Cambria Snyder

Owen Llewellyn and I setting up for the 4-H and FFA youth rabbit skillaton. Owen works at the Allegany County office as an IT specialist.  

Last week the Allegany County Fair was underway! Even though Allegany County neighbors Garrett County this was my first time experiencing their fair. I enjoyed getting to work with more of the extension agents in Allegany and being able to work with their 4-H youth. I was able to assist Sarah Llewellyn in administering the 4-H and FFA rabbit skillathon and horticulture judging contest. At the Garrett County fair, we do not have a horticulture judging contest so it was enjoyable for me to help with this competition. It was so uplifting that after the contest some youth came up to me and struck up a conversation relating to horticulture. The kids' excitement and yearning to want to know if their thinking was correct and why the answer is what it was so encouraging for me. I delighted in being able to connect with the youth and use my time with them as a teaching opportunity. I hope I was able to imprint on their minds to where horticulture is now an interesting subject and a path they may pursue one day. 

Here I am assisting a 4-H youth in determining the correct answer. I believe you learn best when you think for yourself so I wouldn't come out and just tell her the answer; I hinted and guided her thinking along until she came up with the correct answer. 

This week we focused on the film Delmarva and the Ground for Change. This film highlighted a few farmers around the Chesapeake and Delaware Bay who implement practices on their farms that protect and promote healthy soils. It’s important for farmers to adopt practices that will keep agriculture moving forward in a profitable and sustainable direction. Through this film, the no-till practice at Deerfield Farm stood out to me the most. Prior to my internship I didn’t know much about no-till farming so watching this film and seeing how much no-till has impacted their farm was really eye-opening to me. There are so many benefits to no-till farming. I never took into consideration the fuel usage and time that no-till saves. In conventional farming, a lot of hours are spent working the land and that comes at a higher cost with the increasing price of fuel. No-till farming is able to save the farmer time and money in the spring when putting their crops in. The soils are also being saved by no longer having bare soil exposed so the wind can’t displace the soil. Through cover crops and no-till practices, good soils are no longer being eroded and running off into waterways. By planting cover crops moisture and nutrients are also retained. Deerfield Farm was having an issue with water laying in certain spots in one of their fields. They began no-till practices and year after year they had less and less of an issue with these wet spots. They then decided to plant vegetables so they tilled that field and all their previous issues came flooding back. They also showed their corn fields where their corn was planted using no-till practices. During periods where drought and high heat are persistent the plants growing in no-till conditions can still thrive and not be as affected by these conditions as plants grown in tilled land would be. No-till keeps the soil moist and provides the plants with enough moisture to survive. 

Willie Lantz, (second to the left) educating local farmers on the benefits of cover crops. Under his cover crop of rye, the soil was still moist even though we are experiencing a harsh drought. 

I have experienced my mentor Willie Lantz educating, encouraging, and applying soil health practices to their family farm production. Wille ran a workshop a few weeks ago and he and his son Levi demonstrated the use of a no-till row crop planter. This was a great experience for people to come out and learn about no-till, the benefits that come along with it, and how they can implement these practices in their farms.