Brownson Arebojie Jr. is a University of Minnesota Extension Master Gardener Volunteer in Hennepin County who recently became a garden exhibit coordinator at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. Six years ago, Arebojie was a director of customer success in an IT company based on sports. A graduate of the University of Minnesota Duluth (2012) in marketing and health care management, he is now fulfilling his degree in a different way than he imagined, with plants.
What started your thinking about a career change?
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, I was always busy with people in my technology career, but when we got sent home, I became stir crazy. I read about a connection between nature and men’s health, so I started getting up at 5 a.m. every Saturday or Sunday to visit the Minnesota state parks to get time to ground, rest and recharge.
Then, I met my wife, who had houseplants. We started going to the parks together and would sometimes spend entire days hiking, hammocking, swimming, exploring, and enjoying deep conversations and stillness.
As we neared 2021, my wife suggested joining a community garden in Columbia Heights. I loved the idea of learning a new skill and finding another way to connect deeply with nature. I began thrift shopping for garden books and watching gardening videos on YouTube.
How did you make the decision?
I realized that my corporate tech career didn’t make me happy or fulfill me the way plants did. My wife and I had serious discussions and decided I would use some money I had saved up to take time off and do some soul-searching about how I can find a new path. My wife and I then became the lead volunteers at Loring Park Community Garden, and things began to build from there. Our connections to community gardens grew from Columbia Heights to Loring Park, to Soo Line, and we met some incredible gardeners, herbalists, farmers and outdoor enthusiasts.
How did you find the Master Gardener Volunteer Program?
One day in 2022, I went to the Hennepin County Master Gardener plant sale. It was pandemonium, and I was baffled at all the plants I’d never seen.
That’s when a Master Gardener named Chidi Chidozie made eye contact with me — and then a beeline for me — from across the room. He was curious; there are not many Black men at plant sales.
I told him I liked nature, gardens and volunteering. We exchanged contact info. He reached out right away, encouraging me to apply to take the Master Gardener Core Course. I developed a strong relationship with another Hennepin County Master Gardener, Katherine Sill, who also recommended the program. Katherine opened her home to me and my wife, Sunmisola Banjo-Arebojie, so we could learn beekeeping.
Both Chidi and Katherine became pivotal mentors at the beginning and throughout my entire journey into the world of plants.
What did you do as a Master Gardener intern?
I found a lot of joy in completing my hours at Karamu Communal Garden in north Minneapolis, and I spearheaded a youth garden program by applying for the AGRI Urban grant in the fall of 2022. Katherine suggested that I apply for the Farm at the Arboretum Apprenticeship program through the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum to further my experience and knowledge of agriculture and sustainable horticulture.
In the process, I met Tim Wilson, manager of the apprenticeship program, and Tim quickly took a liking to me and my desire to learn. I was accepted for the 2023 season.
Other volunteer opportunities included working with the Green Garden Bakery team, an entrepreneurial group of Minneapolis youth who bake healthy produce into muffins and cookies. They have a long history of support from Master Gardeners and 4-H. I also volunteered at farmers markets and learned the logistics behind what goes into a successful market.
You garden with 4-H youth in north Minneapolis — and grew nearly 5,000 pounds of vegetables!
There is something about teaching kids about plants that makes me feel like a kid again. Their eyes just light up! Amie Mondl, a 4-H educator, does so much with them through the Hennepin-University Urban Agriculture Initiative. We make use of vacant lots in north Minneapolis, turning them into beautiful garden spaces for the community to harvest from for free. We host events and engage deeply with our local community to share knowledge of, and access to, plants and the natural world.
What is your big project right now at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum?
Being part of the Nigerian gallery garden that Chidi designed and leads at Farm at the Arb is teaching me so much. Being on staff at the Arboretum makes me feel like I’m in the right zone in the job now.
I'm also Nigerian like Chidi. It makes my dad happy that I’m hearing more of the stories. It’s great to learn about Igbo culture and how our different tribes are a little different yet very similar.
I am also working on two other exhibits with amazing co-curators from Mashiki Studios, named Naawakweose Marcil and Marika Moss. Naawakweose’s exhibit will feature indigenous plants that represent his Ojibwe culture, and Marika’s exhibit will showcase the Four-Sisters planting tradition of the Dakota people.
What’s next for you?
My wife and I have two children, and we inspire each other. We continue volunteering at community gardens, and I’m also in my second year as the urban farm manager and mentor for the Hennepin-University Urban Agriculture Initiative. I do food sovereignty work in St. Paul through GROWS (Growing Resilience on the West Side). I find immense joy in mentoring youth and helping beginning farmers find the right career path for their needs.
My wife is an artist and astrologer, and together we can help others learn how to find support for community, organizations, the arts and themselves, and to discover where their passions lie.
What new wisdom do you have to share?
Take what you learn from your mentors and pour it into projects with other people. That is what has gotten new doors to open for me. I can’t say for sure what will work for other people, but for me it has been learning patience, resilience and early mornings. Then encourage others, as Chidi and Katherine encouraged me to accept my calling with plants.
Omé-Na-Ala gallery garden brings Igbo culture to Minnesota
The Omé-Na-Ala (Igbo Traditional Farm) gallery garden is open at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum’s Farm at the Arb now through October. Read more about Omé-Na-Ala and its co-curator, Master Gardener Volunteer Chidi Chidozie.
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