LAKE PLACID, Fla. \u2013 Driving through her family\u2019s\u00a0groves, Emma Reynolds Ezell passes by\u00a0row after row of\u00a0trees heavy with oranges. On the brink of harvest, they\u00a0outgrew her long ago. Rather than pausing to admire these thriving specimens,\u00a0she stops at a tree\u00a0barely two feet tall \u2013 still too young to bear fruit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These are the trees\u00a0that\u00a0need her love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGrow, baby, grow,\u201d Ezell says\u00a0as she brushes her fingers against its leaves. \u201cYou can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ezell, 28, is the young tree manager at Reynolds Farms<\/a> in Lake Placid, Fla. Her job: grow the next generation of Florida Citrus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A finance major in college, she\u00a0hadn\u2019t always planned to join the family business. But, with banking jobs scarce upon graduation, Ezell\u00a0asked her dad for a job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe told me he only had manual labor,\u201d she said. \u201cI took it and never looked back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, transitioning from an office to the grove took some adjustment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI like numbers and structure and that two plus two equals four,\u201d Ezell said. \u201cBut, sometimes, two plus two equals six when you\u2019re in the grove.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n While Ezell turns to science for help establishing a good root system \u2013 a vital part of young tree health \u2013 the rest of her job is more of an art.\u00a0Being able to assess a tree\u2019s needs by sight or touch is something\u00a0Ezell, with a little help from her dad, is still perfecting. Talking to the trees is her own touch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reynolds Farms plants\u00a0thousands of new trees a year. The farm grows tangerines and grapefruit, however, its signature crop is Valencia<\/a> and Hamlin<\/a> oranges destined to become 100% Florida Orange Juice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Operations are a family affair. Ezell\u2019s grandfather founded the business\u00a0and today it is run by her father and aunt, with her uncle in charge of harvesting. Ezell works alongside her sister, brother and several cousins, as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI come to the office and see my dad and my mom, and everybody is involved,\u201d Ezell said. \u201cIt\u2019s a happy place. It\u2019s what we do and who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n While\u00a0Ezell didn\u2019t initially set out for a life spent working in the grove, she has no plans to change direction now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI know I want to stay in the industry,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is what I do and what I plan on doing. There\u2019s a lot of pride in this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Plus, she has found a sense of peace among the trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBeing in the grove is a break from the hustle and bustle of everyday life \u2013 listening to the wind rustle the leaves,\u201d Ezell said. \u201cIt makes me happy to know that, even though I\u2019m doing something that might not always be seen or felt by the average person, because of me anyone\u00a0can have a glass of orange juice in the years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Emma Reynolds Ezell is the young tree manager at Reynolds Farms in Lake Placid, Fla. LAKE PLACID, Fla. \u2013 Driving through her family\u2019s\u00a0groves, Emma Reynolds Ezell passes by\u00a0row after row […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":511,"template":"","fdoc_news_item_category":[100],"fdoc_citrus_type":[],"fdoc_health_category":[],"class_list":["post-4173","fdoc-news-item","type-fdoc-news-item","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","fdoc_news_item_category-industry"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fdoc-news-item\/4173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fdoc-news-item"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/fdoc-news-item"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"fdoc_news_item_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fdoc_news_item_category?post=4173"},{"taxonomy":"fdoc_citrus_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fdoc_citrus_type?post=4173"},{"taxonomy":"fdoc_health_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fdoc_health_category?post=4173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}