First Experiences at Great Kids Farm: a YouthWorker's Perspective

by Kyrin Chase, YouthWorks, age 19, student at Virginia Wesleyan University

This is my second summer with YouthWorks at Great Kids Farm. So far this Summer we have planted peppers and tomatoes, and we’ve pulled weeds for better access to harvesting peppers and onions, garlic, tomatoes, and okra. I helped fix a tent for planting. I also worked at a farmers market at the Baltimore City Schools Central Office, where we sold different vegetables, fruit, flowers and eggs. While at the farmers market I did an interview about the farm for the Baltimore City Public School’s Facebook page: I  talked about what we do on the farm and how we support the farm’s field trips for young students.

We also did a site visit of the Coastal Sunbelt Produce, which provides fruits and vegetables for Baltimore City Public Schools. It was interesting to see where food comes from, how it’s processed, and how cold they have to keep their food and produce, under 32 degrees! I’ll be honest, I was looking forward to visiting Coastal after doing so last year, but I was disappointed we didn’t go deep into the freezers because most people in our group were cold and didn’t have jackets. It was below freezing. So if you ever plan on visiting Coastal for a tour, bring a coat or jacket!

While at Coastal, we also did a program with the Farm to School Specialists in which we talked about how food is connected to everything, from the sun to the government. I also did another interview for Baltimore City Public School there: about ways we can make food healthier in schools and how we can get better advertising for health pay eating. Our other trip so far was a visit to Morgan State University to learn about Financial Literacy. Since I had been there last year, I already knew what they were going to teach us, but it’s still an important lesson to learn, especially for young people.

I think anyone could work at Great Kids Farm. You can learn more about animals, plants and even cooking. Just be willing to get out of your comfort zone and learn new things. And even if you don’t want to work at the farm, I think you’d enjoy visiting!