That Friday was Mitch's bday and after work I decided to make an impromptu trip back to the mitten. I stopped in GR and picked up Justin and Tessa and then we surprised Mitch by showing up at his place that night. He was kind of shocked and we went downtown Mt. P to celebrate. The next day we decided to have a 4th of July celebration with all the American things we could think of. Flags, baked beans, 3 liters of off-brand Diet Cola, and an inflatable pool in the front yard. Sounds about right. =)
The next week at work was a pretty standard week with lots of farmwork and a community lunch. It was also a short week because we had the 4th off. Which I celebrated with sweatpants, air conditioning, and falafel. Beautiful. That Friday we had a "Ladies Night" at my apartment with the students from the farm. The other intern came as well as a small group of students. We hung out, made za, jammed to Beyonce and watched the 90's masterpiece Fear. It was a lot of fun and a cool opportunity to hangout outside of the farm.
This past week at work a lot of new things started up. Now once a week, the kids at our farm have an opportunity to cook for our site. A small group of about seven students goes during the work day and prepares a meal using farm and non-farm ingredients for all of us to enjoy. This week we had stuffed zucchini, salad, and homemade strawberry shortcake. Shwing! It was delicious and, for some of the students, their first time working in a kitchen. Helping to become more comfortable with food prep is a really valuable component of this program and it's an added bonus that they make delicious recipes. Our farmstands also started up this week, which are an opportunity for the community to come and buy our produce. It's like a one booth farmer's market and here the students get to work on their customer service and money handling skills.
Another thing that got started this week was our WIC demos. I am the staff member that works on these and the whole shabang consists of 2 work days with the students. The first work day is speech prep and from 9-noon we go over the outline, talk about public speaking, and rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. On this day the kids are seeing the outline for the first time which consists of nutrition education, giving info about Green Youth Farm, and also a cooking demonstration. Then on the next day, the kids and I go to a health department in the area and give the presentation 3-4 times to different groups of WIC recipients. During these times we take some of our fresh produce and they have an opportunity to use their benefits and purchase items from our farm. Overall, the day was a huge success! The students did great, the audience was receptive, and we were able to help provide fresh, local, sustainably grown food to over 20 families that may not have received it otherwise. We have 4 more weeks of these presentations and I am really looking forward to this aspect of my job. =)
Thursday we took a field trip to the local community college and the students were given information and a tour. Also they learned about possible horticulture careers they could pursue. After the college visit we went to Prairie Crossing for a tour. Prairie Crossing is an 80 acre organic farm that has a lot going on, including a youth program similar to GYF. It was interesting to see organic farming on a larger scale and both stops of our trip were filled with new sites and information.
Also this week, big news in the visitor department! Mitch came to visit and we went out in downtown Evanston with a group from work on my birthday, which was a blast. He was here from Wednesday until Friday morning and then Tessa was here from Saturday morning until Sunday evening. I never forget how lucky I am to have such wonderful family, friends, and people around me. Thanks for making this such a killa birthday! I am all smiles.
