Cambria Snyder

The LEAD Maryland group and I at the Mountain Fresh Farmers Market for their seminar. It was great to meet and interact with this group of individuals from across the state. 

Week three was nothing short of amazing! Tuesday, LEAD Maryland made their way to

Garrett County. I was able to join them for part of their third seminar. It was great to hear from

the Rural Maryland Council, learn about Garrett County Agriculture & Resources from our AgFS

extension educator, and hear about Rural Community Development and services. Later that day

I traveled down to Barton, Maryland to assist Sarah Llewellyn with the kids’ gardening class. It

was great to see all the kids again and see how much their garden had grown since the

previous week. I finished my day at Yough Glades Elementary School for a kid’s activity night.

Ashley Bodkins and I set up a booth and did a craft with the kids. Our craft was a DIY bird

feeder. The kids were able to string cheerios and get creative with different shapes for their

feeders. Although some kids were more interested in eating the cheerios I believe they all

enjoyed our craft. Wednesday, I was able to join the Western Maryland Food Council and

participate in their teaching kitchen held at Frostburg State University. The goal of the teaching

kitchen was to provide cooking instruction and promote local fresh food. This was a very

engaging experience for me to be able to connect with different people and learn new recipes

for ways to prepare fresh food. Thursday was an eventful day; I started my day at the

Grantsville library assisting the Master Gardeners in teaching another free gardening class. This

week’s topic was Gardening by Moon Signs; such an interesting topic! After the gardening class,

I helped in planting the Kitzmiller community garden. Later that day I assisted with the Garrett

Mentors end of school year picnic and party at the Maryland 4-H Environmental Education and

Camping Center in Swanton, Maryland. Garrett Mentors is a non-profit organization that is

committed to providing children pre-k through 5th grade in the Garrett County school system,

with a caring and committed adult mentor. Mentors serve as positive role models to children with

various needs and backgrounds. My role that evening was to take the kids on an educational

nature walk. On our walk, we searched for salamanders that are native to Maryland and

appreciated how beautiful nature is. The nature walk provided the kids with the experience of

getting in touch with nature. To wrap up my week on Friday I assisted Garrett Growers, which is

a small farmer cooperative that sells local, fresh produce to restaurants, grocers, weekly veggie

box subscribers, and a la carts online ordering delivered to homes and businesses. Garrett

Growers teamed up with Mountain Laurel Medical Center to provide one hundred fresh local

vegetable boxes to residents in Garrett County. This initiative is called Nourishing Neighbors

Mobile Market and it aims to help combat food insecurity in our community.

Our second weekly gardening class with these sweet kids! This week we educated the kids on native plants and pollinators. On the far left, Brennan Deshong brought his market and pet goats! We all enjoyed loving on the goats!

Undoubtedly communication is used every day in every aspect in the workplace. Every

event communication is used both in the planning and in making sure the way you

communicated was effectively received by the intended audience. In my time with UME,

instances that come to my mind on communicating are kids events that I've helped with. It's

important to have effective communication with your coworkers and be able to devise a plan that

is engaging with the younger generation and makes the connection with them. The children's

activities so far have been effective in reaching the desired goals. Their attention has been

captivated, and they've kept engaging in the activity and asking deeper, thoughtful questions. I

am thrilled for all the events to come and ways we can use effective communication to branch out to 

our community.

One of my mentors, Willie Lantz, and I at the FSU teaching kitchen event. Together we made a fresh salad with a homemade dressing, baked chicken with tomato garlic pasta, and a strawberry dessert. yum! It was great to be able to cook and consume locally grown food, and yes even the chickens were raised on a farm locally. 

Our booth at the Yough Glades kid's activity night. Ashley and I's DIY bird feeder craft was a hit. I made an example for the kids, and I crafted mine into a heart.

A small but mighty group that came out to help prepare and then plant the Kitzmiller community gardens.

Willie Lantz (my mentor and part of the Garrett Growers co-op), Corey Edmonds (Manager of Business Development & Community Relations), and I at the start of the Nourishing Neighbors Mobile Market. Such a great opportunity to be able to serve our community and help those in need.