Internship Blog

Week 11-

Wednesday the 28^th – picked up some items for an event at the ecology center, looked up some more people who we could email for the seed school and helped with the final session of Feast Verde with the kids

Thursday the 29^th – call about dinner debrief and researched for the development team

Friday the 30^th – helped with the field trip and the dinner series

Saturday the 31^st – helped with the dinner series

Tuesday the 3^rd – went to Encinitas and worked on the farm; came to TEC and took notes for the board meeting

Summary: The week was filled with preparation for the dinner series, helping with the final week of Feast Verde where the children helped prepare a meal for their parents. The children helped prepare the place settings, flowers, and some of the food before their parents arrived. Lastly, I did some research about other farms and farmers that could be interested in the two-day seed school and research for the development team.

Reflection: This week was very similar to my prior weeks, and I really enjoyed the repetition. I think it helped me build on my skills of research, multi-tasking, and increasing my efficiency.

Competencies:

1.1.5: Recruit and/or engage priority population(s), partners, and stakeholders to participate throughout all steps in the assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation processes.

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

7.4.1: Evaluate internal and external financial needs and funding sources.

Wednesday the 21^st – helped with Feast Verde and did more research on surrounding gardens and research for development

Friday the 22^nd – I worked on some research for the development team

Saturday the 23^rd – I helped with the Hearth Event dinner series

Tuesday the 27^th – I worked at Encinitas harvesting things that were ready. It was also the last day of Feast Verde and I helped with the final preparations with the kids as they make flowers, set the tables, and greet their parents for their final session.

Summary: This week was centered around trying to engage people in the work we do at the Ecology Center. I tried to work in some research about other farms. I also worked in research for the development team. I enjoyed my time with Feast Verde and sad it is ending.

Reflection: I really enjoyed my week as I was able to do many different things at The Ecology Center. From harvesting to working with the kids to helping research, I feel very satisfied with my week this week. I very much enjoyed my time with Feast Verde and I am excited to do it again today. It was exciting to watch the children learn the core values of the ecology center and permaculture as well as the core values of The Ecology Center with the last lesson about giving more than you take.

Competencies:

1.1.5: Recruit and/or engage priority population(s), partners, and stakeholders to participate throughout all steps in the assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation processes.

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

7.4.1: Evaluate internal and external financial needs and funding sources.

Week 9:

Wednesday the 14^th – Worked with the kids for Feast Verde and worked on grant writing, met with the team meeting, and discussed future work. I worked on an outreach email for high school students.

Friday the 16^th – helped with Feast Verde and with the dinner series, started researching farmers and gardeners in the area to attend the Seed School coming up. Helped with dinner series.

Saturday the 17^th – Helped with the dinner series.

Tuesday the 20^th – talked with the development team about the dinner series, also worked on research for the development team.

Summary:

I worked on lot of hands-on experiences with the people who came to the farm. During Feast Verde, I helped with the kids making their food. In the dinner series, I helped served the people and talk with the attendees. I also worked on research tasks for development and outreach teams to increase capacity for events.

Reflection:

I enjoyed my work this week. The days were long but very fun packed with working with others. I have really enjoyed working with the kids as they go along their grow, eat, make adventure on the farm.

Competencies:

1.1.5: Recruit and/or engage priority population(s), partners, and stakeholders to participate throughout all steps in the assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation processes.

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

6.3.2: Develop persuasive communications (e.g., storytelling and program rationale).  

6.5.1: Deliver presentation to tailored audience

6.5.2: Use public speaking skills

7.4.1: Evaluate internal and external financial needs and funding sources.

Wednesday the 7^th – 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 8^th – 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 9^th – 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 10^th – 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 12^th – 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

Week 7-

Wednesday the 30^th – I made a lesson plan for the campers for the fruit/ vegetable of the day, organized my calendar for the week and checked-in with the team and went to the SJC to get my background check and live scan for the boys and girls club, made a form to track attendance at the events

Thursday the 1^st – picked flowers for the dinner series coming up, helped with movie series by setting up and checking people in. I stayed for movie as well and after to clean up

Friday the 2^nd – Harvested flowers and other things for the farm at Encinitas

Tuesday the 6^th – Helped Encinitas with harvesting carrots and flowers. I also joined the field trip and helped with their learning about the farm, what we do here, and how it affects them. I also watched a video on how to use a database to find more grants.

Summary- I worked with Encinitas a lot this week in helping them harvest their produce. I also worked with the film series where we watched a movie about three different case studies and indigenous people and their connections to agriculture and the food system. There were about 100 people there who were interested in learning about native people and wanting to connect with each other, the farm, and ourselves.

Reflection- This week was filled of lots of different aspects of the farm. I am excited about learning how to harvest and more about the farm systems here. I have really enjoyed working with the people at Encinitas and learning from them. I am excited to work with the kids coming in the next few weeks about the food systems and cooking. My interest in city farming and local farming is growing, and I want to continue learning about it. The film we watched called “Gather” was really amazing. It felt impactful to me, and questioning more of what I can do to support indigenous people. Watching the film brought on ‘Awe’ moment for the people who are native to this land and anger toward my ancestors and settlers who caused such harm and genocide to people. I think that food is a way to bridge people into progressive ways of thinking and acting and hopefully supporting The Ecology Center and native people can provide reformations for the harm settlers did and continue to do to them.

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.

6.5.2: Use public speaking skills

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

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