This featured audio clip is from a 2009 interview with Lake County “nurserymen” Jim Zampini. Born in Painesville in 1932, Zampini is a lifetime resident of Lake County. Zampini grew up surrounded by nurseries and eventually became the proprietor of his own nursery. He has been credited with creating new plant variations and using plants for community rejuvenation. Zampini recounts the changes the nursery business has undergone over the years. He also discusses the lasting impression the various waves of immigration have made on the industry.Though mechanization and chemicals are gradually turning nurseries into “laboratories,” Zampini is optimistic that man will retain a healthy relationship with nature.

In this clip Jim Zampini describes how a distant cousin working with him in the field made a claim that nothing could replace the horse and the garden hoe. Zampini reflects that through his life there has been many changes in nursery equipment but hand tools are still needed when new equipment breaks down.

Listen as Zampini reminisces about his experience as a “nurserymen” and the changes he’s witnessed over the last 70 years. Though Lake County continues to be a viable area for nurseries, the methods have changed in the county’s long history.

Jim Zampini on Changes in Nursery Equipment [MP3]