All Good Things Must Come to an End

It is a common theme for folks to be sad to see the summer holiday drift into a new school year.  I am no exception.  This year I am even more sad to see it go, because it also means the end of my internship.  I wrapped up my time as Giles County VCE intern with a few fun events here and there including Agriculture Field Day at Kentland, a Giles/Bland Summer Beef Field Day, and Childfest at Pearisburg.  These events were fun ways to be involved with the Giles County community before school completely took over my life.

Face painting Iron Man at Childfest

Applying for this internship was almost by chance.  To me, internships were always something that undergraduates were supposed to do, not someone who recently graduated.  I decided to go for it.  You might not hear this often, but I was lucky that I was turned down at two different county offices before I received an offer from Giles.  Cora and Jeannie took a chance on me, and I'm sure glad they did!  Although I have a diploma in hand, I still am not 100% set on what exact career the future has in store for me, but this internship has given me a few steps in the right direction.  Working in Giles has given me a renewed respect and appreciation of VCE and its services.  Working with Cora and Jeannie helped me to build myself as an individual while having a great time, and to them I am forever grateful.

With graduate school in full swing, I miss working in Giles more than ever.  But like Jeannie has told me several times "An education is never wasted."  That, along with many words of advice and strategies I learned from my unit agents, will help me to trek through this whirlwind of a program.   It will help me as I student teach, but more importantly it will help me if I become an extension agent.  Before this internship I was not very sure if I would like to be one, but now I would love to be!  I'll try to keep working hard and hopefully my education and opportunities will lead me down a path filled with agriculture and community development.  Growing in Giles as the VCE intern has been one of the best choices of my life and I encourage any college student to become an intern, especially in Giles.

Beautiful view from Triple R Farms during the Beef Field Day

Thank you for following my adventures in Giles!  I hope you enjoyed learning about Giles County and Virginia Cooperative Extension.  I encourage you to become involved in your local agency and support your county agents.

Outdoor Adventure is Putting it Lightly...

Before and after my summer school session, I got to help with the 4-H Outdoor Adventure Day Camps.  We had great campers both weeks, many who I had gotten to know through Agriculture Camp.  Not only was the camp an adventure and learning experience for the kids, it was for me as well!

As we all know, the weather has been a bit crazy this summer, particularly with rain.  Making adjustments to activities happened nearly on a daily basis for both weeks of camp.  For anyone who works with program planning, this is a key skill to gain.  It involves creativity and awareness of your community.  Therefore, Cora was able to keep Outdoor Adventure...outdoors.  This experience showed me first-hand how "the show must go on" and I am very appreciative to Cora for giving me that insight.

Throughout both weeks we hiked, kayaked, fished, and swam throughout the county.  While conducting these activities, the students got to visit treasured sites or discovered new ones.  I know I personally would not have learned about all the wonderful, natural and free excursions that Giles has.  Any Virginia Tech student knows about the Cascades, but not so many can say they have hiked War Spur and taken kids fishing at Glen Alton.  The campers also learned about wildlife, fishing techniques, and watersheds.

Hanging out off the War Spur Trail during Camp #1

Kayaking with Outdoor Adventure Camp has been a bumpy road for me.  Before camp I had kayaked once before with my dear friend Marge in a bay in Malaysia.  That was a fun, stress-free experience so I really did not think twice about kayaking with the campers down Walker's Creek.  Because the water was too wild from all the rain, the first camp did not kayak the New River.  We discovered the bad things about creeks are all the rocks and the small width of the body of water.  This resulted in camper after camper getting stuck on rocks.  Right and left I kept having to get them unstuck, and eventually got stuck myself...until one of the kayaks collided with mine sending it downstream with me, the kids, and the other kayak stuck.  With help from Cora, we made it to the bank and the other campers helped us get our kayaks back.  But at that point, we needed to pack up and go home, even though we never made it to our final destination.

While loading the kayaks, one of the campers was being very helpful and assisting me.  With my track record for that day, it makes complete sense that the kayak would bounce up and hit the camper in the eye.  She was fine, but I sure felt terrible.  When another camper told me: "It's your fault that everyone got stuck and we had to go home." I officially decided that I did not like kayaking, and questioned my ability to work with kids.  Luckily, Cora assured me that sometimes things go wrong, but it's how you react to them is what matters.  From her perspective, I dealt with the situation fine and that everything was going to be ok.

The beginning to a successful kayaking trip with Camp #2 

Then came Outdoor Adventure Camp #2.  Like the first, we did hiking and fishing...and kayaking.  This time we were going to be on the river.  I was so nervous, especially since the waters were still high-ish.  Turns out, it made the trip easier and better because what "rapids" we would have hit normally, were barely there.  I am glad that I overcame my nervousness to kayak again.  I had a great time and the kids were awesome!  Like any career, I will have some days that seem like the worst day ever at the time, like my initial camp kayak experience.  What I gained from this opportunity is to learn from those situations, how to better handle it next time and to not give up.  If I had given up, I would still be terrified to kayak again.  The best part of the second go round was not me getting over my fear though, it was the campers who had a great time trying something new, or getting over their own fears.  I know that I am the adult, but I learned so much from the campers.  

Got Camp? Agriculture Day Camp!

Following the first week of camp (Cloverbud) Jeannie and I ran the Agriculture Camp.  We began the week learning about horticulture, greenhouses, and direct-marketing at the Green Market, run by Pembroke resident Mr. Ron Holdren.  Ron is a Virginia 4-H All Star, the highest honor a 4-H member can receive.  We had a great time looking around his greenhouses and learning about his business.  Not only does he sell from Pembroke, but he is also a vendor at the Blacksburg Farmers Market.  Ron really made our day when he gave the campers many different types of plants for the campers to pot at the end of the day and take home!

Ron shows campers around his greenhouses

The rest of Agriculture Camp was spent over in Blacksburg visiting several of the agriculture facilities.  Wednesday was spent at the Kentland College Farm.  There Jeannie began lessons on soil, by taking us to a soil pit to learn about soil horizons.  Mr. Dwight Paulette, the farm coordinator, showed us around and gave us a historical tour of Kentland.  At the College Farm there are many different types of research, from silvopasture to crop production.  As a part of our visit, we got to take a look how remote controlled airplanes contribute to agricultural research at Kentland.  Oni, a graduate student, explained to us how the airplanes capture samples from the air that contain fungi, molds, viruses, and bacteria that can contaminate crops.  We even got to practice flying planes in their computer model and watch an actual plane fly!  We finished off our first day at Kentland with yummy "dirt cups."

Campers got to practice their piloting skills with Oni at Kentland

Thursday was my and Jeannie's favorite day, livestock and dairy!  We did a self tour of the livestock and dairy facilities at Virginia Tech.  During the livestock tours, Jeannie taught the campers about different breeds of cattle and horse and how they are shown.  Campers got to a hands-on experience with the equipment used for the animals, including walking through a cattle chute!  From the livestock facilities, we traveled across 460 to the dairy.  Manager Shane Brannock showed us the milking parlor, the milk tank room, and the free-stall barn where the milking cows eat and sleep.  Shane also talked about the silage that the cows eat.  The corn for the silage is grown at Kentland Farms.  Barry, one of the assistant managers, showed us the calf barn and the automatic feeders.  Automatic calf feeders are a newer technology to the dairy industry.  The feeder identifies each calf and mixes up the specific amount of milk-replacer for that individual.  This is great time and calf management tool.

We wrapped up the week by visiting the Farms and Fields project at Kentland.  This time, the raspberries were ready for picking in the demonstration plot, and each of us got our fair share of berries!  We also got to help the farm crew bundle and hang garlic that had recently been picked!

Hailey and Jeannie bundle garlic at Farms and Fields

Agriculture camp was a great opportunity for youth to learn about where their food comes from.  From plants to animals, they were able to see and feel the industry that feeds and clothes us.  By having the students work, by planting or picking, they were able to reap the sweet results of their hard work.  I know they had just as much fun as me and Jeannie; but my true hope is that they came to respect the field of agriculture and continue to be informed consumers and maybe agriculturalists themselves one day.