Teagan Flaherty - Week 8

This week consisted of more vegetable and peach harvesting, a brief meeting with the Anne Arundel Soil Conservation District, and a super fun entomology workshop with some 4-H members! I really think Pherm Brewery and the Food Bank appreciate our hard work of picking in the field through the summer heat wave, and it will be great to show the local community our work during the Twilight Farm tour on the 23rd.

The photo this week has me actually picking the peaches! If you remember from a blog post weeks ago we were spending the start of my internship thinning the peaches - but now they are large and ready to pick. You can see many of the branches are weighed down from how heavy the peaches get (and that is why we thin them!)

Once again (not to be too repetitive), I spent most of my week in the field collecting peaches, zucchini, and cucumbers. While the peaches take some time to ripen across several trees and the cucumbers need a few days to reach harvest size, the zucchini seem to be endlessly producing no matter what. Some days we find zucchini that weigh over 3 lbs, and you can barely hold them with one hand! Although we often choose to compost them instead. It is always a process to harvest in the heat, but it is always a joy to wash, package, and deliver the produce. Pherm brewery recently sent us photos of their new jalapeno IPA, so I am excited to see what they do with the cucumbers. I have also learned a lot about picking peaches and the type of pests that can infest them through the summer. I got a chance to show one of the administrative assistants in the office how to pick peaches as well - as this is our first summer with peaches to harvest!

The jalapeno beer from Pherm Brewery! All of these beautiful jalapenos in the image were hand picked by me and my mentor! I hope many people in the local community get to enjoy this side of fresh produce and possibly learn a bit more about our farm. 

On Wednesday of this week, I had a pretty busy day of not just harvesting but also attending the Anne Arundel Soil Conservation District open board meeting with my mentor and then presenting an entomology workshop later in the day. The Soil Conservation District meeting was very interesting, as before this internship I was not very familiar with the work that they do. My mentor and I were able to share some updates with the board about the Urban Research Farm, and they were happy to hear the important knowledge we are learning and sharing with the community. During the meeting, one of the important topics they discussed was getting funding for new boots and other supplies to protect staff members from ticks. Although I did not expect them to discuss this topic, I thought it was very insightful and relevant, with tick bites increasing rapidly this year. When I got back to the office later in the day, I was able to travel with our staff member Arnelle to present an entomology workshop. I created this workshop on my own and presented it to ages 6-8 on how entomologists can classify insects based on their different characteristics. The students completed a (very funny, might I add) insect puzzle and then viewed some of the pinned insects I had with a magnifying glass. I even brought in my Madagascar hissing cockroaches to hold as well! They weren't a big hit with everyone, but one student was extra brave and held all 3 cockroaches at once! I think we may have a future entomologist on our hands.

One of the "insect puzzles" completed during the workshop. The students got to assemble an insect based on what they thought was correct (this one is a grasshopper) and then decorate the insect before presenting to the other students in the group. It was a very informative way to teach about insect body parts - but also ended up with some funny results too!

Besides this work, there were always office tasks to be completed as well, especially since my mentor wasn't in the office for some of the week. This included finalizing my QR code flyers for the Twilight Tour, which I will begin laminating and putting out into the field next week. I also did some minor 4-H tasks such as typing up emergency contact information for their camp, updating their animal husbandry training spreadsheets, and grading the remainder of the 4-H workbooks. This activity is always fun, in particular, as it reminds me of the SAE projects I had to complete when I was in FFA. These students really are dedicated to their craft and are involved in so many extracurriculars in and outside of 4-H!

This week, we also heard from the aforementioned Soil Conservation District in our weekly connection meeting. I am particularly interested in this kind of knowledge, as soil health is an important component of my studies as an environmental student and is extremely important in agriculture yet typically overlooked by the general public. Primarily, soil may seem "out of sight, out of mind" to many, but the conservation of the soil is essential for the future. Yes, it is important for growing crops, but soil conservation can also support healthier ecosystems, filter our drinking water, and sequester carbon. For me, I am most interested in how soil health can be factored into maintaining habitats for pollinators or soil organisms who help contribute to the health of our crops. While the Soil Conservation District is an important group that helps farmers make the right decisions about growing and long-term soil use, I also think it is a major reason modern farmers are more inclined to make environmentally sustainable choices. I think it is perfectly understandable that not all farmers have the time or resources to go to college and study soil health, but I think it is great that they take the time to talk to people who do have that background and are willing to make these changes. Overall, the Soil Conservation District is a great example of how extension-based services can help farmers and the general public in understanding food production and environmental sustainability.