Tracy's Page

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My Gardening Log:

June 5th, 2018: First day in the garden! This day I got to meet all the interns and other volunteers that were there that day. My first task of the day after introductions were to go interview each intern and learn more about them.

June 7th, 2018: Continued to getting used to the routine. On my second day at the garden, I continued to get used to working in the garden and the routine of things.

June 9th,2018: First Saturday at the garden and got rained/ hailed on towards the end. On this day, everything was going great and we got a lot of work done until Oregon's fine weather decided to show up. We had made paths that day and the wind just blew it all away... We were all huddled under the roof to protect us from the rain and hail until we could get a break and run towards our rides home.

June 12th,2018: Assisting, mostly weeding!

June 16th,2018: Began group work as minions! This day was a fun day, we all worked together to do the mulching to help with the weeds. It was super tiring work but time went by fast and we got a lot done by working together.

June 19th, 2018: Planted peppers!! This day was super hot, I was sweating like crazy but I got to help Dean plant a bunch of peppers. We worked together getting the ground ready (i.e measuring the rows, making the holes) and then transplanting the peppers. I felt so accomplished after that day.

June 21st, 2018: Weeding and Minion Work, this day we continued to mulch and worked as a group to get more tasks done.

June 23rd, 2018: Pollinator Field trip!!!! This was a longer than usual day because we worked in the garden for an hour before heading out on a field trip to Dancing Oaks Nursery! This field trip was all about pollinators and this gave the kids an opportunity to have a leadership program done and get to experience more plants. This was such a fun field trip.

June 26th, 2018: On this day we continued to mulch the interns' gardens. We worked as a group on an individual garden as others were finishing up their own tasks like watering and filling out county fair forms. When I was done with this I was in charge of watering all of the adult gardens and I helped Rachel finish watering hers while she did some weeding. The best part of the day was that some gardens were already producing vegetables that were ready to be harvested. Sierra got a grand total of 3.5 lbs of radishes out of her garden and these radishes were huge!!

June 28th, 2018: This Thursday was like no other, we continued to Mulch and I helped water the gardens. Today I was in charge of watering the "Adults" gardens. Time went by fast as usual.

June 30th, 2018: On this Saturday we did some mulching again, this time it was in the adults garden and so I had to remove weeds from the garden in order to place paper. That was intense work, I did find it was easier to pull the weeds by hand then it was to use the tool. Some of those weeds were so huge and so hard to pull I was struggling at times and I almost fell. Overall it was a good day, I did more watering and placed fish fertilizer on some of the plants in Faith's garden as she was not there that day. Let me tell you that stuff was smelly and hard work trying not to spill it all over me.

July 3rd, 2018: On this day I helped water Rachelle's garden since she was gone this week, I might have watered some of the other gardens as well but I cannot remember. Aside from this, we worked as a team to get some more mulching done. Time went by quick.

July 6th, 2018: I was back from my birthday break, and today we continued work. I watered Kaitlynn's and Rachelle's gardens as they were gone today. During the break, we had a wonderful birthday celebration for Brandon, John and I, as it was our birthdays relatively close (Brandon June something, John July 9th, and me July 4th). We got to sing "Happy Birthday" for all of us and we ate a quick snack. After Break, we divided into two teams to try and get some more mulching done. My team and I got 3 rows done in each of the two gardens that we worked on. We are getting close to having all the gardens mulched!!

July 10th, 2018: This day I was semi in charge because Dean was gone to a conference and it was only Nan and me in charge of all the interns. We got watering done, some weeding and you guessed right.... more mulching!! we are almost done with all the gardens!!!!

July 12th, 2018: This was my second day as one of the people in charge as Dean was gone on a conference. This was a super hot day I thought I was melting the whole time. Eileen was there also and she suggested we only watered and pull weeds since it was super hot. I helped water Rachel's garden since she was running late that day and I also helped pull weeds. Today was special because it was take home your vegetable day and everyone had a lot to choose from.

July 14th,2018: Today went back to normal because Dean was back. I helped water gardens and also to mulch. we pulled some weeds and the day went by quick. During the break, we indulged in the smallest watermelon ever and some delicious brownies made by Amelia. The interns also had the opportunity to talk about their leadership projects.

July 17th,2018: Today was a great day as it was harvest day. Everyone had at least one vegetable ready to be harvested. It was so crazy when there was a total of about 150 lbs of produce. I was so shocked when I saw all the things we have harvested, the zucchinis were enormous... During this day I helped water and harvest Angelina's garden as she was running a bit late. We were all so busy that the day went by so fast. I learned how to harvest kale, lettuce, zucchinis, and some basil.

July 19th, 2018: This day was Open House at the garden, it started out earlier than normal for us because we had to get this already before guests started to arrive. This was a super fun day, we had lots of people show up and enjoy the wonders of the garden. Everyone had lots of fun and there was a lot of awareness about the garden happening on that day.

July 21st, 2018: This was a short Saturday, but this also meant that it could be used as a makeup day for all the interns that needed to make up some hours because they were either gone or are planning to be gone.

July 24th,2018: This day was super hot but we had a lot of work to do that day, we made sure we watered the zucchini and squash extra because of the weather. Almost all the mulching is done but the last bit that needs to be done will happen on Saturday. Everyone also got to harvest on this day and let me tell you that those zucchinis and squashes were ginormous.

July 26th, 2018: This day was another one of those super hot days that made me feel like I was melting. This was a different day from our ordinary Thursdays as I had to give a tour to our new Polk County prevention coordinator, Abby. After I gave her the tour and introduced her to everyone I went back to normal Thursday's duties.

July 28th, 2018: This was another typical Saturday. We watered and weeded. There was a tiny bit of minion work going on that made the day go by so fast.

July 31st,2018: This was harvest Tuesday where I helped with Rachel's garden. I harvested her produce and I also watered for her. This day went by fast and we also started talking about the fair.

August 2nd, 2018: On this Thursday I helped water Rachel's garden as she was gone for the week. It went by pretty fast it was not as hot as some of the previous days.

August 4th, 2018: on this day I helped with Rachel's garden again and I was supposed to harvest her zucchinis but because of the heat wave she had nothing to pick. Things had really slowed down in the garden. I also helped John weed his onions and we got more things done for the Polk County Fair.

August 7th,2018: This day was the big day!! we got to do all the regular garden prep work, and harvesting plus on top of all that we had to prepare and pick everything for the fair!!!! It was an insane day not including the heat. The heat was brutal on its own.

August 9th, 2018: Today was fair day!!! Many of the interns and Dean went to pick flowers early in the morning and take everything to be set up at the fair for judging. In the afternoon we did the normal garden stuff and watered.

August 10th, 2018: Today was a special day as all the interns got to sell peaches in a booth at the fair that was meant for the garden. The did so great!! They sold out before the last shift even started.

August 11th, 2018: This was a weird Saturday as interns decided to go home early or stay an extra hour as a makeup. After an hour about 3 interns decided to go home after their normal garden duties. After the break, the rest of us that were left, dedicated out time to weeding and saving the carrots!! Fun day overall as it was not hot!! Yay!!! Finally a break!

August 14th, 2018: This was what started as your typical Tuesday, where we watered and picked our harvest to be donated, but Dean had a surprise for everyone!. He had brought everyone their ribbons from fair and their premiums. He announced that for the first time ever everyone had qualified and were going to state fair if they chose. It was so exciting seeing all the kids with all their ribbons.

August 16th, 2018: Nothing interesting happened on this day, we watered and we weeded.

August 18th, 2018: This Saturday we watered and we harvested a few zucchinis and squashes. There were about 2 interns missing on this day also the main event was the picking of vegetables for State fair and the choosing of which flowers and herbs they were taking.

August 22nd,2018: This day was a Wednesday where we went and visited the Willamette Food Assistance Program. This is the location where all of the produce from the garden goes to.

August 23, 2018: This Thursday was mainly dedicated to watering and weeding. Some interns did get to take some produce home as it was pick your own vegetable day. On this day we also had quite the visitors, which, is always fun to have on these garden days. Everyone big and small was helping get things done. I was in charge of Miss AJ's garden as she was not there that day, I watered her garden and then weeded her tomatoes as they desperately needed some attention. It was a fun and productive day overall.

August 25, 2018: This Saturday was special, there was no Dean as he was competing in the Hood to Coast race. It was a really fun day, Amelia and I were in charge, almost all the interns were there and they stayed the mandatory 1 hour for this day. Since the second hour of the day was a makeup hour, only John and Faith decided to stay. As a group, we weeded AJ's garden as her garden was being taken over by the weeds. I was surprised how well her garden was doing based on how much weeds there was.

August 30, 2018: This Thursday was just again a regular Thursday, we watered and weeded. We also discussed the plan for Saturday and the Interns were figuring out how many days they were gone and late this summer.

September 1st, 2018: On this Saturday we picked all the root vegetables and we also did some harvesting of tomatoes and zucchinis & Squash. While that was being done, Dean mowed all the rows were lettuce and root crops were, also the cabbage and the broccoli after they got harvested.

Pictures!!!

June 5th

Hello Everyone,

My name is Tracy and I am the college intern helping out this summer with the garden. I am so exited to tell everyone what I have been up to this summer in the garden. As a heads up, I have no gardening experience so this summer will be filled with learning and lots of fun! Aside from the garden, I will also be helping out develop a how-to manual so that it can be used by other programs interested in starting something like ours.

Profile

My new hang out spot! you can find me here every Tuesday and Thursday from 4pm-5pm and Saturdays from 9am-11am.

June 9th

I want to work in the garden because: It would be a great opportunity to work in something new and because it would get me a great deal of experience working with the teenage population.

Two of my personal goals for working at the Dallas Youth Garden this summer are: To learn about gardening and to get experience working with youth.

Two things I hope to learn by working at the Dallas Youth Garden are: By working in the DYG I hope to learn basic gardening skills and all things garden. If you haven't realized by my answers I have no gardening skills what so ever...

I think my biggest challenge will be: Learning not to run at the sight of bugs and crawling stuff...