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