Month: June 2021

Wednesday the 23^rd – Worked at Encinitas with the apprentices where we talked about farm maintenance, weeded pumpkin patch, pruned tomato plants, and set gopher traps

Thursday the 24^th – Added heathers edits, set up lesson plan for kids for the vegetable/ fruit of the day, this day we talked about carrots, talked with the education team about the field trip tomorrow, started to write impact report for a foundation in the format they wanted

Friday the 25^th – Helped with the field trip where the campers learned about seeds, bees, planting, and they picked berries, worked on grant proposal, and sent it to development team, helped with pizza night

Saturday the 26^th – Worked with high school volunteers where I talked with them about their thoughts on farming and the environment and we discussed ways to effect change, in the afternoon I lead groups through picking their berries to take home

Tuesday the 29^th – worked in the morning and help them harvest carrots and cucumbers at Encinitas, in the afternoon I worked on finding grant opportunities for the development team and sent them to them, I reviewed some information from a grant

Summary: This week I spent time with the children from the summer camp as well as doing hands-on gardening at Encinitas. I also did some more work with grant writing and researching more grant opportunities.

Reflection:

This week I learned about more of farm maintenance and the work it requires to have a functioning and fruitful farm, I asked to join the volunteer team in Encinitas farm because it is smaller than the Ecology Center’s. I really enjoyed my first day working with harvesting foods, I am thinking of ways to create more accessibility for people in a city to farm. I also talked with my supervisor about working on the next dinner series. It will bring out indigenous voices and bring up some relevant conversation about the modern world. I am excited to work with them on this project and be a part of it. I think that working with the children has made me create a place for learning and public speaking and similarly with the high schoolers. I also worked with farming which delivered the health promotion as designed.

Competencies: 

2.4.2: Develop materials needed for implementation

3.2.1: Create an environment conducive to learning

3.2.4: Deliver health education and promotion as designed.

5.1.5: Identify existing coalition(s) or stakeholders that can be engaged in advocacy efforts.

3.2.4: Deliver health education and promotion as designed

6.5.1: Deliver presentation to tailored audience

6.5.2: Use public speaking skills

8.3.2: Participate in continuing education opportunities to maintain or enhance continuing competence

Wednesday the 16^th – Finished the impact reports and sent them to the grant writing team to edit, researched about capacity building grants, organized my presentation about the fruit of the day for the campers. I talked to them about cucumbers, where they come from and different ways to eat them. I also planned for a little for the next few days about the fruit of the day. I had a meeting about Feast Verde and what to do on those days and which days I will be helping.

Thursday the 17^th – Worked on more research with capacity building and talked to the campers about peaches and had them try them. I received some edits on the grant reports and I added them into the document.

Friday the 18^th – Made final edits for grant proposal and helped with Pizza night, did some research on possible systems to use to make sure we have all the liability volunteer waivers stored online.

Monday the 21^st – Read through the future field trip itinerary to prepare for them. Finding more capacity building grant opportunities. Talked to the grant team about another impact report and started to write the report. It is unrestricted funding grant, so the report covers most of the things we have done. Talked with the kids about the fruit of the day and the different things we can eat with it.

Tuesday the 22^nd – Unfortunately my computer broke Monday so my work was limited Tuesday. I worked on the impact report for the grant and more research for grants finding some more potential ones.

Reflection:

My overall week was filled with different aspects of public health which I enjoyed. I have very much enjoyed writing grant impact reports and doing research on more grant opportunities for the farm. I also have liked working hands-on with teaching the campers about different fruits and vegetables during lunch time. The pizza night was again very fun, and I always enjoy making those pizzas for the community to come together.

Competencies:

2.4.2: Develop materials needed for implementation

3.2.1: Create an environment conducive to learning

3.2.4: Deliver health education and promotion as designed

6.5.1: Deliver presentation to tailored audience

6.5.2: Use public speaking skills

7.4.6: Conduct reviews of funding and grant proposals

Week four of my internship began with researching about possible gardeners to use for a new project at The Ecology Center. The work focuses on maintenance, and I found some companies that support the mission of The Ecology Center. I also worked in the Children’s Garden throughout the week helping with them and taking nature walks to look through the farm. I worked with the U-Pick festival to guide families as they pick the seasonal berries from the farm and facilitate a hands-on experience for families as they engage with The Ecology Center. I helped with the Pizza night again and spent the day preparing for the event with the culinary team. I also finished the grant impact report for one of the foundations. The writing team helped me make final edits and it went off to design to for additional formatting. I started on two more impact grant writing for The Ecology Center focusing on the Nourishing Neighbors and Field Kits for families to take home during Covid for an at-home field trip. Lastly, I worked on natural dyes with a master dyer and some other team members. We dyed napkins for an event and learned what natural dyes are and other aspects of textiles specifically the fashion industry and striving toward more sustainable practices.

-Isabelle