Wow, what another great week jam packed with opportunities and learning experiences! On Tuesday I was fortunate enough to spend the day working at WMREC. For the first half of my day I assisted Jeff Semler and Amanda Grev on taking fecal samples from their cattle and sheep herds. The samples were to test the feces for egg count to see how many parasites the animal had obtained on either annual or perennial pasture grasses. The aim of this research was to see which group of livestock were more resistant to parasites due to their diet. I was also able to work with some great additional UMD extension agents while working these animals. The second half of the day was by far the best! I was honored to work with Joe Fiola on his research. I was privileged to work with Joe on harvesting, weighing and evaluating peento peaches or more commonly known to consumers as donut peaches. This was my first experience with working with this variety and I was impressed. The peaches were very fleshy, had a tiny pit, and were oh so juicy. We then also evaluated the maturity and verasion of his vineyard. I had a great time working in the vineyard with Joe and keeping one another in check on why we evaluated the variety the way we did. I've heard it's not a day with Joe if you don’t get to experience his wines. I was able to rack a container of wine and just slightly make a mess of things. Lets just say I gave myself a quick unexpected bath in wine. It was incredible to see the amount of wines he is working on. This was a great experience for me to absorb so much new information from Joe on all things grape and wine related.
This week was buy local week. Melissa Bolyard and I set up at the Mountain Fresh Farmers Market in Oakland to help encourage people to patronize our local farmers. A week prior I shopped at the market and purchased produce from our local farmers. I then took the produce and made refrigerator dill pickles and mock pineapple. These were great samplers for people browsing through the market and gave consumers ideas of things to make with produce they bought at the market. For the dill pickles I utilized cucumbers, dill and garlic and for the mock pineapple I used zucchini.
I also assisted Willie in running a high tunnel construction workshop this past week. This workshop was an excellent opportunity for people who are interested in having their own high tunnel to come out, learn and experience putting one together. I learned a lot about constructing high tunnels, but Willie is by far still the expert. On Friday I assisted Sarah Llewellyn at the Frostburg farmers market. A group of kids came in and we educated them on heirloom tomato varieties, seeds, and insects. This was another great experience for me to educate youth and pour my knowledge into them.
The skill of cross-cultural competencies has been useful during my time with extension because it has expanded my understanding of other cultures and I've learned to have more of an appreciation for them. I’ve become more aware and been able to educate myself on the traditions of different cultures. It has expanded my understanding of other cultures and I've learned to appreciate them. We can grow cross-cultural competencies by being adaptable and having an open mind.
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