Week 8 is officially done, which means there are only two more weeks left of my internship. That is a sentence I am not entirely sure I am emotionally prepared to write yet. It feels like I just started, and now somehow I am already getting dangerously close to the end. This week was a mix of finishing up some major projects, relearning software that I apparently forgot everything about, and getting to spend some time at a couple of county fairs.
Monday through Wednesday were primarily focused on finishing the final summary report for my Winter Meetings survey project. After spending weeks analyzing the survey data and organizing all of the results, it was finally time to turn everything into an actual report. I worked on the initial draft and then spent time editing and refining it.
Of course, this was not quite as simple as just writing everything up and calling it a day. I needed to make some improvements to the maps and figures in the report, which meant redownloading ArcGIS Pro and relearning how to use it. Apparently, several months of not using a program is enough time for me to forget where basically every button is. There was definitely a lot of clicking around and thinking, “I know this is possible. I've done this before.... but how?” Eventually, I managed to get everything working again and made the changes I needed.
Our weekly connection this week focused on soil health, and we heard from a member of the Prince George's Soil Conservation District. One thing I found particularly interesting was the reminder that healthy soil is important for much more than simply growing crops. Soil helps filter and store water, reduce runoff and erosion, cycle nutrients, and provide habitat for countless organisms. In other words, soil is not just something plants grow in. It is a living and incredibly important part of the ecosystem.
Thursday was a bit of a change of pace. I worked on improving the connection for my weather station, which has been an ongoing project. The goal is to make sure the station can reliably communicate with the rest of the system without randomly deciding that it no longer wants to cooperate. Technology is great, except when it isn't.
I also created a foam board sign for the Harford County Farm Fair for 4-H. This was a fun project because it was different from the computer-based work I have been doing throughout the internship. In reality it was just a foam-board "4H" with lights, but it really was a nice break.
On Friday, I traveled to the Baltimore County Farm Fair to help proctor the 4-H Livestock Skill-A-Thon, an exam covering a range of livestock-related knowledge. I also got to explore the fairgrounds and look at the different market and show animals. I spent lots of time with the dairy cattle talking with people from around the county.
Overall, Week 8 was another busy week, but it was also a good one. I made significant progress on the Winter Meetings report, worked with GIS and technical equipment, learned more about soil health, created a project for the Harford County Farm Fair, and got to spend Friday at the Baltimore County Farm Fair. With only two weeks left, I am definitely starting to realize that this internship is going by a lot faster than I would like.
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