1. Your name and title?
   1. Sue Newhouse, Owner, Aunt Sue’s Barn LLC 

2. What is your organization and what does it do?
   1. We have a small farm growing specialty cut flowers for the north Texas community. 

3. What is your organization’s mission?
   1. Our mission is to provide the local community with a local flower farm destination that provides beautiful, sustainably grown cut flowers. We currently partner with Denton High School floral team to raise funds for their program with Mother’s Day bouquets and are investigating another high school for another event. We’re trying to make every event we do benefit someone else as well. 

4. Why did you choose to work in this field?
   1. The nurturing aspect of growing flowers is incredibly appealing to me. The ability to be outside and watch something from seed to vase is very rewarding. The stories people tell when they see a specific flower is joyful to witness and hear. It provides an atmosphere and lifestyle that can be somewhat removed from the daily life managed today by over-technology. 

5. What led you to work with the Center for Leadership and Service?
   1. We were originally interested in students looking for volunteer hours. Student bring a different when they come out. They question, that ask, they investigate and process what they see .They offer suggestions or “have you thought of this?” That helps us by looking at things though different eyes. In addition they see things they may never have had access to. We’ve had students interested in beekeeping and let them go through a live hive inspection with us. That could birth a new beekeeper and someone who creates a new way of beekeeping.

6. What is your favorite initiative that you have worked on so far?
   1. The current one. We are converting the farm from one where we tear out, replace and rebuild planting areas every year to a no-till operation with permanent raised beds that are managed, have multiple crops in a year and don’t disturb the soil resulting in a healthier soil. We’re growing more perennials that will live multiple years and provide a better habitat for beneficial insects including bees. 

7. What would you say to students who want to get involved?
   1. This is something you do if you love the outdoors. We try to teach the students as much as we can while they’re here about soil, irrigation, cover crops, beekeeping, cut flowers, growing in a greenhouse, how to start seeds, flower arranging, etc. when they’re here. It all depends of course on what we’re doing that particular day, but the discussion can include marketing, social media contacts, how to identify a problem with an insect, how to install irrigation, how to pick and cut flowers, how to assemble a bee hive and so on. Growing flowers is no different than growing your own food and that’s something that’s foreign to many students but easy to switch once you know the basics of seed starting.