Teagan Flaherty - Week 6

This week was once again focused on harvesting crops on the research farm (though the end is near... maybe), and was also a week on the shorter side due to the holiday. My mentor was not in the office for most of the week, so it was left to me to go out in the heatwave and pick more blackberries, along with other crops ready for harvest, such as zucchini and jalapeños. Beyond this, I spent ample time editing and designing our crop flyers for the twilight farm tour on July 23rd. Not only do we have multiple new crops that need their own flyers, but we also recently lost our Master Gardener and SNAP-Ed faculty, so we had to remove all of their contact information.

Just a portion of all the harvesting we have been doing over the last 2 weeks which includes (from left to right): zucchini, jalapenos, and peaches. I am very excited to see the type of product Pherm Brewery will create with these crops in addition to dropping off the produce to the local food bank. I not only harvest these items but wash and package them too!

First, I can discuss all that has been going on with the crops recently. Personally, I feel I have a more unique placement than some of the other interns, as so much work goes into maintaining the Anne Arundel Urban Farming Research Clinic. While much of what I do at my internship is hands-on farming, it is also very beneficial, as my mentor uses it to teach other farmers best practices in pest management and crop cultivation. As a result, I learned a lot about what farmers need to know and gained hands-on experience in pest identification and common plant diseases. As mentioned before, we have been harvesting blackberries, zucchini, and jalapenos, and we are finally approaching the harvest of some peaches. All of these crops will either be given to Pherm Brewery, which has a partnership with our farm, or donated to the local food bank, which is, in general, an amazing opportunity of service in the local community. With these crops, I have been working not only on harvesting but also on IPM scouting and social media updates. Some of the most prominent issues we have noticed are cucumber beetles and squash bugs on the zucchini plants. It has been very interesting to learn about how to identify these insects at the egg and adult stages. Additionally, although the peaches are not yet ready for harvest, I took the initiative to create a social media post about one of our peach trees collapsing. This is due to the peaches being too heavy and snapping the branch. This can be avoided by thinning (which you may have seen in one of my earlier blog posts), but it is often hard to maintain and gauge. I know I have been repeating myself about the harvesting tasks each week, but it has really shown me how much daily maintenance a farm requires.

An example of the cucumber disease and pests flyer I created for our twilight tour at the end of the month. Each crop will have a page like this on the flyer which was all researched and assembled by me. Each link provides additional information and almost all of them link back to a UMD Extension webpage. 

Along with these crops, each has received its own flyer for the farm tour. It was very interesting to see how they created these flyers in the past and included growing information along with recipes and preserving tips. As the farm tour approaches, my mentor has decided to give me full control over editing these flyers and adding my own information. As a result, I have added another page to the flyer that lists common diseases and pests affecting the crop. I am really hopeful this will help at least one attendee of the twilight tour in maintaining these crops in their home gardens. Beyond this task, I have also been helping in the office with tasks such as the 4-H record books. These record books have been very fun to grade, and pin ribbons too, as I get to read about what projects local students are working on. And of course - it reminds me a lot of my time in FFA.

As we are officially in week 6 of the internship, I really can't believe how comfortable I have gotten on the job compared to how nervous I was on the first day. While at first I was stuck figuring out how I could benefit the office and my mentor, now I find myself taking on multiple new projects and staying busy with new tasks. I will admit that extension has shown me just how diverse my schedule can be, as some days it is like a typical office job, and the next day I am a farmhand. I honestly cannot complain one bit. I love the diversity of my work, and I enter the office each day excited about what I will complete. I always keep my friends and family updated on what we are about to harvest at work or how we are about to take the crops to Pherm Brewery. I have also noticed that I have really picked up on pest identification over the past few weeks, which was a major goal of mine. I have really learned how important it is to have a range of tasks and opportunities in my career, and it allows my creative side to excel and help others. Because of this, reflecting on my work and discussing it with those close to me have been really helpful as I approach graduation at UMD. I have held a variety of roles over the past years, and none have felt exactly like this. Explaining what I do to others, and even reflecting on it in these blog posts, has helped shape the types of opportunities I expect in my future career and how I can grow in a position. I feel I have already learned so much, and I can't wait to see what I will think when I have finished the internship completely (besides being very sad it is over, of course!).