Week One with Extension by Heather Knauss

Hi, my name is Heather Knauss, I am the intern from Anne Arundel County. I am currently studying landscape architecture at Anne Arundel Community College but am interested in branching into horticulture and plant research. I am working at the Anne Arundel County Extension office located at the Sunrise Dairy Farm where I grew up doing 4-H. My mentors are Ronald David Myers whose focus is on urban farming, and Gretchen Sumbrum whose focus is on 4-H work for the county. So far I have mostly seen the Urban Farming side of things, the farm we have on site is only about an acre big but there are still so many plants and so much to learn. The plants that are growing right now are hops, peppers, sunflowers, blackberries, asparagus, different varieties of grapes, different varieties of apple trees, different varieties of peach trees, different varieties of corn, buckwheat which is being grown for the bees on site, and there is barley growing as well which is coming down this week and being replaced with pumpkins. So far what I have learned is just how much can be fit into one acre of land. I have also learned a lot about hops, I learned that they grow with the sun and that is how they wrap around the rope as they grow. They also grow to around 6 feet in the first year before spreading and blossoming, they will start producing the first year after establishment and the bine will grow even higher, up to ten to twelve feet and then spread out again. They do this until they have three crowns. I would consider myself lucky that I get to intern in the establishment year of all these crops. Seeing these plants start from the ground up is an experience that is rare to come by and will benefit my understanding of horticulture immensely. On my first day I got the chance to string up hops bines and make the decision of which ones were ready and which ones were not yet.

My second day I got the chance to hoe the weeds around the grape vines. I also got the chance to help take down the barley which is where we are going to be planting pumpkins. My last day of the week I got the chance to sort through 4-H documentation and learn how some of it works. I also got to weed the blackberries.

I have had so much fun in my first week, so far extension work seems to be a great fit for me! I am so excited to learn more and help more with the farm!