Veronica's Garden

Getting read to plant Sign is done! Leadership Project - Wren Houses

Champion Cabbage at County Fair. Harvesting cabbage State Fair Results

Intern Profile

I want to be garden intern because....

  • Its a great first job and its beneficial to the city.

One of our primary goals for the garden is to provide fresh produce to the Willamette Valley Food Assistance Program. Two of my personal goals for working at the Dallas Youth Garden this summer are:

  • Help the community.

  • Learn how to grow a great garden for my garden at home.

Two things I hope to learn for working at the Dallas Youth Garden are:

  • Good job lessons.

  • How to grow a good garden.

I think my biggest challenge will be:

  • Waiting to harvest.

My favorite vegetable is:

  • Carrots!

My least favorite garden task is: weeding

My most favorite garden task is: harvesting.

I think a leader is: Someone who can take charge in chaos and be able to help everyone in a group by being prepared for anything.

My worst leadership skill or trait is: Keeping everyone on task.

My best leadership skill or trait is:To be able to work and achieve a goal in a group.

Leadership Projects:

Improvement Project:

Bird House Project

Problem: We need to reduce garden pests

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

Species Attracted: Wrens

Bird Diet: Insects

Installation Instructions: 4-30 ft above the ground. 6 ft. apart from any other birdhouse, these birdhouses attract a wren bird. They are very common in Oregon and during the summer is the wren's breeding time.

Bird House Plan:

Construction: Request needed materials and construct two birdhouses.

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

Leadership: Create a plan and discuss it with the group

Communication Project:

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: Effective communication

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: Self Direction

“A problem we cannot ignore”

It was reported in 2008 that Oregon was ranked the 3rd hungriest state in America. A change needed to happen and people needed to start becoming more aware that hunger wasn’t just a problem in foreign countries but in their own state. Many organizations have been founded since 2008 with their minds set out to end hunger. This includes the Dallas youth garden. Organizations just like the Dallas youth garden have been giving food he food boxes for the people in need and the number of food boxes are still growing today. Since 2008, less then 15% of people in Oregon are living hunger. Even though those are better numbers, these organizations are set to make that 15% a 0% in the next 5 years.

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: Self Direction

"A better garden"

If you have a really bad weed problem in your garden its been found that using vinegar while weeding by hand will kill the weeds. It was also said that there is no evidence found if it kills the roots but the weed itself will slowly die off from the “toxin” in the vinegar. If there is a pest problem in your garden, gardens in Oregon say to let it go for a little bit and watch the bugs then pick something that’s not very toxic to kill the bugs because you still want your plants to live. Things like insecticidal soaps, horticultural oils, botanical insecticides, and organic and synthetic pesticides are all acceptable practices when trying to kill off bugs. Also, what we did in the garden with the yellow cup is great for attracting and killing bugs.

Garden Log

June 3rd - Still in the process of planting

June 5th - Finished planting garden

June 21st - Put newspaper and straw down to keep weeds out

June 24th - Newspaper again and first garden evaluation

July 8th - Harvested 2 radishes and broccoli

July 10-16 - Vacation

July 17th - Harvested Broccoli and Cucumbers, put up tomato fences

July 19th - Got garden ready for open house and harvested 7 lbs of cucumbers

July 22nd - Open house, harvested 10 lbs of broccoli

July 24th - No Work

July 26th - Took day off

July 29th - Harvested 18.5 lbs in cucumbers

July 31st - Finished tying up all my tomato plants

August 9th - Started harvesting cabbages. Got "champion" for my cabbage at the Polk County fair.

August 19th - picked cabbage for state fair

August 23rd - Discussed leadership projects with the group

August 26th - Watered and weeded

August 28th - Talked more about leadership projects and water and weeded

August 30th - water and weeded with garden evaluations

September 2nd - Water and weeded and harvested

September 4 - Water and weeded and harvested tomatoes

September 6th - Water, weeded, harvested, and garden evaluations

September 9th - water, weeded, harvested

September 11 - watered, and harvested