When she is out in her garden or tending to her plants Shayla Burge, of Springfield, Massachusetts, is at peace with nature and with herself.
"It's very therapeutic, there's science behind having your hands in the dirt. It's very relaxing," said Burge.
A graduate of Elms College in Chicopee with a degree in biology, Burge has always been interested in the way things work.
"I really like the science behind plants. So if you look at a neuron, right, it looks like a seedling. And the way that they branch out, is like a root system," she said.
Burge really took an interest in gardening in particular during the Covid-19 pandemic. A young parent, she found gardening to be a safe space and something she could do with her son.
"So for the past five years, I've kind of built my garden up little by little. I've added more garden beds, more plants, a peach tree," she said. " Our son is out there with me when I'm planting. He likes to dig the holes...our indoor plants he uses as a construction site."
Burge grows everything from herbs for family recipes to tropical flowers and a variety of vegetables. She even has a grape vine and is growing a pineapple she bought at a farmer's market in Wilbraham.
Burge jokes that she must have gotten her "green thumb" from her ancestors, since most people in her family can;t keep plants alive.
"I feel like having, like, the Native American history or ancestry from, like, a Taino Indian... we lived off the land and we had to grow our own food, and we had plants for medicinal purposes. So, I feel like that is what grounds me, being connected to the earth," she said.
As her plant obsession grew, so did her desire to teach others about plant care. That's how her Instagram and TikTok channels @something.verde were born.
"I made it English and Spanish because I am an Afro-Latina and I wanted it to be bilingual. The translation of it is something green and I just love all things green. It's my favorite color. Most plants are green, my garden has a lot of greenery, so I just hope to share tips and tricks to just show the world that it's not that hard to keep a plant alive," she said.
Burge hopes to use her love of plants to encourage community. She recently held her first sip and soil event, in which people could come and have a drink with friends while painting a pot and picking out a plant of their own to go with it.
I" think people forget to take care of themselves. So, I think giving plants to other people reminds them to water themselves for like lack of a better term," she said. "So it's just my evil plan to het more plants in people's houses."
Burge said the beauty of caring for plants is that, while you can share that joy and hobby with others, it can also be something just for you.
“Humans and plants are very similar. We need vitamin D to decrease depression. They need vitamin D to grow. We need water to function. They need water to function. So, I think just the process of taking care of something and seeing it grow is just rewarding,” she said.
