We are graced with the company and extra helping hands of Danni (full name Danielle) this summer. She is doing an intern from Fresno State, majoring in plant science.  Here are her thoughts after the first week of farming.

“My first week here at Harvest Fields had a large impact on my life. I’ll admit that the first couple of days were rough, I was tired, hot, and uncomfortable. I was living with a family I didn’t know very well and this was the most I had been outside consecutively in a long time. I thought that maybe I didn’t know if I could handle what I had signed up for. But it wasn’t until the middle of the week that I realized how incredibly excited I was to be interning here. I’ve learned how to pack the harvest boxes, look over the green houses, harvest crops, transplant sweet potatoes, and even drive a tractor. I’m learning how to manage pests more creatively, and collect the insects, good and bad, for my entomology course this fall. There is much more that I have done here that I could easily just fill this entire newsletter with the activities alone. I am so thankful my professor introduced me to this place as an opportunity for an internship here. The experiences and how I have felt since being here is what matters to me. I’ve been welcomed into Hope and David’s home, shared meals together, got to know the family, and I feel a part of a team here. Just in the short period that I have been interning, I feel like I’m in my element. It’s hard work but when I lay my head down on my pillow at night, I feel good about what I have accomplished and I am so grateful to be given this experience over the summer. Overall, it has opened my eyes to the hard work and dedication it takes to run an organic farm. I took it for granted while learning how to do these things in class, and putting it into practice gave me a whole new respect for farming. It is not for the faint hearted, but if you can work at it and stick with it, you’ll truly see the fruits of your labor. I’m looking forward to seeing what the rest of the summer has in store for me.