I was excited to be working at the Snyder estate because me and my friends like to wander around the old cement factory and explore the caves. You can imagine how happy I was when Rick took me and Carrie on a full tour of one of the caves in his Kubota. He showed us soil and clay deposits that seeped down through the ceiling. (Above ground he showed us the deep pits this creates.) Later Rick pointed out a huge column that went 40 feet up to the ceiling. He told us it was an air vent that went all the way above the ground. That’s when I realized it is the bottom of the bottomless well Sam found.

Building a Grass Couch at Rondout Valley Middle School

I am delighted to see the many changes happening not only at Marbletown Elementary but, also at Kerhonkson Elementary with their garden and, now with the new garden being built at the Middle School. One of our recent project has been building a grass couch in the middle school garden. I love this idea and I think the kids will too. The one thing I can't say is that it was easy to build. We marked the areas for the couch to be 5 feet by about three feet and then we started shoveling and wheelbarrowed about 5 or 6 wheelbarrow fulls of dirt to the area. We then proceeded t become COVERED in dirt as we wet down the dirt inorder to pound and mold the dirt into the shape of a couch. Our plan was to put wire netting around the sides and back of the couch to keep the couch stable and from collapsing. tis took some planning but we eventually were sucess ful and able to build the backrest of the couch. The base of the couch is complete ans we plan on digging up sod from an area where an outdoor classroom is being made to lay over the couch. All of the work we did took us about four hours and I slept very well that night.

Farm Food Donations to Local Food Pantries and Soup Kitchens

Every morning of the internship (except Wednesdays) me and mark are in charge of picking up seconds produce, the stuff that looks like you wouldn't want to eat it but is perfectly edible. Saunderskill's, Davenport's, and Gill's Farm donate the produce which we then prepare, inventory, stack onto a pallet and store at davenport's packing house. The donations are then picked up and delivered to soup kitchens and food pantries all over Ulster County by Family of Woodstock. One week me and Mark were asked to deliver some of the donations to The Queen's Galley in Kingston which was a very enlightning experience. It is amazing the work the volunteers do to meet the rising needs and amount of people who are reaching out to ask for something as simple as a meal. For anyone who has not been to volunteer at a soup kitchen I highly recommend this experience. It will open your eyes and allow you to truly see the need there is for these types of programs. Everyone should have acess to fresh nutritious foods which is why I am so in love with the donation program.