Welcome to my page!
 Hi! My name is Kaitlynn! Intern Profile: I wanted to work at the garden because: Gardening is something I enjoy greatly. Two of my personal goals for working at the Dallas Youth Garden this summer are: 1.) Learn new techniques for gardening 2.) Have fun and do my best as well as getting to know the other interns. Two things I hope to learn for working at the Dallas Youth Garden are: 1.) I hope to learn how the garden is ran. 2.) I hope to learn about the things the garden does regarding pest control, birds and other methods, and the way they take care of their bees. I think my biggest challenge will be: Focusing on one thing and not moving onto the next thing that needs to be done. My favorite vegetable or fruit is: Rainbow Carrots and cucumbers! I think a leader is: I believe a leader is someone who takes time to understand the other members of the group and take their thoughts/views into consideration before making decisions. I hope to contribute this leadership skill to the garden this season: Effective communication, which means the ability to convey your goals/vision/plans for achieving both to others through writing or speaking. | Pictures   Pictures of our field trip to the Pollinator Festival at Dancing Oaks Nursery! (See more on my garden blog under #field trip)   Pictures of my garden!! Garden Plan: Rows of vegetables planted: Number of different kinds of vegetables planted: Optimal Garden Yield: My garden did or did/not match my plan and why: Garden Log: May 3-5: ........... Started work and removed tarps. May 8-12: ......... Worked on plans and helped at Master Gardener's plant sale. May 15-19: ....... Working on getting the garden planted. May 22-26: ....... Continued working on getting the garden planted. May 29-June 2: Continue with getting the garden planted. June 5-9: .......... Finishing up planting. June 12-16: ...... Started/worked on weeding the first half of the garden and worked on mulching. June 19-23: ...... Continued working on weeding. June 26-30: ...... Worked on mulching and weeding. July 3-7: ........... Worked on weeding. July 10-14: ....... Worked on weeding and mulching. July 17-21: ....... Open house and finished mulching. July 24-28: ....... Worked on weeding and finished mulching. July 31-Aug. 4:. Worked on weeding. Aug. 7-11: ........ Worked on a little weeding and picking plants for Fair. Aug. 14-18:....... Took care of dead leaves and tomatoes with blossom rot. Aug. 21-25:....... Worked on weeding. Aug. 28-Sept. 1: | June Leadership Project: Problem: We needed to find a way to let people know who we are. Solution: We came up with a slogan for t-shirts and picked a color. Activity: We ordered the t- shirts. Results: We got t-shirts that let people know who we are. Communication: Presenting the ideas and picking one color and one slogan with all of the interns. Leadership Skills: Vision, Planning, and Effective Communication. July Leadership Project: Problem: People don't know how to prepare the plants from our garden. Solution: I took a few zucchini home and made two types of allergy friendly zucchini bread. Activity: I brought the bread to our open house. Results: The recipe turned out great, and now others are able to easily accsess a way to prepare zucchini. Communication: Leadership Skills: Vision, Planning, and Self Direction. August Leadership Project: Problem: Our broccoli and sometimes other plants such as tomatoes and chard are impacted by flea beetles. Solution: I decided to research ways to get rid of/prevent the destruction done by flea beetles. Activity: I found a few websites that explained some methods that are used to rid of/prevent the destruction done by flea beetles without harming/minimizing the damage done to other helpful insects. Results: I found that the best ways to deal with flea bugs was to prevent them, by -Tilling your garden in the fall to kill any beetles hiding in the dirt -Using row covers after transplanting, make sure they are completely sealed to keep the beetles from finding the plants -Planting Basil and/or Catnip around plants the beetles eat. Basil and Catnip repell flea beetles. Additionally I found that talcum powder on your plants and/or a homemade spray will rid your garden of flea beetles. Homemade spray: -5 cups of water -2 cups of rubbing alcohol -1 tbsp liquid soap [Source] Communication: Presenting my findings with the rest of the interns at the DYG. Leadership Skills: Self Direction, Effective Comunication. September Leadership Project: Problem: People don't know how to prepare the plants from our garden. Solution: I used carrots, zucchini, peppers, and cabbage, and chicken to make tacos. Activity: I chopped about a fourth of cabbage, three large carrots, several small sweet peppers and a smaller zucchini. Then I cooked two chicken tenderloins for each person, in olive oil and taco seasoning. Then in the same pan I seared the veggies with some extra taco seasoning for about a minute while I cut the chicken into thin strips. Finally I mixed the chicken to the veggies and pulled the pan off the heat. Results: The recipe turned out great, and now others are able to easily access a way to prepare several veggies that can be grown in a home garden as a meal. Communication: -Will be posted on the blogs as soon as possible. Leadership Skills: Vision, Planning, and Self Direction. |
