Summer has really gone by so fast, but I really enjoyed working with the community and the people at the Extension Office. My supervisor pinpointed certain things she wanted me, and the other intern to focus on this summer. The community garden, Farmers Market, and our fair.
I started off the summer by helping take care of the community garden. We would water “the intern” plot every day and three times a week we would water the pampas grass, and the flower pots. I also helped in picking weeds out of the plot and helping pull weeds in other community garden member’s gardens as well. I really enjoyed getting to do this because I like getting to see the final outcome of all the fresh veggies.
The second thing that I worked on this summer was helping with the Farmers Market. One thing my supervisor wanted me to try to do was bring together the community garden and the farmers market. I would find recipes, and print off recipe cards for Farmer Market attendees. The recipes were things that could be grown in the garden so that way people would be able to use produce they may be growing in their own gardens. While attending the Farmers Market I made up a survey and for this survey I wanted to get an idea of what people want from our local farmers market. I got good results from the survey. By conducting the survey I found that people would like to see more advertisement for the Farmers Market, and they would like to have more activities to do as well. One thing I asked on the survey was about the time of the day the Farmers Market is, and of the people who took the survey they liked that it was on Wednesdays from 5-7. I really enjoyed getting to go to the Farmers Market, and helping get results to make the Farmers Market even better.
Finally I helped with our county fair. The fair in Wichita County is a HUGE deal. People come from all over to attend the fair. It’s ran by the people and business of the community and it’s really great to see how everyone comes together to make it a great time. I helped prepare 4-H papers, and worked on superintendent letters. We also had to paint, and cut out letters for various booths. One thing me and the other intern worked on was coming up with an idea for the AIM booth. We did a really great job and the AIM Coalition ended up getting grand champion! During the week of fair I helped with many different things. I helped set up and tear down, answer the phone, sell raffle tickets and t-shirts, and just did whatever was asked of me. We also helped serve food at the free BBQ.
I really enjoyed working with the Ogallala Commons, my fellow intern, and everyone at the Extension Office. Through this program I was able to get involved in the community in ways I wouldn’t have before. I look forward to using my experiences in other parts of my life!
