Sam Lyons here reflecting on the first week of my summer internship at ASPI. I got to dive right into the program at the beginning of the week helping prepare for the pest and disease prevention workshop with David Cooke leading the discussion. The workshop was a great opportunity to meet some of the participants that Saxon and I will be working with this summer.
Soil samples drying for 24 hours.
In just six days I had the opportunity to participate in attaching plastic to the high tunnel in the ASPI gardens, plant seeds in the greenhouse, transplant lettuce into the ASPI garden, learn how to take soil samplings to be sent for testing at the extension office, go with Saxon on my first few site visits, and learn my way around Rockcastle Co. while doing so. Soil tests allow us to help participants make any adjustments and amendments to their garden soil so they will have healthy growing conditions for their plants. Along with the soil testing, Saxon and I visited Armilda Barnes home to check on some of the plants that they started in water beds to distribute to participants of the program. Many of the starts are ready for transplanting, and we gave more seeds to Armilda to start plants for summer crops! Armilda does an amazing job with the plants, and has a lot of knowledge to share about growing food that I am looking forward to learning. There is still a lot for me to learn about this program, but so far I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to work and learn from the staff and participants here at ASPI this summer. Looking forward to a busy and productive summer.
High tunnel with new plastic.
Greens growing at Armilda’s.
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