Wednesday the 7th – I helped set up for the dinner that will be happening on Friday and helped with Feast Verde where children from the boys and girls club come in and learn about the farm for four weeks. On the last trip to the farm on their fourth week they prepare their family’s a meal. We spend about 2 hours with them a week talking about the food and creating a snack for all of us to enjoy.
Thursday the 8th – Finished my virtual lesson and walked through my place during the dinner series. The dinner will be an immersive experience of art and culture. Starting with a display of natural dyes and horse woven tapestries. Then they go on a farm tour and finish by learning an indigenous song from three women who are native to San Juan Capistrano. The last part is the dinner itself where the food from the farm is highlighted by being cooked over an open fire.
Friday the 9th – I worked with the feast Verde group again, but they were a little bit older as they are split into two group based on their ages when they come to the farm. We went through the same stages again. In the afternoon, I helped prepare for the dinner series and stayed and helped serve and be apart of the experience.
Monday the 10th – I worked on grant research by starting my 24 hour access to a foundation center to find specific grants we are looking for. I also started a sheet for a grant proposal.
Tuesday the 12th – I worked in the morning at Encinitas with harvesting carrot, zucchini, little gems lettuce and washing them. I worked in the afternoon with more grant research as my 24 hour period ended around 2:30pm. I also got some more information about the grant proposal and started filling in some ideas and gathering previous work where I talked about the programs.
Summary: I worked on grant writing, harvesting, working with the children for Feast Verde, and starting a new dinner series for the community to enjoy and come together. I spent a lot of the week working with my hands and some days on the computer for grants. The dinner series seemed to be a success and that everyone enjoyed the food and the company.
Reflection: I have learned a lot about working in a non-profit and the many moving parts. I have really enjoyed working with the children for Feast Verde and talking with them about their experiences with food, growing food, and seeds. When we prepared the snack for them, we held the seeds from the snack and tried to see if they could guess the fruit or vegetable that the seed came from. The students were really great at guessing their seeds and it was exciting to see them enjoy the food we prepared. I am excited for them to prepare their own snack next week. The grant research has also been interesting because of all of the restrictions. Trying to find grants that work is very time consuming, and it is an obvious barrier for non-profits who may not be as equipped as The Ecology Center with their wealth of knowledge. Working at Encinitas and harvesting was very fun and excited. It is a really unique place where this smaller farm has been successful with so much food. Lastly, the dinner series was an amazing experience to be a part of. The hard work the staff put into the night was amazing.
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