It is my last week, bummer honestly. I enjoyed my experience so far at Wild Willow Farm and I have learned a lot of things that will benefit me in the future. My last day will be friday and I decided that I will make bunuelos for everyone with “fried” ice cream. A bunuelo is a flour tortilla that is cooked in oil to make it crunchy and coated in cinnamon and sugar. And “fried” ice cream isn’t fried, it’s just vanilla ice cream with corn flakes surrounding it. I wanted to bring them a treat and I was surprised by those who never tried one because i've always known these. From the beginning till now I can notice the difference. I was slightly intimidated because I had no experience in farming other than weeding and taking out lemons from my lemon tree. I wasn't so sure what I was going to be working on at Wild Willow Farm and if I was going to like it or not. But now since it is my last week, I can say I have learned a lot. Although it was just a month and I learned what I can, I had fun with all the work that we had to do from making beds to compost piles, from setting traps to feeding goats and even weeding and watering. I never thought I was going to think that weeding and watering was relaxing but coming here has made me think that. I was able to learn new skills that will most definitely benefit me in the future like time management. Especially on wednesdays and the last two weeks. On wednesdays was harvest day. So we had to get a certain amount of crops for CSA and orders from restaurants. We had to get all of that before lunch which was at 12. So we have to come on time and get started on harvesting right away. With my project, I had to put everything together and film clips that I needed for the video. I edited my project with the time that was available for me and I also filmed while I was working so I can have stuff to work with. I know that this will not be my last time working at that farm. I enjoyed my time there and I actually want to learn more about self-sustaining and permaculture. So to do that, I decided to join their farming 101 classes during the summer and go on Wednesdays to help with harvesting and Saturdays for volunteer. I want to thank my mentor Cathryn for letting me have time after lunch to work on my project and being able to share her interest in farming and the community. Also Maryah for being really chill and a easy person to talk to.
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This week was a relaxing week. We got a lot of work done like making beds, potting plants, planting them, pruning, weeding, and harvesting. We did a good amount of work this week. I was able to check off all of the assignments this week but one that I liked was the mentor interview. I interviewed my mentor Cathryn and in doing so, I think I was able to learn a lot from her in those thirty minutes. I feel like I was able to know more about her and her personality along with her views in life and about people. She talked about how she has changed from these past years and how she was able to see a difference. In the interview she was talking about how in previous years she was afraid to speak up and use her voice but, with the help of Mel and Melanie, she was able to become a leader and empower others. I was able to connect to her in a personal level because in freshman year, I was shy ( I still am) and I didnt believe I had the leadership skills or anything to that. However with the help of Ms.Nuvia, she was able to push me into becoming a leader in my junior year and hopefully carry that skill through college and improve it in the process. I was able to imagine what she told me about her earlier years in Wild Willow Farm and who she was and how she was able to improve herself like in patience and spending time with herself mentally. Honestly I wanted to keep on listening to her but my interview reached 30 minutes, and for homework, I will have to transcribe those thirty minutes, but if it wasn't homework, I would’ve asked more questions and stayed to listen more. I find it interesting to listen to other people’s stories and learn more about them and what made them into the person they are now. So far in my internship, there hasn’t been any funny stories or anything life changing. So far it has given me a perspective of what I might want to work with in the future and talk about with others.
This week was just as exciting as last week. We let the goats out of their pen so then they could graze a section of the farm. It was really nice to know that there were enjoying their time out of their pen eating like all you can eat menu. We were helping cleaning up some of the tools and buckets for Wednesday's Harvest for the CAD. Then something exciting happened also a little problematic, the goats found a way to get out of the little fenced in area that let them graze. One of the goats got into the feed but but they weren't out long so she didn't eat a lot. I found it quite funny because once Cathryn noticed they were out, she told us to drop what we're doing and run towards them before they run off further. I remember Nayeli, Arthur, Marya Cathryn and I are running towards the goats to try to get them before they ran away from us. Successfully we brought them back into their pen. Every Wednesday is Harvest day, so what we do is that we get specific vegetables from the farm and add them to boxes and also there is restaurant orders that want specific amount of vegetables and plants. I like Wednesdays because we get to harvest the plants and also the plants that aren't being sold and up in the Farmer's Table which means that we can take them for ourselves. Thursday was a tiring day because we made beds for the crops there was a bed that had a lot of weeds in it and the soil wasn't as fertile compared to the other beds so we cleaned it up and made it look nice. It was really tiring because we had to get wheel barrels of fertilizer and shovel them onto the beds and we had to take off of tons of weeds from the beds but it was nice to know that that was our first bed that we made that turned out pretty good.
Working in an internship where it requires a lot of organization, time, effort and work, I am able to see the skills that go along with it and that don't necessarily help. I notice that my mentor Cathryn has the skills of organization, hard work, effort and efficiency (and many more) and with those skills she gets things done quickly. However when things don’t go the way she plans them, she gets a little stressed. I hope that when I am developing skills similar to that, I won’t have the stress of getting things done immediately but still being able to go with the flow. She keeps reminding us that it will never be close to perfect but always good enough and that always reminds me to have fun when you are doing things you enjoy. Interning at Wild Willow Farm, I realized that I pay more attention to detail because we need to take care of plants. For an example, we need to plant some plants a certain way, spaced out a specific amount, create the beds for the plants and place irrigation in even measurements and much more. Cathryn helped me improve that skill even though she doesn't know it. I did not start at the same time as the regular interns, I started on Tuesday because Sundays and Mondays are the days I have day off. Having that extra day off before interning helped me shake off my nerves and brainstorm more of what I want to focus on for my Junior Internship Project. When I first arrived at Willow Farm, I wasn't able to see much. I saw the fence surrounding the farm and lot of plants, a goat pen, chicken coop and structures that I didn't know what they were. I was a little nervous of who I was going to meet and what I was going to do because I had no experience in farming other than just weeding and pruning. The first person I met was Catherine, my mentor she gave us (Nayeli, Arthur and I) a tour of the farm showing the sections and what will be the activities that we will be doing and the work. Further in the day we met Ben, Mel, Marya and Onnalee. They all help manage the farm but more specifically, Ben helps with the projects and managing what everyone works on, Mel helps with fixing tools and transporting things around, Marya is like a plant expert and knows every single name of every plant you point out (its cool) and Onnalee helps with the volunteers and taking care of the flowers in the farm. I found it really interesting to see the different types of people that worked at the farm. In the process of that, it helped me figure out what I wanted to do for the junior project. When she finished giving a tour of the farm, we went to the orchard and we saw there was a lot of fruit trees and some that were growing and one that had peaches on it. Catherine said we were able to try one peach once a day and to aim for the soft ones. The peach tasted really sweet and really soft compared to the peaches that I usually get at the supermarket. I was really happy to know that everything here was organic and that you can eat it right out of the ground. Something that I learned that was really interesting was that when we were weeding the onion patch Catherine told me that some weeds benefit the plants. I found that to be really interesting because I thought weeds were bad for the plants because they hinder the growth of them. Later on in the day they took us to the compost patch. Catherine was telling us how hot the compost patch can be. Onnalee joined us and she said that they did an experiment of cooking an egg inside of the compost patch. They said they wrapped an egg in foil and let it sit inside the compost and it reaches to more than 100 degrees and that was enough to cook it. My favorite part of every day is feeding the goats when we are finished. I like to see the excitement that they get once they know that they're getting food they start jumping around and making noises and they're adorable.Other things I learned was how to make compost tea for the plants. There is a area where they take care of worms. From there they take the worm casings and put it in a cheesecloth they have a bucket filled with water and a motor that blows air through the water from underneath. They hang the cheesecloth that has the worm casings in the water and they put some molasses in it helps the plants get stronger and have more nutrients. I really love interning at the farm because I find it really relaxing and fun to do the things that we are doing there. I look forward to feeding the goats everyday and picking up strawberries in the Strawberry Patch and taking radishes home for my mom because she loves them.
Since I usually connect skills with educational or academic use, I haven't really thought about skills that I have non-academically. Some skills that I have non-academically is grit. Grit is when you push through problems or challenges despite the hardships. It helps me go through difficult times or difficult problems. It is a skill that I use a lot, and even though I am confident in that skill I believe that I also need to improve in it more. I would consider open-mindedness a skill. This helps me think out of the box and be more aware of the things around me. Being open-minded also helps me not to judge others and helps me consider more tings and options. I wouldn't consider this a skill but more as a trait and that is, being brutally honest. Being brutally honest can come handy in situations when honestly cannot be taken personal but beneficial.
There are times when brutal honesty can harm someone if they cannot take it in a positive light and that is when I tend to filter my honesty to when someone can not be hurt. However I feel like brutal honesty is a good skill when it comes to knowing the raw truth without sugar coating. I can apply grit to my internship by always pushing myself and never giving up to do one thing or another. For example if I set a challenge for myself in my internship I will push myself to do so and complete that challenge. I can apply open-mindedness into my internship by being aware of every situation I am in and how I can help. It might be a little tricky into finding ways to put brutal honesty into the internship but I think one way is giving critique. A skill that I want to gain or improved is being social with others and gaining confidence into talking with strangers that can soon be friends. The reason why I want to improve that skill is because I want to become more of an extrovert rather than an introvert and I want to get to know more people. Another skill that I want to improve in is time management. This is a skill that I have challenged myself a lot and being a junior and taking all honors and having extracurricular activities. It has helped me schedule my time and use a planner to make it more easier. Since I am doing a lot this junior year I have been able to work with the skill of time management and slowly being able to improve. For my future I want to be able to help others by providing them with the needs and educate them in how to take care of themselves. I also would want to help animals. The reason being why I want to help animals is because I care for them whenever they are in need. Ever since I was little I always wanted to help animals in any way possible as a child. Not only helping animals but also improving the environment. I want to be educated about the environment and animals so then in the future I can help in improving the environment and help animals in need. My big dream now for when I’m older is to shelter animals and rescue homeless and injured animals. I want to be able to spread awareness about animals on why they don't have a home and what we can do to help. Overall I want to be an advocate for animals and be their voice. There are a lot of issues that we avoid when it comes to animals but I want to bring peoples attention to it. I want to encourage people to do what they love and to help others.
In a personal view, I want my parents to be proud of me and my little sister to look up to me like she used to so I can be a good role model to her. I want to improve my relationship with my family especially my father so he can no longer feel that I am a disappointment and not a good role model as a sister. With improving my relationship with my father I feel like I can overcome anything because conflict between both of us is a huge burden that sometimes brings me down but I hope that I can overcome that issue someday. I communicate with him so we can both be on the same page and avoid any conflicts that we may have by doing so. I will be interning at Wild Willow Farm located near the Tijuana river. I feel really exited heading into my internship because it was my first option in the junior internship that was provided from the school. Aside from it being my first choice, I also have it with my friend Nayeli and we are going to be lunch buddies! I think internship will help me by managing my health because it is about agriculture and farming. To this present day I am not the best in handling what I eat, I do stay away from certain foods but that doesn't mean that I don't know how to manage what I consume. I need to be able to take responsibility of myself because I am going to graduate in the year 2019 and I need to take care of myself nutritional wise. I am also nervous because I am not so sure what I will be working on but I am looking forward to interning at Wild Willow Farm. |
Thalia X. PeraltaHello! Im Thalia, my junior internship blog will be about... my internship! I will reflect on the week and how I felt and what I learned. Hope you look forward to the weekly updates! |