From a young age, I found myself interested in the farm industry. A large part of my interest was due to my father’s farm. I spent many years watching him harvest crops in the backyard and became accustomed to being around it. This interest of mine carried over into my senior year of high school, where I began my pursuit of a farming career.
Hello, my name is Eli Goozh. I am a sophomore at the University of Maryland studying Agricultural Business Management. I spent this past summer interning at Norman’s Farm Market as a farm assistant and stand worker. During this time, I gained crucial experience not only in regard to the farm industry but also in the business aspect of the internship as well. I learned valuable lessons about running a farm-based business, which can also be translated to other types of businesses as well. I am sure that the skills I learned from this internship will come in handy in all situations. Working for Norman’s, I split my time evenly between the farm and the stands. At the farm, I spent almost all of my 6 daily hours picking various fruits and vegetables. When picking the produce, I would sort them out into different-sized containers, so they could be taken directly to the stands and ready for sale. I worked with many other employees around my age, which made my experience much more enjoyable. My internship experience taught me many lessons and granted me many ideas. In the early stages of my internship, my supervisor, John, corrected me on a subtle, but crucial mistake. I was working behind the register at Norman’s CSA, which is a subscription-based market that is open to everyone but is set up for CSA members. These members have a subscription which allows them to come to the CSA market and fill up baskets whose sizes vary based on their subscription size. While I was on shift at the CSA, John caught me feeling disinterested in my role on the shift. He said to me, “If you think that money is so easy to come across to the point where you can feel this way about making it, then you are doing something wrong.” From that point on, my mindset about the job changed entirely, as well as my mentality in regard to all opportunities in my life.
My favorite part of the internship was being able to interact with lots of people on a daily basis. I find the large variety of people who come to the market every day very interesting. Prior to my internship, my interest in working in the farming industry in general was minimal. Now, I am heavily interested in starting my own farm business, perhaps one similar to the Norman’s.
