Small Farms « OSU Extension Internship Program

Hello again! My name is Natalie Padilla and this summer I have had the opportunity to work as
an intern at the Oregon State University Extension Service in Clackamas County Extension office
in the SNAP-Ed, Family and Community Health program and recently even the Small Farms
program as well. I have spent this summer gaining new experiences and having the chance to
learn about so many different things! Now that September is here, I am nearing the end of my
internship and I am extremely grateful that it has been possible to do something like this.

Natalie Padilla working at the NWREC on a small project for Small Farm School. Photo: Macy Jones

As I mentioned, I am currently working with the Small Farms program. Macy, my fellow intern
at the office was given the chance to start working as SF interns this summer, which keeps us
even busier with more opportunities. We were able to finish up some of the social media posts
for the Small Farms Facebook and Instagram accounts. Once or twice a week, we go to NWREC
in Aurora to harvest Bitter Gourds and different Cucamelons. Most of what we have been
harvesting has been going to Salem Harvest, a non-profit organization who focuses on feeding
hungry families. It has been refreshing to see that what we have been harvesting is going to be
used to feed people that need it and they are not going to waste!

Not only have we been out in the field, one of the biggest things we have been working on is
preparing for Small Farm School at NWREC. SFS will host around 300 people who are excited to
learn about everything Ag related. To prepare I helped, along with Buffy Rhoades and Tanya
Kindrachuk to make around 400+ craisin oatmeal balls by hand. It was definitely an interesting
learning experience since I have never really cooked for that many people. Macy and I have also
been preparing nametags, and stuffing packets for the attendees of SFS. There have also been
some tiny side projects that we have to complete occasionally!

On the SNAP-Ed and FCH side of things, I am keeping busy as well but as my internship and
summer nears its end it is slowing down a little bit. Our last Walk With Ease class was
September 4th. It was a nice closing, and I am glad that we were able to do that bit of outreach
for people. I also helped at the OC Free Food Market on the 2nd and we have the last one to do
on the 11th.

Even though my internship is ending I am glad that it was a learning experience and that I can
say that I had the chance to help in some way. Being an OSU intern has taught me so much and
I have been able to grow through the summer and meet so many wonderful people, who have
also taught me so much.

Hi again! My name is Macy Jones and this summer I have had the opportunity to work as a
Family and community health / Small Farms Intern in Clackamas County. Throughout my
internship I have gained a better understanding of Extension and developed valuable skills that
I can take with me throughout my career.

Macy Jones working at the NWREC. Photo: Natalie Padilla

In the second half of my internship, I continued to work with Family and community health and
worked with the walk with ease program and the free food markets. We have made more
progress with walking with ease and hit the goal of walking for 30 minutes each session.
Through this program I’ve learned the importance of empathy, active listening, communication
and the meaning of community outreach. I am grateful I had the chance to build these skills. I
also attended the North Clackamas Free Food Market at the DHS office. This was a great way to
get out in the community and connect with others. One of my personal goals during my
internship was to become more comfortable with public speaking. Participating in the free food
market was a great way to practice and I have grown in my confidence when engaging with the
public.

Another exciting part of the last half of my internship was taking on a new role as a small farm
intern. In this position I was able to enhance my marketing skills by learning new tools such as
Meta business suite, Mailchimp and Canva where I was able to learn to make posts. I also spent
time at North Willamette Research Center where we did farm work and had hands-on
experience. While being on the farm I learned about soil moisture sensors and irrigation
systems and I also got to harvest a variety of cucumelons and bitter gourds. Right now, as a
small farm intern I have been helping prepare for mall farms School by making packets and
prepping name tags. All of these experiences have taught me the importance of hard work and
practical skills such as organization.

This Internship has been full of opportunities to grow, hands on learning and great experiences.
I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to work in Extension and be a part of a great team.
Thank you to my supervisors for your support throughout these past few months!

Hi again! My name is Savannah Barron, and this summer I had the pleasure of working as an
intern at Oregon State University Extension Service in Columbia County. During my last legs of
this internship, I have taken on many different projects. One of the largest—briefly mentioned in
my last blog—is the community garden at Lewis and Clarke Elementary School. It had been left
mostly to itself for about a year, so it was in dire need of a good weeding and watering. The
garden itself consists of four wooden plant beds and four metal ones, with previously planted
garlic and onions, as well as a fairly large native plant bed. Weeding out thistle and older plants
was a fun challenge, but planting some seeds in the hope that they would be ready in the fall for
the kids to help harvest was probably my favorite part. Currently, the radishes I planted have
taken off, while the strawberries, cucumbers and various herbs are a bit slower. I’m so excited
to see what the school ends up doing with the garden, and grateful that I could get it into a more
manageable condition for them.

OSU Extension intern, Savannah Barron, and Master Gardeners at Scappoose Farmers Market. Photo: Cassie Hall

I have continued with the Columbia County needs assessment, through both calling farmers and
tabling at events like the Clatskanie Garlic and Pollinator Festival, as well as farmers’ markets—
no matter how hot it may be. I have to say the people I’ve been talking to just have so much
passion for not only their farms and gardens, but for supporting the entire community of
Columbia County. Everyone’s very much invested in growing and changing as a collective, and
it’s been an honor being able to give them a bit of a voice in how they want to do that. Another
really fun bit of programming I’ve been able to do is going on site visits with Janhvi Pandey, who
takes care of our Master Gardener and Small Farms programs. These visits gave me hands-on
experience in what discussions occur about land use, plant diagnostics and even watershed-
based information in people’s day-to-day lives.

Overall, my time at Columbia County Extension has been very engaging. I feel as though I’ve
learned a lot, not just about the programs and events that Extension helps make happen, but
also about the community I live in. The diversity and dedication of the people I have met are
truly amazing things to witness. I am so very grateful for the opportunities that have been
presented to me and for the wonderful people in the Columbia County Extension office who
have helped guide me in this journey. I cannot wait to see how this experience will shape me as
I go on to newer things.

Hello!

My name is Taiva Steed, and I’m heading into my third year as a natural resources
student with an emphasis in communications and conflict resolution at Oregon State University. I
am originally from Grand Rapids, Michigan, but Oregon won me over with its mountains,
oceans and huge trees!

Taiva Steed working at the Brownsville Farmers Market. Photo: Jessalyn Horton

In the future, I hope to work as an environmental mediator, someone who helps people
come together to solve environmental and social challenges. I’m particularly interested in
working internationally and for people’s voices that are often underrepresented in these
conversations. This is why working for OSU Extension is perfect for me because it allows me to
connect with different communities and learning from people with all kinds of perspectives.

This is my first summer as an intern for OSU Extension, and I am working for the
Groundwater Protection Program out of Benton County. So far, I have been traveling to farmers
markets across Oregon, offering free nitrate screenings for well water and sharing educational
materials to community members about healthy drinking water, wells and septic systems. It has
been such a fun way to spend time outdoors, meeting new people and learning more about
Oregon! I have only been to a handful of events so far, but I already feel how meaningful this
work is, and how much I still have to learn.

When I am not working at a screening clinic, I am helping plan future events. This
includes figuring out where we will go next, making social media posts and designing postcards
and flyers to help advertise these events. I also spend time in the office learning about all things
groundwater, wells and septic systems. Coming from a city background, most of this is brand
new to me, and it has broadened my scope of the different ways people live and how those
differences can impact someone’s health and daily concerns.

I’m excited for what’s ahead and can’t wait to explore what OSU Extension has to offer. I
have plans to explore the other OSU Extension programs like Small Farms and Master
Gardeners. I’m looking forward to more farmers markets, more community conversations and
continuing to learn why it’s important to protect our water!

Hello! My name is Savannah Barron, and I am currently an intern working for Oregon State
University Extension Service in Columbia County, specifically the SNAP-Ed and Small
farms/Master Gardeners programs. I am going into my third year at Oregon State as an
undergraduate in botany, specializing in ecology, evolution and conservation, while also
minoring in chemistry and anthropology. This is my first year with OSU Extension, and the
experience so far has been amazingly full of community outreach and learning. It’s truly
wonderful to have such a hands-on experience in which you can see part of the impact you’re
having on the people you’re working with.

Savannah Barron, alongside coworkers, manage a booth at the Columbia County Fair. Photo: Janhvi Pandey

Entering my sixth week at OSU Extension, I have been able to participate in many different
programs and events. In fact, I just finished tabling at the Columbia County Fair! The diversity of
people I got to talk to and learn about was very insightful, and I cannot wait for more
opportunities to engage with the community. One program in particular that I have been
focusing on is completing a small farms and gardeners’ needs assessment. Part of OSU
Extension’s mission is to help teach the community, and we can only do that once we know
what they need help with. There are two different surveys I’ve been getting people to complete,
one for gardeners and one for small farms. Both have proved incredibly insightful into the
community’s needs, and as more people answer them, we get more accurate information. My
job is to spread awareness of the surveys and try to garner greater participation. I do this by
compiling information on small farms and calling them and working events like farmers markets
and fairs to do in-person assessments.

Besides the needs assessment, I have just started a few other projects. The biggest one I’m
undertaking is the Community Garden at Louis and Clark Elementary School. Due to lack of
time, this garden has been left to fend for itself for about a year. My job is to get it back in
working order—a thistle-and-native-plant filled journey that I am happy to embark upon—so that
the children and community members can have access to the wonderful teaching tool that is a
garden. On the SNAP-Ed side of things, I will be starting to help with summer lunch programs,
and exercise programs with Food Hero.

I am so grateful for this opportunity to be able to play a part in helping my community. I can’t
wait for the next few weeks on this journey and all the opportunities that await!

Hello! My name is Aspen Bowling, and I’m currently serving as an intern with the Oregon State
University Extension Service Clatsop County, located in Astoria. This is my first year as an
Extension intern, and it’s already been an incredible opportunity to gain hands-on experience
that’s shaping my understanding of community-based agriculture and outreach. I just completed
my sophomore year at Oregon State University, where I’m majoring in agricultural science with
a minor in agricultural and natural resources communications. Agriculture has always been a big
part of my life as I grew up in California’s Central Valley, where I was actively involved in both 4-
H and FFA. Those early experiences helped spark my passion for ag education and community
engagement.

Aspen Bowling, an intern in Clatsop County, manages the Food Hero information table at a Mobile Produce Pantry event. Photo: Emily Reilly

Now wrapping up my third week with the Extension Service, I’ve had the chance to work
alongside our Small Farms and Master Gardener program coordinator, as well as our Family
and Community Health and SNAP-Ed coordinator. From checking cover crops and collecting
data to supporting mobile food banks, every day brings something new and meaningful.

One highlight so far has been participating in the Mobile Produce Pantry here in Clatsop
County. The local food bank packs up fresh produce and travels to different communities across
the county, distributing food at no cost to residents. At these events, I set up a Food Hero
information table where I share recipes, nutrition tips and quick facts about the produce being
distributed. We also prepare and offer samples of a featured Food Hero recipe, showing
community members simple, healthy ways to use the food they receive. It feels rewarding to see
how happy people get over their free fresh produce.

One of the more exciting projects I’ve been involved with is our cover crop data collection, which
supports local farmers in Clatsop County. Cover crops are important tools for improving soil
health, reducing erosion and managing pests and weeds, but farmers need localized data to
know what works best in our region. This data isn’t just for research but, it will be used to
develop practical, region-specific recommendations for local producers. We use this information
to organize farmer workshops and field days, where we can share results, demonstrate crop
varieties in action and offer guidance on how to integrate them.

This internship has already given me so many valuable experiences, and I’m looking forward to
what’s still to come. I’m proud to be a part of the OSU Extension team and excited to continue
supporting our local farmers and families!

Hey, my name is Symone and this summer I did an internship with Oregon State University Extension in Lincoln County! During my internship I worked primarily with Small Farms but was able to do a variety of things across different program areas. For example, I was able to do work in 4-H, Nutrition and Master Gardeners. In the beginning of my internship, I was hoping to improve my planning and management skills. I discovered I was using those skills throughout my internship which ended up coming in handy while planning my internship project. My project was a presentation on accessible gardening practices for Master Gardeners to be able to learn from the presentation and teach the information to others.

Symone Hildenbrand teaches adults in Lincoln County classroom. — Symone Hildenbrand teaches adults in Lincoln County.

Somethings that helped prepare me for my presentation were helping my supervisor (Evie Smith) set up before an event and attending Master Gardener meetings prior to me presenting. A struggle I faced was putting certain tasks before others and not balancing them out which caused me to feel under prepared when it came time to present which then taught me to do things from the get-go so you will overall feel more prepared and so you are not coming down to the wire. Something I had looked forward to earlier on in my internship was the partnership for the “Lincoln Land and Water Tour”. The goal of the tour is to be able to take people from our local community and people from other communities in Oregon on a tour that shows the agriculture, fishing industry, and forestry in Lincoln County. The main thing I was looking forward to was the fishing part of the tour where we got to tour Pacific Seafoods (a seafood processing plant) in Newport. It was interesting to see how they processed the food and prepared it for shipment. This summer internship position taught me a variety of important skills like what all goes into planning and setting up an event. A key takeaway I got from this experience that I will take with me was finding a good balance and sticking with it as it will help you out a lot overall and it will help things feel a lot more arranged rather than scattered.

Seven kids in artist smocks work at a long table covered in paper. — Kids get messy with activities at 4-H STEAM summer camp.
Photo credit: Sofie Carlson

Hi again, it’s Sofie Carlson, welcome back to my blog! I am in the final week of my incredible experience as the natural resources intern at Lincoln County Extension. Let me give you an update on the projects I’ve been working on this summer:

I continued composing the monthly newsletters that my supervisor, Evie Smith, sends out: Small Farms TLC Newsletter, which provides relevant information for small farms and ranches in Tillamook, Lincoln and Clatsop counties; and LC Master Gardener’s Newsletter, which contains information and expertise to help our Master Gardeners (and any other readers) meet local challenges. In total, I helped put out six newsletters!
I finished redesigning an updated brochure for Lincoln County Local Foods that will deliver information on all of the producers in Lincoln County conducting farm direct sales at the four local farmers markets in our county: what they sell, how to contact them and when the markets are I am really proud of the final version and can’t wait to see the printed copies make their way into the community. I joined in on one more Cooking Matters Tour at the Newport Farmers Market, with our FCH/SNAP-Ed Program Coordinator, Beatriz Botello, and Nutrition Education Program Assistant Jennifer Pettit. I hope that the brochure I created can draw more attention to Lincoln County’s farmers markets and the valuable tour that Beatriz and Jennifer give.
I collected more blueberries and blackberries at Gibson Farms! I ended up completing seven collections at six different sites within the blueberry farm, contributing data for a larger ongoing research project that monitors a pest called spotted wing
I did my last round of maintenance on a project called Juntos en el Jardin, which is a community garden located at the Newport This has been rewarding work and I am glad to have been involved in making the garden a more accessible space. I also joined Sea Grant marine fisheries educator Angee Doerr for four Fridays, with her Shop at the Dock program. I greeted and organized the tour groups for the guides to then teach families about Newport’s commercial fisheries through a tour of the port.
Lastly, I attended the Kids’ Garden Fair at the Lincoln City Demonstration Garden and assisted 4-H Youth Development Program Leader Shelley Spangler with one of her summer camps. These two experiences helped solidify my love for working with
youth and being outside learning about the natural world.

Picture of a dock in Oregon, with a sign over a walkway that says Port of Newport, Dock 5. — Shop at the Dock gives tours of the fishing boats, gear, and fisheries associated with Port Dock 5.
Photo credit: Sofie Carlson

As my time in Oregon comes to a close, at least for the time being, and I reflect on my summer, I want to give a huge thanks to my supervisor, Evie Smith, for her support and guidance. I have absolutely loved working with her and I could not have asked for a better role model to mentor me in this position. I would also like to thank all of the people I worked with at the Lincoln County Extension office; it was an amazing work environment, and I will miss working there! Lastly, I want to thank my aunt, Emily Blume, for telling me about this opportunity and letting me live with her and her family for the past two months in this beautiful state.

I will soon be heading back home to Vermont, where I will be starting a new job as a Naturalist Educator at North Branch Nature Center in Montpelier. I am excited to begin the next chapter of my life, teaching environmental education to youth in my home state.

A young man inspects a fruit tree in an orchard. — Kieran King at a peach-plum orchard, assessing the health of the fruit trees on the owner’s property.
Photo credit: Hayley White

The summer has gone by so fast, but I’ve learned so much throughout this season! I’m now in my last weeks of my Oregon State University Extension Service Small Farms Program internship, and what a great experience it has been. I’ve been able to help with a wide array of projects, ranging from public outreach via social media to data collection in agricultural trials.

The biggest project that I’ve worked on was my activity for the Polk County Fair. I had to figure out how to make an activity that was engaging for kids and related to agriculture. I settled on making my activity about beneficial arthropods (insects, spiders, etc.), since that was something that I would have been interested in when I was young. I designed trivia cards for kids to read and set up an area for them to draw. This turned out to be an effective outreach strategy as parents would have to wait for their kids to do the activity and ended up taking some of our outreach materials. While I definitely learned a lot about how to perform effective outreach from this project, I ended up learning a lot more about insect anatomy than I ever thought I would.

The hand of the photographer reaches out to a dog who sniffs it. — Greeted by a dog at a research donor’s property during a site visit. Photo credit: Kieran King

One of my favorite things that I’ve gotten to help with is the Olea project. I’ve had the opportunity to go to North Willamette Research and Extension Center in Aurora and collect data on OSU’s 400-plus olive trees , assessing fruit set and collecting leaves for tissue samples. In the process, I’ve been able to meet many interesting people, including donors and active researchers. NWREC is also just a beautiful place to be on a sunny summer day!

Over the course of my internship, I’ve come to have a greater appreciation for everything that goes into public outreach. Everything from social media posts and email campaigns to manning and preparing a fair booth takes so much time and effort that isn’t usually seen from an outside perspective. Many of these things take hours to prepare and design, but people engaging with them may only see them for a few seconds at a time. Even so, the unseen work that goes into outreach is worth it, because we are able to bring OSU Extension’s amazing services to people in need of advice and assistance.

I’m very grateful for all that I’ve learned over the summer. I learned how to confidently communicate and bond with people in a professional environment, which are skills that I wanted to work on going into my internship. I’ve also learned a lot of practical information and skills, from noxious weed identification to the use of website building programs. I’ve learned things that I never expected to. Even though I might not use all of them in my future career, I feel like a much more well-rounded person because of these learning experiences with OSU Extension.

Finally, I’d like to thank my supervisor Hayley White for making my internship such a positive experience. Her guidance and compassion helped me stay on course throughout the internship, and she always affirmed the value of the work I did. I couldn’t have asked for a better boss at my first job!

– Kieran King

A woman kneels in the grass to feed a black and white baby goat with a bottle. — Sophia Nowers feeding a two-day old baby goat on a recent farm tour. Photo credit: Teagan Moran

Hello, again. I’m Sophia Nowers, the summer intern for Oregon State University Extension Service’s Small Farms Program and Community Horticulture in Benton, Linn and Lane counties. It is hard to believe that I’m already in the last week of my internship. The past month has sped by in a blur of events and activities. I have tabled at the Benton County Fair, helped on Small Farms farm tours, gone to OSU field days, and worked with Master Gardeners to publicize some of their events and talks. Between writing up summaries of events for sharing on social media and in Extension publications, I have also been working on an article about the OSU Dry Farm Project and its community involvement through the Dry Farming Collaborative.

It has been fantastic to explore Extension this summer, especially as an OSU student in the College of Agricultural Sciences. I have had the opportunity to make so many connections with professors, researchers, and members of the community and it has given me a strong sense of what I might want to do in the future.

There have been so many highlights, from getting to bottle feed a two-day old baby goat to attending the Organic Grains & Pulses Field Day and several Master Gardener events. My favorite part of my internship was learning how Extension bridges the gap between communities and the university, connecting researchers with farmers and business owners, community members with resources about gardening and homeownership and farmers with each other. I am grateful for the opportunity to help publicize Small Farms Program and Community Horticulture’s events and activities.

The project that I am proudest of is my article about the OSU Dry Farm Project. For the article, I interviewed the lead researchers of the project, Lucas Nebert and Matt Davis, visited two of their dry farm sites, and in the process learned a lot about dry farming and its challenges in Oregon.

I am grateful to my supervisors, Teagan Moran and Brooke Edmunds, for their support and guidance this summer, and to everyone I met through this internship. I have greatly enjoyed exploring some of what Extension has to offer and realizing that there is so much more!

OSU Extension Internship Program

Category Archives: Small Farms

OSU Extension intern wraps up a summer of service and skill building

OSU Extension intern bridges family health and farming in Clackamas County

OSU Extension intern cultivates gardens-and community insight-in Columbia County

OSU Extension intern builds a path toward environmental mediation through local action

OSU Extension intern bridges botany and outreach in Columbia County

OSU Extension intern connects passion for ag with community impact

OSU Extension intern learns how to find professional balance

Incredible experience as the natural resources intern

A more well-rounded person because of the learning experiences with OSU Extension

Extension is a bridge from the OSU campus to communities

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