Overall Experience

Last Day  

Friday August 9, 2019

Berry Picking

Santiago Chacon

This internship, all in all, was both fun and informative. Not only were we working in a garden with a lot of history, but we were able to get the garden to both look and feel good. Throughout the summer, I learned many things like how to make mounds and use a compost. I wasn’t the only one able to gather this information, however, because I was able to learn with the fellow interns in a positive and friendly environment. One of the best things to see is how much the garden had grown from when we first started. My biggest hope going forward is that I am able to use this information for something productive and useful.

Kayleena

Kayleena Archuleta

I had a lot of fun this summer. This was my first summer job and I can say with confidence that it was one of the best high school jobs I will ever have. All my friends said that they hated their summer jobs and wouldn’t recommend them. I can’t say the same. I learned and laughed a lot this summer. I also made a lot of new friends. I learned how to cultivate, transplant, and the different things that go into planting a garden. I loved everything about it. Besides the bad tan lines. I’m glad I got to see all of my peers grow along with me during this short time. We all became comfortable with each other, our environment, and the constant flow of new people being around us. Overall my experience this summer in the garden has been a very positive one.

KODAK Digital Still Camera

Danielle Kaye

            This summer was definitely a learning experience. Starting off I came in not knowing what to expect but overtime we had to take on huge responsibilities. This internship showed us to how to work together, be responsible, be dedicated, and to be a hard worker. It gave us a sense of how the real world is going to work. I could actually say that by working here, at the O’Keeffe Museum has taught me things I’ve never learned before. By working here we really had to take care of living things that people depend on. From waking up at 6:45, this teaches us to be ready for a work day ahead of us. It taught me discipline as well as the others. We come in knowing what needs to be done, to actually completing it. It was a very well spent summer here and I loved watching everything grow. It helped us all grow individually.

Marcos

Marcos Terrazas

            I had a lot of fun this summer meeting new people and working together. Everything we have done this summer has taught me that responsibility is a huge part in adulthood and life. It was cool to see how everything grew in just a couple of days. We weed one day and two days later the weeds are already back, and the plants that we had planted grew from a tiny little seed to full size plants in about two weeks. I’ve learned a lot of things this summer including discipline, responsibility, working as a team, and many things about how a garden can be either a hobby, for fun, or a job that takes serious dedication. I didn’t always want to wake up and come to work but it was always a fun day even though most of the day were usually hot and made us tired/grumpy. We all worked through it and had a fun summer.

Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn Terrazas

            This summer working at the O’Keefe Garden was interesting. I added new knowledge of gardening to my past knowledge of working on a large farm. I learned many things through this internship such as; how to cultivate the crops and direct seed them by hand. I enjoyed being outside, even though some days were hot out in the sun. I got to continue practicing my arthropod identification for entomology with all the insects flying around the garden. I believe this was a good experience, not just for me, but for all of the interns. I believe we all took something good from this internship and hope others can experience it in the future.

KODAK Digital Still Camera

Jaide Romero

To have the opportunity to spend your summer working in a safe, calm, and peaceful vicinity is once in a lifetime. I had the privilege to work and spend every Wednesday and Friday mornings in the delicate and beautiful garden. As each day passed, I felt myself grow as an individual. While I worked on the garden, I had a lot of time to reflect on who I am, and what I can do to make myself a better person. As good energy flooded the garden, it replenished my perspective on life. Life is what you make it, and anything you do always invest yourself in it, so when it is over you can look back and be proud of what you accomplished. To always have a good attitude is a key aspect in almost every situation. Before this program, I had little awareness to how vital it is to take care of our planet. But now, I have realized how important it is to be kind to this Earth, the energy we put in is the energy we will get back. Along with being nice towards nature, I also met many new people. As we worked on the garden, stories of our personal lives were shared among each other. We respect and value each other’s thoughts, and by doing that it brought us closer as friends. Not a day went by where laughter, and happiness was not in the garden. It remained present.

Adam

Adam Trujillo

Working here this summer has been a very nice experience, and I have learned so many things about growing and maintaining a garden and growing food. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication, you have to deal with hot days and bugs and all the stuff that most people would hate, but honestly I quite enjoyed it because at the end of the day getting your hands dirty and being able to say “hey I did this today” is pretty fulfilling. I’ve made a few friends here, which is a bit hard for me to do since I have anxiety, but I’m glad that I’ve met some awesome new people and make some funny and wonderful memories. I would totally do it again if I had the chance just so I could go back and enjoy all the laughs and good times.

An End to Another Terrific Summer (2019)

Friday August 9, 2019

               The last day was very calm and resilient. It was cool and cloudy throughout the work day. One of the coolest days of the summer. Our interns worked very hard being it was the last day. We did a lot of weeding. Group 1, which consisted of Marcos and Adam, finished weeding the berry patch, in between and around. It was done so well that now we are able to see the berries and be able to walk through. Group 2, which consisted of Danielle and Kaitlyn, picked up apples, did bug patrol, and weeded our beans. We are thankful for their hard work on these tasks because they are not easy, nor fun. However, they needed to be done. Group 3, Jaide and Rique, worked on weeding and cleaning up the herbs. They had to get in between the chives and were able to pull out the dead chives. They made it look very presentable and view-able for our guests and tourists. Before the day ended Misty decided to give them a treat and bring them inside for root beer floats.  

Research Center Santa Fe, New Mexico

               Our other two interns who are juniors in high school were unable to come the last day. They started school earlier than everyone else. They were surely missed on this last day. Before the day ended each intern were able to express their thoughts and views on this internship program. They all ended on a positive note.

Last Luncheon

Wednesday August 7, 2019

Jaide Romero

Today was a usual hot, humid, and slow day. In the morning a cloud came and kept the sun from making the area hot, but that did not last long. The garden had a lot of needs today, the last time we worked on it was Friday, and over our short break many weeds and bugs came back to raid the garden. It is a never ending process with weeding and picking off bugs from the plants. But it is something we all do with care, because we want these plants to flourish and grow to their full potential.

 I weeded the wall in the front, to eliminate the weeds that were blocking the naked ladies. Since the weeds were in the way, I had to be careful not to hit any naked ladies that had begun to sprout. So I picked all the weeds by hand avoiding the use of any harsh tools such as shoveling or using a garden hoe.

Earlier Kayleena and I spent about half an hour or so sending bugs to the sticky jar of doom, the molasses jar. We picked them off the green bean and pinto bean plants. We did not find too many bugs, but the larva and eggs were the bigger issue. We found a lot of larva, and scraped it off the leaves and put it into the jar. When we thought we discovered a new type of species, it turned out that it was just the baby bean beetles that were not old enough to look like the mature ones. The baby ones were yellow, and had spikes coming from every direction on their body. Besides the creepy and gross bugs, today was a very eventful day. The tasks got done, and we also had lunch with everyone in Pita’s office where laughter and joy filled the room. This was the last day we were all able to get together because some of the other interns start school on Friday. Today was a fun day!

Adam Trujillo

Today started out pretty warm, we did our morning chores and it was my turn to water and turn the compost, which I may state is very stinky at the moment sadly. Then Marcos, Santiago and I weeded around the raspberry and blackberry bushes.

We found and ate some ripe berries and decided to harvest a few for the rest of the crew. We continued weeding until 11:45 or so and had lunch with our bosses and managers.

We talked about places we would and would not go, what animals wed be if we could, and had a nice relaxing afternoon. Today was really nice and I will miss working here. I’ve gained knowledge I wouldn’t have without being here.

Collaborating with NYP

Friday August 2, 2019

Danielle Kaye

            Today was a nice and simple day. When we first got to work the weather was cool and humid. We enjoyed each other’s presence for a short while and got our morning tasks done which is to get tools, snacks, and sweep the walkway. After this we all read the whiteboard and saw our daily jobs. Today my partner was Santiago. We were on bug patrol this morning and found that our squash was infested with tons of bugs. A few minutes later Misty had me spray the lettuce, kale, and broccoli with water and dish soap to get the bugs off.

From my experience today was a very fun day. We played basketball with the NYP and it was just a good time for all of us. We laughed and we were both competitive which kept us on our feet. Even Misty and Marcella joined in on the game. We were all drenched in sweat so we took a quick break and ate healthy snacks, then quickly rushed back to the game. After it was time to go back to work on our garden and finish our tasks and we were all disappointed because it was just so fun being around others. I have to say today was pretty eventful but very hot. I hope in the future this becomes a tradition.

Kayleena Archuleta:

Today I started out the day by weeding the chile. I did this by myself for an hour and a half until our break to go up to the northern youth project to play a game of basketball. When we got there they gave us snacks of watermelon, tea, vegetables, and popcorn. Then we separated into teams. I played with the boys from the youth project. We won the first round but lost the second. I had a lot of fun playing with my coworkers and we laughed a lot. Misty got a silly picture of me while we were playing.

At around 12 we were told we had to pack up and head back to work. They brought out some popsicles and we ate them as we walked back. Overall today was a really fun day and I got in a lot of exercise. When we got back I asked Misty if I could be sprayed with the hose. Misty soaked Adam and I and then we got Misty. It was nice and refreshing.

Revenge of the Squash Bugs

Marcos Terrazas

Friday July 31, 2019

On this day in the O’Keeffe garden it started off as a cool morning we all split into our groups. Group one consisted of Adam, Danielle, and I. We started off by checking beans for bean beetles and their larvae. There hadn’t been any squash bugs but today I was the first to notice that we had some eggs on the innards of the plants. Adam also noticed that there were tiny spiders, which Rique confirmed that they were baby squash bugs. They were so tiny and had a blue tint to them.

 After we had moved on to cultivating the garden and we had to rebuild the mound for the corn so the corn wouldn’t fall over.

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We weren’t able to cultivate last week because of the rain we got, so it was very crucial we did so. Group 2 which consisted of Jaide, Kaitlynn, and Santiago were picking up all the fruit that had dropped over the weekend. Group 2 also planted peas, rutabaga, kale, mustard, and some pinto beans. They mostly filled in the bald spots where the plants hadn’t come up. For some reason the carrots nor the kale has been coming up this year. This is the third time we try to plant so hopefully we can get some sprouts.

K

After this we all took and small water break and talked about what we were going to do next. Group one started off by weeding around the greens and in between them. I did the wall but did not have time to finish. Group 2 went back to finish planting and watering the things they planted. Adam and Rique also went to pour olive oil over the corn to help get rid of the worms. Before time was out we all put our tools and snacks away and helped pick some more fruit. Misty then gave us our apple sauce, fruit rollups, and apricot jam that we had made Monday. At the end of the day we were all tired. But overall it was a productive day.

Canning Workshop

Kaitlyn Terrazas & Santiago Chacon

July 29, 2019

The day started off nice and slow. Right away, Jennifer (who was in charge of this project) had us start with preparing the apples for apple sauce. The process was having two interns peeling the skin off of the apples, having another intern cutting the apples into fourths and deseeding them, and the final intern cutting the apples up into little squares to make it easier for them to get soft. Four of the interns were a little early, so she had us doing that.

After every one got there, that’s when we officially started. We went around in a circle and introduced ourselves. Once that was done, we were then told what we were doing for the day. The foods that we were making were apple sauce, fruit rollups, and apricot jelly.

While we continued with the apples, the other interns started preparing the apricots for the jelly and fruit rollups. What they would do is get an apricot, split it in half, and put it into a pile. After doing what they were doing for a while, we switched jobs.

fruit roll ups

Preparing apples

With both fruits prepared, we would then take them to a blender to be made into liquid. The apples would then be heated up and made into apple sauce, while half the apricots would be put flat on a sheet and heated (with a much more dry heat). We learned that it takes five hours for them to dry, so we would not be taking some home today. However Jeniffer brought us some of her own homemade fruit rollups for us to have, which was very nice. There were two different flavors, one with plums and the other with apricots and pineapple. They were a little tart but they tasted surprisingly good.

After doing all that hard work, it was time for lunch. There were various sandwiches that we could make with different breads and lunch meats. Not only did we have that, but Adam also brought some snacks from the farmers market like plums and peas. It was really a nice time to take a little break and hang out with each other.

Once our little break was over, it was time for some more work. With the rest of the apricots, we made some jelly. With both the jelly and apple sauce, Jennifer chose to can them. What we did was get a jar, have the jelly or apple sauce heated, pour said heated item into the jar (just right), put the lid on the jar, and boil them to create pressure for a tight seal. This is done so that way we could save it for later. She mentioned we could always reuse the jars and rings but would need new seals.

Canning apple sauce

Perfect amount

In summary, today was a fun day that we had where we made some sweets and learned something new. It was nice to get out of the garden for a while. Now all that we have to do is enjoy our new creations, hopefully extend our knowledge to our families, and have fun.