Leadership Project Ideas

Leadership Projects

Interns will be required to complete three leadership projects (one from each group). Each intern will be required to present a project plan and/or results to the intern group. Interns could also present project to outside organizations to accomplish the communications project requirements. The following are ideas for projects. Interns may select them or develop new projects that are similar.

Project Plan

1. Present your plan to group

2. Document initial project information on your web page

3. Do your project and record whatever is appropriate on your web page

4. Review and present your results to the group

Garden Projects

Garden projects will be used to directly improve garden production.

Bird House Project

Problem: We need to reduce garden pests

Solution(s): Attract inset eating birds with bird houses

Species Attracted:

Bird Diet:

Installation Instructions: (Spacing, height on pole, etc.)

Bird House Plan:

Construction: Request needed materials and construct two birdhouses.

Communication: Communicate your plan for your bird houses to the group.

Leadership: (What leadership skills/traits will this project help you with)

Mason Bee Project

Problem: We need to improve pollination

Solution(s): Build two mason bee lodge(s)

Species attracted:

Installation Instructions: (Spacing, height on pole, etc.)

Bee Lodge Plan:

Construction: Request needed materials and construct bee lodge(s).

Communication: Communicate your plan for mason bee houses to the group.

Leadership: (What leadership skills/traits will this project help you with)

Bat House Project

Problem: We need to reduce garden pests

Solution(s): Build two bat houses.

Species attracted:

Installation Instructions: (Spacing, height on pole, etc.)

Bat House Plan:

Construction: Request needed materials and construct bat house(s).

Communication: Communicate your plan for houses to the group.

Leadership: (What leadership skills/traits will this project help you with)

Seed Variety Comparison

Problem: We need to determine which seed varieties will work best.

Solution: Identify which seed varieties produce the most at the earliest date.

Test: Plant and mark portion of a row with different variety of seeds. Identify the harvest date and record harvest results for each variety.

Document: Document the harvest date and amount produced from each variety.

Communication: Communicate your findings to the group.

Leadership: (What leadership skills/traits) will this project help you with)

Starts Verses Seeds

Problem: Plant starts take a lot of work to setup. We need to know if this is a good idea.

Solution: Identify if plants started from seed or a start work better or not.

Test: Plant and mark portion of a row with starts and seeds. Identify the harvest date and record harvest results for each approach.

Document: Document the harvest date and amount produced for each approach.

Communication: Communicate your findings to the group.

Leadership: (What leadership skills/traits) will this project help you with)

Education Projects

Education projects will be used to build our up our knowledge base to better understand how market gardening is and how modern practices are being used to meet the food needs of our community and to feed the hungry. Results of projects will be documented for presentation on the garden web page and will be presented to the intern group.

Field Trip

Problem: We need to know more about market gardens in Polk County.

Solution: Lead a field trip to a local site. Prepare and assign information (questions) that interns will obtain during visit.

Communication: Write up information about field trip (100 words or so) to place on our web site and present to the group.

Leadership: (What leadership skills/traits) will this project help you with)

Sites: Dallas Bounty Market, Master Gardeners Demonstration Garden, Monmouth Independence Farmers Market, Local Gardens, Local Farms (Dean will help coordinate contact with site)

Hunger Research Project

Problem: We need to know more about hunger in Oregon and how our food production helps.

Solution: Research, collect, and compile information about hunger in Oregon.

Communication: Present information (100 words or so) to place on our web site and present to the group.

Leadership: (What leadership skills/traits will this project help you with)

Sustainable Gardening Research Project

Problem: The word "sustainable" gets used in many ways in farming and market gardening. We need to know more about what sustainable practices are.

Solution: Research, collect, and compile information about sustainable farming practices in Oregon.

Communication: Present information (100 words or so) to place on our web site and present to the group.

Leadership: (What leadership skills/traits will this project help you with)

Communication Projects

Communication projects will focus on providing information about the garden to our partners and the public.

Garden Videos

Problem: We need to communicate how our garden is being used to produce vegetables.

Solution: Create a video from individual pictures that shows weekly a plant growing from a seed or start to vegetable production or a group of rows of your garden.

Communication: Post your video to YouTube and the Garden Web Site

Leadership: (What leadership skills/traits will this project help you with)

Partner Presentation

Problem: Our partners need to be information of our garden progress.

Communication / Solution: Assist garden supervisors with a presentation to our partners. Be prepared to discuss your garden and your intership.

Leadership: (What leadership skills/traits will this project help you with)

County Fair Poster

Problem:We need to communicate information about our garden to the public.

Solution: Create a poster for presentation to the County Fair.

Communication: Present your poster at the fair. This could be stand alone poster OR you can use it as a visual aid for a presentation.

Leadership: (What leadership skills/traits will this project help you with)

County Fair Presentation

Problem:We need to communicate information about our garden to the public.

Solution: Create a presentation about a garden topic. This could be results of a research project, field trip, or garden project.

Communication: Make your presentation at the County Fair.

Leadership: (What leadership skills/traits will this project help you with)

T-Shirts

Problem:We need a way to identify our team when meeting with the public.

Solution: Design, order and manage the purchase of t-shirts for garden interns.

Leadership: (What leadership skills/traits will this project help you with)

Booth

Problem:We need to communicate information about our garden to the public and we continue to need funds for the garden.

Solution: Work with garden supervisors to obtain blueberries and create a visual aid for a county fair booth to attract public.

Communication: Man the booth for four hours during fair and sell blue berries and discuss the garden with the public.

Fund Raising: Sell the blueberries from the booth

Leadership: (What leadership skills/traits will this project help you with)