My Summer with UME!
Mike and Dave picking vegetables.
“There’s always something!” My mentor reminded me of one hot summer day in June. “You always have to be on the lookout for things that could or couldn’t happen, especially in farming.” He elaborates. These were the words I lived by for 10 weeks while I worked with the University of Maryland Extension, Workforce Development, and Leadership internship.
For those who don’t know, the University of Maryland Extension is a cooperative extension service brought together by State, Federal, and Local agencies to form outreach and educational programs for farmers and community members. We have an office in every county in Maryland and Baltimore City, where we have four main programs: 4-H Youth Education, Agriculture and Food Systems, Family and Consumer Sciences, and Environment and Natural Resources.
I had the fortunate opportunity to be stationed at my local extension office in Anne Arundel County. This is my local office since I am an Anne Arundel Resident and I am a University of Maryland Student. While under Dave Myers (the Principal Agent, Weed Scientist, and Field Crop specialist for UME), we focused on urban farming. The urban farm project Dave started is called the Anne Arundel Urban Farm Research Clinic/Demonstration, where we grow a multitude of crops on a 1-acre farm plot. The goal of this research is to show other farmers in the county what crops can be grown successfully on a small scale and can still be profitable and productive.
While conducting this project, I learned how to combine IPM Strategies to form a successful crop, pruning/trimming fruits, harvesting all manner of crops, fertilizing, and pesticide spraying. Each skill I learned is a key component in being a productive farmer. In addition to working in the field, I joined Dave as he did the other part of his job, which is crop consultations. These entail either being called by farmers or visiting farmers who have issues with their crops. I visited 12 different farms over the course of my summer!
This was not the only part of my internship. During the other portion, I worked with my internship director and fellow interns on leadership skills during weekly meetings! During these meetings, we would talk with industry professionals. In this portion of my internship, I had the chance to come back to College Park to visit during a professional development workshop! I helped navigate everyone when we got lost. These two parts worked together to form my summer with the University of Maryland Extension. I learned so much this summer, and although I won’t necessarily be a farmer in the future, I will take this knowledge with me as I pursue a different path in the agriculture field.
