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About this blog

Joe Fearn is a professional groundskeeper. We writes about reconciling economic, aesthetic, functional, and environmental needs in the landscape.

Entries in this blog

Operations

Little Flags, Big Headache...

Utility locates are a common and essential part of any groundskeepers’ work. Contacting the locate entity for whatever state you are in is standard before any digging on site. While I understand and wholeheartedly support the rationale for utility location, the actual results have a significant impact on my operation. This impact is rarely acknowledged by the locate entity or my own stakeholders. For every locate request the usual result is a yard full of flags. The purpose of the flags is fine
Operations

My Hope for 2024 ...

Planning is the linchpin to success. You may be successful with planning, but the odds are longer. In grounds management having a good plan will help the manager communicate direction to the team, help build excitement toward an outcome, alleviate problems before they arise, and build the organizational support essential to fulfilling the plan. Last blog I looked backwards in order to understand where our operation is and how we got here. This blog I look forward to 2024 and share some of the bi
Operations

The Case for a “Strong” Groundskeeper...

Local governments are managed by different types of relationships between elected representatives and appointed/hired staff. There are several types that basically take the place of executive/legislative branches and divide power amongst these various parties. One variation of this government is known as the “strong mayor” system where the mayor has almost total administrative authority with discretion to set priorities, establish budgets and decide most personnel decisions. While the city counc
Joseph Fearn

Joseph Fearn in Operations

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Operations

It’s Been a Year...

Hard to believe that I have now been at the University of Kansas for a full calendar year. Regardless of anyone’s tenure at their current job, every one of us was new at some point. We can all relate, albeit to different extents, to the dynamics accompanying completing one year at a job. It is a significant milestone. The title of this blog addresses this significance in two ways. First is the passage of one years’ time. Groundskeeping is affected by the annual seasons, requiring us to experienc
Joseph Fearn

Joseph Fearn in Operations

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