Japanese cucumber seedlings in the first raised bed of the CLG.
Image Credit: Adara Brown
I watched for the rush of water droplets to then scurry my way up the community learning garden hill only to be caught by the mini storm called a high-powered sprinkler; a brief soaking but was still an uncomfortable feeling for the first couple of times. This is what happens when you try to set up a sprinkler for the first time in the Community Learning Garden (CLG) on a Tuesday afternoon. Another day I started out a nice flow of an early morning at the UMD Campus Pantry by putting on some nice jams, easing into taking down chairs, and...wait, it’s 10 minutes until opening; there are several people at the door and peanut butter isn't out! I then rushed to do my task on a nice early pantry morning, I jogged to the fridge, grabbed the peanut butter, and placed it in a pleasing manner. Only to find out I forgot to put on my name tag, again. These were the fun parts of my life as an intern under the CLG and the Campus Pantry.
But before I proceeded, hi! I am Adara Brown from Largo/Upper Marlboro, Maryland, in Prince Georges County. I am an environmental stewardship major in the Institute of Applied Agriculture (IAA) at the University of Maryland College Park. I am also a lover of animals, plants, healthy diets, creativity, and serving others!
This internship touched almost every point of my passions; that is definitely why I grabbed onto this opportunity as soon as I was offered it. On May 31st, 2024, I started my amazing internship with the Campus Pantry on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and with the Community Learning Garden on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
The UMD Campus Pantry is a campus food and item pantry on the left side of the South Dining Hall. From the donations and food bought for the pantry, students can get up to 30 lbs. of produce and/or other items in the pantry for free on each visit.
I would help open the pantry by opening the registers with card swipes, taking stools off the table, turning on the TVs for music and to display pantry information, and getting the coffee and tea stations ready to go.
I helped run the pantry during the day by helping process produce, helping customers with anything I could do for them, helping with cooking the food demonstrations in our learning kitchen and restocking the shelves, fridge, and freezer.
I then helped close the pantry by putting nutty snacks away (because it's best not to welcome any squirrel friends inside of the pantry), doing the last rounds of organizing the shelves, turning off the TVs, sweeping, and mopping out.
Being able to interact and help so many different people with diverse backgrounds swelled my heart with joy and curiosity, which then led me to wonder how I could help a multitude of people with fewer opportunities in my future career.
I experienced how I could help these people at the front of the pantry on Monday, and then on Tuesday, I was able to help those people in the background at the Community Learning Garden. The CLG is a campus garden located behind our newest dining hall (Yahentamitsi) and in between the Eppley and the Public Health building. This garden is interactive and full of beautiful plants and free food that we deliver to the pantry a couple of times a week.
I helped plant seeds and seedlings, harvest beautiful vegetables, fruits, herbs, and cut flowers, and water and fertilize the CLG and other smaller gardens on campus. When we collect the produce, we deliver it to the Campus Pantry which aids them in helping many people who need and/or want to have the ability to eat fresh food from the campus they study on.
In this, I was able to learn a lot about planting, growing, and maintaining the produce. I also learned about different insects that loved our produce. For example, there were these little bugs that loved our eggplants called aphids. The sugar water that the aphids produced attracted loads of ants that we had to get rid of with this organic and natural ant repellent.
Before interning at the garden, I knew that I liked the idea of food gardens from what I learned in class that year, but during and after interning there, I was defiantly in love with putting work into the rich soil, watching God’s creation grow, and blessing people with the harvest.
Interning in the garden influenced and established my desire to help bring up communitive food gardens in my future career, especially in communities that really need them. The look of the garden also influenced me to get into food garden landscape architecture. After previously learning about landscape architecture with food gardens and seeing it with my own eyes, my want to pursue being a person who helps sketch and create those food gardens has been established—not to feed people only healthily but to create an area where communities can dwell and create strong bonds.
Overall, I had a spectacular time interning at the Campus Pantry and the Community Learning Garden. I am grateful for God making all this possible when I didn't even know it could be and for Mrs. Meredith doing her part in helping me pave the way into this position. She states, “Adara was the first student we were able to fund in a joint internship between the gardens and the pantry, which is such a special experience.” This experience showed me how to learn and do multiple things I never knew I would learn and do! As my supervisor, Mrs. Meredith said, “She was able to increase her plant knowledge in the gardens and practice her nutrition skills by working with food insecure clients, and she brought joy and positivity to that work every day.” It grew me in multiple ways as an individual and as a member of my community. I am forever grateful for my supervisors and coworkers who helped me through this experience. This is an experience I will never forget.
