Week Three with Extension by Cheyenne Van Echo

Walking through an urban high tunnel at Atwaters' Big Kitchen Farm in Baltimore. This operation grows produce for their local cafes. 

To begin this week I attended our weekly connection zoom meeting with all the interns. I was chosen at the last meeting to be the discussion leader for this week's topics. To prepare for this role I typed up discussion questions in a document and emailed them to the other interns ahead of time. During the meeting I posted each question in the chat as we discussed the pre-meeting reading materials.

On Tuesday we did some clean up at WMREC by removing old fence posts and taking panels down from the old goat pen. We used those panels to add security to the handling system for the beef cattle.

Moving into Wednesday we attended the urban agriculture tour with MACAA. The producers we met did an excellent job of effectively communicating the purpose behind their operation. The pre-meeting activity for our weekly connection included a Ted Talk titled “How great leaders inspire action”. In the talk the speaker explained that effective communicators lead with their why, they don’t immediately jump into the how and the what they are doing. All the producers we met began their introduction with the inspiration for their operation. This captivated the audience and encouraged us to want to hear more. If their goal for the day was to inspire us to change our view of Baltimore’s urban agriculture then I think they succeeded. Going into this tour I had a very stereotypical image of Baltimore floating around in my mind, but after listening to the producers on this tour and hearing their heartfelt stories, I have confidence that the community of Baltimore is actively working towards a healthier future.

With the long tour day Wednesday we took it a little slower Thursday and completed some office work and watched protocol videos on water testing for an upcoming project.

We wrapped up the week on Friday taking forage samples from the pastures at CMREC and WMREC. The new handling system at WMREC looks amazing, but the sheep can slide underneath the panels so Amanda and I had to add extra panels to cover the bottoms. I am looking forward to using the new set up next week when we work the animals again!

Bliss Meadows Backyard Basecamp is a non-profit urban farm in Baltimore. Their mission is to educate families and youth in Baltimore about outdoors and agriculture.