As a new Business Development Intern for Green City Growers, I learned very quickly that I have quite a bit to learn about urban agriculture. During my first day on the job, I evaluated and analyzed questionnaires filled out by third grade students from Beverly, MA after they took a semester-long urban farming education program taught by Green City Growers.
These third graders have mastered some questions that could trip up many adults:
What are some reasons to use organic farming methods? So we don’t kill the plants or hurt our bodies. It will not kill the good bug and you do not want to be eating pesteside.
What is compost? Compost is waste decaying and turn into a soil great for plants. Compost is left over food scraps eaten by worms.
What kind of soil do vegetables need to grow? Soil that will let water through but not too fast. Fertilized soil. Soft but not too soft. Sand and clay put together.
What kind of soil do vegetables need to grow? These Beverly students are finding out!As I read through these post-program questionnaires, I was struck by how remarkable it was that these young urban farmers were chipping away at the existing food system and bringing farming and nutrition back home. What brilliance! And, at the same time, it was a loud reminder of what I have left to learn here at GCG as a Business Development Intern. Not just about business, but also about sustainable agriculture and urban farming.
In my defense, I may have been able to hold my own amongst these Beverly students when I was their age. I have some experience growing food at home and at school; when I was in third grade myself, I would help my dad harvest tomatoes from our backyard garden bed in Seattle. My sixth-grade science class spent a semester tending to our own garden. We tracked the growth of our very own pea shoots weekly with detailed “garden observations,” written in waterproof write-in-the-rain notebooks.
But since middle school I have drifted away from agriculture. Despite living in bucolic Vermont for five years, first as a student at Middlebury College and then as a young professional in Burlington. I somehow spent more time peering into petri dishes in a sterile biology lab than I spent tending to the campus organic garden.
A few weeks after moving to Boston from Vermont, the internship opportunity at Green City Growers caught my entrepreneurial eye. A small company driven by a mission to make our world healthier? Sounds like a fantastic place to learn how to run a business!
I signed on as a Business Development Intern to immerse myself in the guts of a small company and learn the ropes of business operations. And as a Business Development Intern, I certainly will get to learn about entrepreneurship and small business development. But, as I am quickly realizing, I still have a lot to learn urban about agriculture and sustainable farming practices. Luckily I know some third graders who could teach me quite a bit!
By Margo Cramer
