As a sophomore at St. Lawrence University, I participated in the Adirondack Semester. This program offers an immersive place-based learning campus located in the Adirondack Park. With sustainable living in mind, a group of 10 students paddled via canoe to lake Massawepie’s Yurt Village. In our village, we had no running water, no technology, and our main mode of transportation was a canoe or kayak. We got weekly installments of fresh produce from Kent Family Growers located in Lisbon.
Yurt #2 was my home for the semester.
And as ten novices in the kitchen, our semester quickly adapted to utilizing every part of a vegetable. As students, we were accustomed to running to the supermarket for a spice you could not find in your pantry or fresh lettuce in the dead of winter. This was a luxury. These past few months our group meals were shaped around fresh, in-season vegetables. There was no “running to the market.” We ate what we had, and what we had was local. As a part of this program, once it gets too chilly to live in a yurt, the students move on to Capstone Internships. Read more Finding (And Using) Your Roots
This past summer I was a Garden to Table intern at Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County. I am a student at St. Lawrence University and the internship was through the Public Interest Corps on campus, which pairs students with non-profits in the North Country. I carried out multiple projects while there, including designing content for a pollinator garden sign, editing videos about food producers, contributing to a collection of local, seasonal recipes, and assisting with cooking classes for youth attending Farm Day Camp. These projects, in addition to the everyday tasks like watering and harvesting in the high tunnel, helped to forward the mission of Extension.
One of my favorite assignments was designing the pollinator garden signage. I started by researching models used in gardens around the world and reading about native plants and pollinators of the North Country, using resources such as the New York State Conservationist magazine. I used a design software called Canva which I had experience with before this internship but got to explore further in this assignment. With feedback from my supervisor, Erica, we arrived at a final version. It is rewarding to know that something I helped envision will be placed permanently at the Learning Farm for visitors to enjoy.
Pollinator Sign
Apart from gaining a new skill set, I have grown more knowledgeable about the North Country after this internship, as well as more passionate about the activities and organizations that exist here. I understood that nonprofits have a big role to play in rural New York, and Cornell Cooperative Extension in particular has a role in supporting local farmers and businesses, as well as providing stimulating activities for youth.
The High Tunnel at CCE
I am beyond grateful for the people that welcomed me at Extension, and interning here opened my eyes to the community of northern New York. My experience was enriching professionally but also made my summer a more enjoyable experience: I tasted blueberries for the first time, harvested my first tomatoes, connected with kids through food, and met incredible people. I hope to implement what I learned into my academic studies but also in my daily life, bringing to SLU everything I learned about the local culture and environment.
Flowering bulbs are easy to care for and add color and texture to a garden. The term “bulb” often refers not only to true bulbs (like daffodils and tulips) but also to plants with tuberous roots (such a begonias), tubers (such as dahlias), corms (such as crocus) and rhizomes (such as iris.)
Bulbs can be separated into two main types: spring and summer. Spring bulbs, also called hardy bulbs, are planted in fall, spend winter in the ground, and flower in spring. Some of the more common spring bulbs are tulips, irises, daffodils, hyacinth, allium and crocus. Hardy bulbs can be left in the ground to flower year after year.
