It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! Or not...

When I first began my internship with Giles Cooperative Extension, Cora gave me a project: Pumpkin Planting Day.  In the past, Pumpkin Planting was an opportunity for children in the community to come to the office, learn about pumpkins, go outside and plant some, then go home with seeds of their very own and complete a 4-H Pumpkin Project Book.  I was nervous to take over a project that had been several years in the running, but also excited to hold a community event.  We picked a date in the middle of June, good for planting pumpkins.

So I began by reviewing projects books from the past and doing more research on pumpkins.  I then edited and started adding my own personal touches to the workbooks and flyers.  After a few weeks of getting the word out (even going out and delivering flyers around the county) and preparing the plots and material the day had finally arrived.  Six PM rolled around (the time scheduled) and...no one was there.  A few minutes later, one very active 4-H member shows up.  He had attended pumpkin planting last year and was active on his family's farm.  No one else showed up, and participating in an event alone is no fun.  So we sent him home with some seeds and decided to re-schedule.

Due to the schedule, and getting the word out (again) we had to wait until late July.  Late July is the tail-end of the pumpkin planting season, but it was what we had to work with.  I re-edited the flyers, and e-mails, and re-weeded the plots with Cora.  I spent another day delivering the flyers, which also happened to coincide with the recent heavy rains we have been having the past several weeks.  Finally, the re-scheduled date arrived.  We had finished up a day of Day Camp and were ready for some pumpkin planting.  Six PM, and no one is there.  We waited fifteen minutes and still no one arrived.

I felt terrible for wasting resources for the Pumpkin Day.  I was sad that after two tries no one came to the event.  Cora gave me some advice: "Don't take it personally."  Sometimes even if a lot of work goes into an event, people don't come.  How could I have reached out better?  How could I make it more appealing?  These are all questions I asked myself after the no-show.  One thing I have learned from this experience is that even though kids have more free time in the summer, that doesn't mean that they will be more likely to attend events.  A lot of this depends on the parents and their availability, something that I had not considered as much before.

Although, I wish I was proudly blogging about the success of the Pumpkin Planting Day, I will consider it a success in another way.  Instead of being upset and mad, I will take this as an opportunity to learn and do better on future projects in whatever field I am in.

The before and after weeding of the pumpkin plots

At least weeding was a good stress reliever...

Youth and Community Involvement

While in the extension office I have had the opportunity to participate in several of the 4-H club activities and other events in the community.  It has been a long time since I was involved in 4-H clubs and community activities so it was great to see what other possibilities there are for 4-H youth.

With extension, I was able to be a part of Pearisburg Festival in the Park several weekends ago.  By attending planning meetings with Cora I was able to network with community members who were not necessarily in agriculture, which I have done by working with Jeannie.  It also gave me insight on how planning for community programs and events works.  There is so much that attendees of events take for granted that goes on behind the scenes.  During the event I help with traffic control during the inaugural 5K for the festival.  I hope that maybe next year I can be around to participate!  During the festival I helped set up and man the booth for the Ag Explorers Club.  I got to meet some of the members and parents, the adult volunteer Kelly, and some cute critters!

My new friend at Pearisburg Festival in the Park

I also tagged along for the Rich Creek June meeting.  Although the turn out was small, it was fun getting to know some of the older 4-H members after my first day with 4-H Cloverbud Day Camp.  Even more exciting for me was that the topic was June is Dairy Month and I was able to talk about my favorite agriculture industry!  Since then, I have done the educational program for the Ag Explorers meeting for July on beef cattle, and will be attending the July Rich Creek meeting tonight.

Another aspect of youth development that I got to participate in was a livestock judging trip to Augusta County.  The 4-H/FFA Livestock judging team got some great live practice at different farms.  I even got to brush up on my own judging skills...which are still in need of some work.

The three little pigs

My classes for graduate school started today, so my time working with extension will be limited.  I am really looking forward to helping with the Newport Agricultural Fair next month!  Newport is Virginia's oldest agricultural fair and will be a fun break from the busy class schedule.

I know my posts have been far and few between, but look out for some posts about 4-H Day Camps soon!

Just Another Learning Experience: 4-H Cloverbud Day Camp

Internships are all about learning and real-life experience while being out of your comfort zone.  While assisting with 4-H Cloverbud Day Camp, I had all of those aspects.  Not having much experience with very young youth I was nervous to work with Camp, even though I was mostly helping supervise instead of facilitating.

Robyn shows the campers chive to pick

For day camp we had ten youth, ages 5-8 for a week.  Each day had a different focus on topics that they have/will study in school and can also be a part of 4-H curriculum.  The first day was about geology where we went to Whitt-Riverbend Park in Pembroke.  There, we went on a trail walk and learned about the different types of rocks and their uses.  Day two was a real treat because we got to tube down the New River at the New River's Edge.  Following that the students learned about watersheds and how runoff and pollution affect water through hands-on models.  Wednesday was my turn to facilitate the activities.  We visited Virginia Tech's Farms and Fields project at Kentland.  Robyn and Alison, farmhands, showed the students around.  Robyn led the students through the demonstration plot where they were able to pick mint, chive, and raspberries, among other things.  Alison finished the tour of the actual plots and then let the students be farmers for a day and plant a row of corn.  In the afternoon we learned about Virginia agriculture through VA agriculture maps.  Even though it stormed something crazy, we didn't let that stop us from making delicious homemade ice cream!  Thursday's topic was on citizenship.  Ken Vittum, the Pearisburg town manager along with a town police officer taught the campers how a town council works and duties of an officer to protect the public.  They had a nice surprise for us and allowed the kids to explore a police car and the town digger!  We wrapped up citizenship day with a little history lesson and GPS exercise by hiking up to Pearis Cemetery.  The week ended with a lesson on financial management after visiting Dismal Falls.

Pearisburg officer and the students with the police car

I'll be honest, day one was a shocker.  A handful of young kids running around is not my normal environment.  After the initial shock, as the week passed my observations helped me to be a better chaperon and facilitator.  The kids grew on me and I gained a better understanding of how they learn and play.  There are still plenty of areas of youth program management that I could really work on.  Effective discipline was and still is the biggest hurdle for me when it comes to young children.  From this week, it did concrete the concept of establishing rules and always enforcing them.  During my facilitation time when I upheld my rules about interrupting, the lesson went better.  I really hope that I can take my experience from Day Camp into the classroom or wherever I may end up.  This opportunity made me further value in experience for education, because the books can only tell you so much.

Keep following for more of my learning and self growth experiences in Giles VCE!

"I Love Everything That is Old - Old Friends, Old Times, Old Manners, Old Books, Old Wine." - Oliver Goldsmith

Like many a college student, I started off strong with my "homework" and then began to lag a bit.  Please bear with me as I catch back up on my blogging and bring you a quality view of my internship experience.

"I Love Everything That is Old - Old Friends, Old Times, Old Manners, Old Books, Old Wine." 

- Oliver Goldsmith

I chose to use this quote as my title because I do love all these things, but more so because of wine.  Here in the past two weeks especially, I have seen firsthand the growing Virginia wine industry and how Giles will play a part in it.

A beautiful view at Glen Manor

For two days Jeannie and I participated in an in-service training in the Shenandoah Valley on viticulture.  The first day was part of the Virginia Vineyards Association Summer Technical meeting on "Steep Terrain Grape Growing."  After touring Glen Manor Vineyards where we also learned about soil mapping and equipment safety.  We wrapped up the night with a super-fun dinner social at Rappahannock Cellars complete with bluegrass, flat-footin', and of course wine!  The next day we learned about more technical aspects to growing grapes in the Commonwealth.  One of the neatest things we gained for producer members included learning how to evaluate canopy of the vines.  Evaluating the vines can let producers know more accurately how well their crop is doing.

Tony Wolf teaches ANR agents how to do canopy assessment

A few days later back in Giles, I had the opportunity to participate in a joint meeting between the New River Valley Grape Growers and stakeholders of the RFID Grant for tri-counties (which is mentioned in previous blogs).  Not only did I get some great food from The Bank restaurant of Pearisburg, but I became more aware of the current involvement and interest of viticulture in Giles county.  Giles has steep and rocky soils, which at first glance seem to be only good for lumber and some grazing.  Now that the demand for Virginia wines is increasing, yet the current land area dedicated to grape production is stagnant, Giles land can have an alternative use.  Grapes do not need what would be considered fertile soil and must be well drained.  They can also grow at higher elevations.  All of these characteristics describe Giles land.  Giles not only has the land resources for grape production, but the interest to fill the need and also build the community through a value-added agriculture.  During the meeting, it was so exciting to see the future of Virginia agriculture unfold in front of me as producers and state government discussed the opportunities for Giles viticulture.