As the Spring Food Connections Internship comes to an end in the Kingsbridge Heights Community Center garden, we reflect on the hard work and commitment of our four interns, Thallgeea, Kamala, Flor De Liz and Sabrina.
The start of the growing season is a busy time with new beds being built and soil to move. It is exciting planting the first seeds and watching them emerge under the lights of our grow room, transplanting them into the garden and sampling some of the early harvest peas, lettuce and strawberries. When we ate the food that we had harvested for the first time I got a sense of accomplishment, this was my first time growing edibles and we accomplished our goals Said Flor De Liz. It's amazing how rewarding the seed to plate process is when you're a part of it!
It is also important to spend this time planning to ensure that our harvest gets a consistent supply of water as economically as possible. To do this, our interns planned and installed a WiFi controlled drip irrigation system, enabling watering to be managed from anywhere through a smart phone app. This project provided our interns with practical skills training, problem solving and teamwork challenges, while developing an understanding of the role of technology in urban agriculture and the principles of sustainability and conservation.
An important part of this process was to develop leadership skills by having interns share their knowledge with younger garden participants, from our Special Needs and After School programs, through garden activities and cooking workshops.
While our interns move on with a deeper understanding of the food systems process and a closer connection with the Bronx agriculture movement, we would like to thank them for playing an integral role in the development of our garden oasis and for their contribution to building a better Bronx, one family at a time.
We are now looking forward to our Growing Futures Summer Youth Internship.
If you want to do an internship in the garden or in any of the KHCC programs contact Will at wlittleton@khcc-nyc.org
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Author: William Littleton | Director of Development and Healthy Communities