Urban Agriculture Intern Report
by Margot Vanyan, Urban Agriculture Intern
As the Urban Agriculture summer intern, I helped the Community Garden Plot Coordinator Patricia Dietly in the administration of 671 rental garden plots in nine FCPA host parks throughout the County.
Margot Vanyan. Photo credit: Patricia DietlyI assisted with routine inspections to make sure the tenants were maintaining their plots, plugged data from our visits into an Excel spreadsheet, and sent letters to those who needed to fix any issues in their gardens.
The key project we worked on was evaluating the water hydrants used by tenants of the garden plot program to determine which hydrants needed to be replaced and how water usage could be improved. The goal is to set up a new system of watering, promoting hose organization and minimizing leakage, which will effectively curb water waste. In preparation, I performed physical inspections of the hydrants, tracked buried hoses, and created a couple of hand-drawn, to-scale maps.
The highlight of my summer was Tuesday mornings, when I went outside with the Extension Master Gardeners and worked with them in the demonstration Edible Garden, doing various activities including planting seeds, weeding, and harvesting. Simultaneously I was keeping track of everything happening in the garden that week and writing weekly reports for distribution to the Community Garden Plot tenants. The reports included but were not limited to, information on seed varieties, pest control, and methods of organic gardening.
I was also given opportunities to connect with the larger Green Spring community and groups like the Fairfax Food Council and the Urban Agriculture Working Group. Overall I performed a myriad of duties that have left me with plentiful experience and an enhanced skill set.
I’m immensely grateful for this internship and the people who made it possible! It allowed me to learn more about my area of study (government and environmental policy) and gave me a true hands-on experience of how the Fairfax County Park Authority functions.
