First Week to a Fantastic Summer

Welcome to the adventures of  my summer internship with the University of Georgia Extension Office in Athens-Clarke County. My name is Catrina Chamberlain, and I am a third-year majoring in Agricultural Communications. 

I am an intern under the directions of Dr. Laura Ney and Ms. Joanna Wright, and I will be assisting them around the office during the week. My main responsibilities are taking pictures for social media, creating content and helping at farmers markets, and  I mostly assist at the Marigold Market in Winterville, Georgia. 

I come from a town that is 30 minutes south of the Atlanta airport, and many people thought that agriculture was mostly farming. However, I thought the same thing until I was an intern with the University of Georgia participating in the Young Scholars Program in the summer of 2018 and 2019. 

During my first program,  I worked in the Entomology Department, where I conducted research on aphids, and their DNA sequences. In my second summer with the program,  I worked in the Office of Diversity Affairs in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, where I took photographs of other interns, and I created content such as flyers for programs that the Office of Diversity Affairs were in charge of. 

The Young Scholars Program opened my eyes to all the opportunities that agriculture had to offer. My fellow participants worked in different departments such as food science and turf grass. I was lucky enough to see what my friends were working on, and I was able to visit them when they were working to take photographs. 

Furthermore, the Young Scholars Program led me to pursue a degree in Agricultural Communications, and I was fortunate to have the opportunity to do the Young Scholars Program twice. I also traveled to Costa Rica to experience the agriculture and sustainability offered over there through the program after my second summer. 

My experience from the Young Scholars Program, and my professors have made me feel prepared to complete the tasks that I am given during my time at the UGA Extension office. Even though I have visited farmers markets, I have never been involved with one. I was not sure what running a farmers market takes until now. 

In addition, I was able to experience everything that the Marigold Market had to offer on June 12, 2021. I arrived at Pittard Park located in Winterville, Georgia around 9 a.m. where I helped set up tents, and I was able to talk to many of the vendors that were at the Marigold Market. 

One vendor that I stopped and socialized with was Troublesome Creek Farm (a photo of them located on the left), and their farm is located in Lexington, GA. This was their first farmers market, and they brought a variety of produce to sell. 

There were a variety of vendors that sold flowers, coffee, produce, macaroons, pies and many other products. I loved being able to stop and connect with the vendors and people from the community. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. there were about 350 people that came to the market, and supported many of these vendors. A lot of the people that were there were frequent visitors of the Marigold Market. 

During my first Saturday at Marigold Market, I counted how many people visited the market, and I worked under Deijhon's wing where he told me about the market and how to run his booth. Deijhon is the owner of CozyBear Market Garden. He sells his produce at the market almost every Saturday. This Saturday, he brought kale, cabbage, squash, swish chard, zucchini and snap peas to sell. In the picture to the right, it is a picture of cabbage that was sold at the CozyBear Market Garden booth.

Also while standing at his booth, he taught me how he sold his produce. For example, he sells his zucchini and squash by the pound. Additionally, there were people that returned to his booth from the previous weekend to tell him about what they made with his produce. 

At the end of the market he gave me the nickname Comfy Cub hence the name of my blog, Catrina the Comfy Cub. In the video at the end, you can see Deijhon and I at the end cleaning up his booth where I was assisting packing up the produce that was not sold. 

Moreover, the nickname, Comfy Cub, is suitable since I helped at his booth, and I am like a cub learning all the new opportunities that Marigold Market and UGA Extension has to offer to me. 

I am looking forward to going to Marigold Market on Saturdays, and going to the Extension office. My first week interning with UGA Extension has been nothing, but amazing. Dr. Ney, Joanna and the office have been accepting. The environment in the office is amazing, and they are fun to be around. 

Here is the first week to a fantastic summer. I cannot wait to see everything that is in store for me during this wonderful opportunity.