Kaity Deaner

This week, for our weekly connection, we focused on the film Delmarva and Ground for Change. This film focused on different farms within the Chesapeake and Delaware Bay areas and on practices that ensure the sustainability and health of their soils. The two practices that caught my eye were carbon sequestering and no-till farming. Prior to this film, I had no clue what carbon sequestration was. According to the United States Geological Survey, it is the practice of storing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere within the ground, which can aid in reducing climate change (USGS, 2024).  As mentioned in the film, this requires more time, effort, and different equipment, which could deter farmers from focusing on it. By utilizing the different practices mentioned in the film, such as no-till farming, cover crops, and rotational grazing, farmers can help keep carbon within our soils. I found the no-till farming pretty interesting! When the Deerfield Farmers spoke up about the wet spot issues, they mentioned how they found fewer wet spots when focusing on no-till. Many of the problems they had, such as getting the tractor stuck, were eliminated when they began no-till farming. 

While I haven’t been working on farms through this internship, I’ve learned a good bit about climate-smart practices through our weekly connections. With the readings and videos we have gotten, I’ve learned a significant amount more about actions farmers can and have taken to protect our environment, farms, and food systems. 

Outside of our weekly connection, this week was pretty eventful. On Tuesday, Beverly and I traveled to Queen Anne’s County to provide a “Rethink Your Drink” lesson to a kid’s camp. With this lesson, we went through how to keep teeth healthy, focusing on healthier drink choices, and how to “eat your water” through fruits. We brought tons of different color pages and had a “sugar detective activity.” This activity involved the children reading off different drink containers, such as soda, juice, lemonade, and sweet tea to figure out how much added sugar was in them. Afterward, we had them show us how many teaspoons of sugar were in each drink. This seemed fairly eye-opening to the kids, as we tied this into their health as well. 

This photo shows me with some of the children at the camp I visited with Beverly. I was passing out stickers to the children while they colored in a tooth, as we were teaching about healthy teeth. 

On Thursday, I visited the camps with Amelia, our SNAP-Ed educator again. We checked out how their glove experiments were doing, as the one we did in the office a few weeks prior didn’t have any results. Luckily, the camps had some amazing germination going on. Next week, we’ll be bringing them supplies to take their plants home. We had brought lima beans with us to show the kids another germination experiment. We had them dissect the beans and remove the embryo of the bean. These embryos were placed onto a damp paper towel with a full bean to compare how the two would grow. Additionally, we taught the kids how to read a seed label and how to pick which fruits and vegetables are in season.  

This photo shows some of the progress of the germination gloves Amelia and I brought into local camps. Some of the seeds within the gloves has started to sprout!

Finally, the Cecil County Fair has started! On Friday and Saturday, I helped with getting all of the crafts, baked goods, preserved foods, etc. into the barn. I got to meet the judges for the preserved foods contest and learned a bit more about the process. They explained to me what they look out for when it comes to canning, such as rust on the lids, the amount of food packed in there, and overall visuals of the food. I can’t wait to see what happens next week with the fair!

This image shows a jar of canned tomatoes that was entered into the Cecil County Fair.