This post was authored by Cara Hicks, one of Great Kids Farm's talented YouthWorks students for Summer 2020.
At the beginning of July, I started working with Great Kids Farm as an off-site intern to test projects and experiments to give feedback and ensure that future projects and experiments run smoothly. One of my projects was to grow seedlings to the harvesting stage, but I grew more than just seedlings -- I grew within myself.
Starting off with the first week, I looked at everything, thinking, “this is going to be hard and a lot to do,” but I realized this project was more than myself. Further into the growing process, I ran into some challenges such as extreme weather. Some days it was very hot, while on other days there were heavy winds and rainfall, so I soon learned how important it was to prepare for the day. I developed the habit of looking at the next day’s weather the night before to prepare for if I need to water my plants more than once or if I need to reposition my plants to ensure they won't blow over. After learning to prepare for any situation I felt more organized. I now understand that what I’ve been doing is going to help lots of kids in the future build skills and knowledge like responsibility, preparedness, and the importance of growing your own food.
[PHOTO: The author, Cara (top right), shows off her veggie-topped sliders in a virtual end-of-summer cook-off celebration with youth interns and Farm to School staff]
