Here’s me with the plant. Please note that this picture was taken at 11 pm on a Wednesday and is thus not a great visual depiction of myself.

Last week, there were more than a dozen tomato plants left outside the student center, with a cardboard sign that beckoned the Middlebury community to “adopt”. Being a responsible citizen, I quickly took a tomato plant, assigned it both a gender and a name (Tommy the Tomato), and it has sat on my windowsill since the time of adoption.

I have relentlessly annoyed my girlfriend and her Environmental Studies friends to help me keep the plant alive. Besides knowing to water the plant, I lack any knowledge on how plants grow. My support staff have advised to wait on transplanting him until the heat wave passes, as these plants can die in extreme temperatures. Also, at least 7 hours of direct sunlight, and clean water, and TLC. Gardening seems like a lot of work. This Tomato plant will probably be my last foray into making things grow.

I promise I am pretty normal.