Week Five with Extension by Simala Wright

 Clumsy me!

We began this week with an important professional development discussion. Ms. Debbie

Simpkins, Program Director, LEAD Maryland Foundation Inc., UMD Extension, lead a

discussion on having a mission statement and a vision statement, and knowing the difference. As

part of the training, each intern had to develop a mission statement and a vision statement. The

next guest was Dr. Kay-Megan Washington, from Maryland Conflict Resolution Services. Her

services are to provide mediation and or conflict resolution between an individual and the

government.

 Receiving Instruction from Ann Meredith on the PNST equipment.

The next day started off at the Somerset office. The old shed is to be replaced but had

some equipment attached and experiment that had to be removed. I took care of the shed and it is

ready for removal. Two weeks ago I had collected some soil samples for testing. Instead of the

sending them off to a lab for testing they were kept in the office to dry and the Pre-sidedress Soil

Nitrate Test (PSNT), was done in house. Under the direction of Mrs. Anne Meredith, the nutrient

specialist the equipment was inspected and the scale was calibrated to verify it is still in

operational condition. The next step was to filter each sample through the sieve and remove

rocks and debris from the soil. For the testing you will need 20oz of soil. In an applicator bottle

which measure 10 ppm mix the soil extract and distilled water to produce the extracting solution.

At this point the testing of the soil began. You will place an empty beaker on the scale and zero it

out. Add sufficient soil to obtain 20 oz. The soil is emptied in another beaker with a lid. Using a

measuring cylinder, measure 40 ml of extracting solution and empty it into the beaker with the

soil and close the slid and shake for a minute and allow to stand for 10 minutes. Take one test

strip from the tube, dip it in the solution for approximately 5 seconds, and remove from the

solution. Flick the strip to remove excess solution and insert strip into the Nitrachek meter for 60

seconds. At the end of the count down, an alarm will go off. Remove the strip and record the

reading. This was done three times to obtain the average standard reading. The formula used was

average meter reading of soil extract multiply by the conversion factor, divided by the average

reading. The reading from some of the farmers indicated a high level of Nitrate, meaning they

had fertilized the field. Others were a mix bag of low but slightly elevated due to manure and

low as the historical reading of the field tested.

Performing the test under supervision.

On Wednesday, headed to Lower Eastern Shore Research Education Center (LESREC).

However, prior to departing for LESREC, we had to link the water level monitor device to the

computer that we were going to replace at the Miscanthis field the next day. At LESREC we

apply fertilizers and mulch to four of ten rows the black berries. While applying the mulch and

fertilizer, we had to also remove the weeds that was encroaching on the berries. The remaining

rows were to be completed the following day because of time.

On Thursday, the 29 th of June, we took the water monitoring boxes to the Miscanthis

field. Though the field was laid out we had to post 10 feet flag poles at the point where the

boundaries and water monitoring devices are placed. After fighting our way through the

mosquitoes and the Miscanthis placing the flags, we attempted to cut a pathway linking all the

points. In this attempt we were unsuccessful.

The last day of the week was devoted to the office and administrative duties.