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Rooted in Purpose: Abbie Ferrieri’s “Why”

For Abbie Ferrieri, horticulture is about more than understanding how plants grow. It is about helping people grow, too.

That purpose has guided Ferrieri from scientific research laboratories to the gardens, greenhouses, fields, and classrooms of MiraCosta College. After nearly nine years as an associate faculty member, she is beginning a new chapter as a full-time horticulture faculty member and department chair.

“I love being able to learn alongside my students,” Ferrieri said. “I’ve had students from all walks of life, and that, I think, is just super special.”

Ferrieri entered college as a pre-med student, knowing she was interested in biology but unsure where that interest would lead. Her direction changed during her second year, when she took an entomology course taught by a passionate professor who later became her mentor.

“I just fell in love with the field,” Ferrieri said.

Her studies expanded to include botany, plant ecology, insects, environmental science, and the relationships between plants and larger ecosystems. “I don’t think I would have been able to see that path unless I had this really awesome faculty member who ended up being my mentor,” she said. “Having that mentorship early on really inspired me to go that way.”

Ferrieri went on to earn a doctorate studying how plants respond to insects, microbes, environmental stress, and climate change.

Although she valued the scientific rigor of her work, Ferrieri eventually began searching for something more personally fulfilling. While working at a national laboratory in Washington state, she found herself supporting other researchers’ projects rather than pursuing her own questions.

Guest lecturing rekindled Ferrieri’s interest in teaching. After moving to California, volunteer work with the Association for Women in Science connected her with San Diego City College, where she began teaching sustainable agriculture.

She planned to try teaching for a few semesters. She was quickly hooked.

Teaching allowed Ferrieri to combine scientific knowledge with hands-on learning, career preparation, and human connection. It also allowed her to see the immediate impact of her work through the confidence and accomplishments of her students.

She often thinks back to the professor who helped her discover her own path.

“When I’m in front of a classroom and have students say, ‘You inspired me to take this on and get this job,’ it comes full circle,” Ferrieri said. “It’s so cool.”

Ferrieri joined MiraCosta College as an associate faculty member in spring 2018. The College’s nine-acre horticulture complex, greenhouses, propagation spaces, and outdoor learning environments provided her with an expansive classroom where students could immediately apply what they learned.

“I love taking the science and then bringing it outside and doing something hands-on and applicable and directly relevant to a career that a student might be interested in getting,” she said.

Ferrieri was drawn to MiraCosta College’s open-door mission and the opportunity to teach students with a wide range of experiences and goals, from those preparing for a new career or strengthening existing skills to those interested in growing food for their families or exploring a long-held interest. She wants students to know they do not need to arrive with all the answers. Whether they feel uncertain about horticulture or intimidated by the word science, they need only curiosity, an open mind, and a willingness to participate.

“We’ll teach you the theory and all of the background foundational knowledge,” Ferrieri said, “and then we use it to build your confidence in all the hands-on skills.”

That teaching philosophy will guide three Fall 2026 courses: HORT 128, Landscape Construction; HORT 162, Organic Crop Production; and HORT 144, Nursery Management and Production.

Ferrieri teaches Organic Crop Production as a “seed-to-market” experience. Students grow edible crops and specialty cut flowers while learning soil preparation, planting, crop maintenance, harvesting, post-harvest handling, and marketing.

The class also supports MiraCosta College’s Fresh Friday sales, allowing students to grow food that goes directly back into the campus community.

“It’s really for anybody who is interested in smaller-scale urban gardening or farming, up to larger-scale commercial farm operations,” Ferrieri said.

Landscape Construction focuses on creating functional outdoor spaces through hardscaping and landscape installation. Students may work with raised beds, pavers, benches, pergolas, trellises, tools, and other landscape elements.

Nursery Management and Production introduces students to propagation, greenhouse technology, nursery operations, and emerging growing systems. The course will also incorporate a new hydroponic system.

“Controlled-environment growing is the future of horticulture,” Ferrieri said. “You have to know how to control a greenhouse.”

As department chair, Ferrieri hopes to rebuild a strong sense of community around the horticulture program by inviting people into its gardens, greenhouses, and outdoor learning spaces.

“One of the easy goals for me is to bring back the community feeling that I felt like we’ve been lacking,” she said.

For Ferrieri, bringing people together is central to her work.

“That’s what really drew me into teaching in the first place—the community and the social aspect,” she said.

Research allowed Ferrieri to pursue complex scientific questions. Teaching allows her to place that knowledge into the hands of students who will use it to build careers, grow food, create landscapes, manage nurseries, and support their communities.

Most importantly, it allows her to participate in a mission larger than herself.

“It gets me out of bed every morning to be able to say, ‘I am actively contributing to the mission of the institution,’” Ferrieri said. “I’m implementing things on the day-to-day in my classroom. I love that social aspect of the work we do.”

That is her why.