see a lot of mental health issues with students, and I think that sometimes, while it's very challenging in today's times to not be anxiety ridden, and you can get so in your head and there's so much pressure that my advice would be to just take a deep breath and everything's going to be all right. Every day is a new day. You just get up and do the best you can and love yourself. If you do that, and if you create harmony in whatever place in your world that you have with the people around you with being a good person, good things will happen to you. I have seen students absolutely blossom who have come from really challenging places in their lives, and yes, it takes a ton of strength to overcome that, but if you can just muster that strength and not beat yourself up and not get too overwhelmed with anxiety, then you're on a good path.
And then I would also say with that, I study agriculture and I study nutritional density and food. It is very real that the food that you put in your body and how you treat yourself, how you love yourself or don't love yourself is going to affect your mental health. So you need to minimize those stresses because that adds up. And I think to go back to your question of what was some really good advice that was given to me, it was a little bit on those lines. I was just so anxious because the to-do list gets crazy. Everything's going to be OK. Just remember everything's going to be OK as it always is, and take deep breaths. And so it was kind of this yoga coaching, if you will, and I just love yoga for that reason too. It's just this grounding, and then took a couple deep breaths and I felt better.

Adrianna Elias:
So looking back at everything that you've done in your life, what is the thing you're most proud about?

Dr. Nicole Wagner:
Getting a Ph.D. was definitely a huge challenge. Now, I look back at my younger self and I would've done things so much differently. So I'm proud to have gotten through that period of time. Then the other thing I would have to say I am really proud about is Bobcat Farm, because it was a risk to take on that farm. An amazing man called me up out of the blue and wanted to donate to my work, and we talked about what that would be, and he was interested in sustainable food production and teaching that to students. And he liked the idea of donating to what this work was, and it came with a lot of extra work. And so I was really worried because it was above and beyond just my normal workload, and there was a potential, it could fail because it was really ambitious, taking this just raw piece of land and then turning it into this acre and a half garden that would be cared for, largely not by me.
And yes, I could create a blueprint for the farm and guide students, but I couldn't be the farm manager. There was just no time. So I had to take that risk of like, it's all going to work out. I'm going to figure out how to make this happen. I'm just proud of how it's worked out. I am so proud of the students and the farm manager, who've done just amazing, amazing work. I mean, it's a magical place just seeing the joy it brings to the students, and they're just self-organizing. They can accomplish so much. They don't even need me. They're going to the farmers market, and they're delivering produce to the campus pantry, and they're creating all these networks and these relationships. That is just so amazing, bigger than I imagined.

Adrianna Elias:
So what's in store for you next here at Texas State?

Dr. Nicole Wagner:
One of the projects we're trying to get off the ground is on making biochar as a soil amendment to restore soil. So some of the work that's motivated by more regenerative agriculture work, and we have a lot of biomass at Freeman that would've otherwise been just burned off. So we're going to make biochar, we're going to experiment with how to incorporate the biochar back into the soil and using it as a tool and seeing what is most effective if we can make that work. So embarking on that project, and I'm really excited because that's in collaboration with the Translational Health Research Center, which is a great group of people on campus, and they're fun to work with. They're amazing. The director at Freeman Center is wonderful, so I love these new collaborations.

Adrianna Elias:
Thanks for doing this.

Dr. Nicole Wagner:
Oh, yeah.

Adrianna Elias:
That's kind of all.

Dr. Nicole Wagner:
Yeah.

Adrianna Elias:
Yeah. OK.

Dr. Nicole Wagner:
Yeah.

Adrianna Elias:
Thank you for listening to this episode of Office Hours. We hope you enjoyed this conversation. And make sure you tune in next time to learn more about the experiences of our amazing Texas State faculty, and also remember to follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube at TXST. This podcast is a production of the Division of Marketing and Communications at Texas State University. Podcasts appearing on the Texas State University Network represent the views of the hosts and guests, not of Texas State University. Once again, I'm Adrianna and I'll see you next time. Bye.