A day/week/year in the life

Fortunately, those who have come before me have already tackled this subject.  So without further introduction, Brian Dant's blog post about being an ECHO intern.

One of my primary duties aside from caring for the rainforest section of the global farm and the ducks is the seed bank.  ECHO's seed bank manages inventory of seed for the farm, network partners and public sale.  Approximately 460 types are managed.  As the newest intern working in the seed bank, I have taken over responsibility for germinating seeds to ensure we are sending quality seed to people who need it.  Germination trials have to happen once a year for every seed in the inventory and are completed with a 20 seed sample size (this can vary from 10-50 depending on seed size and available quantity).  The seeds are prepped for germination if needed (scratching, heating, soaking) and then planted in soil, placed in a wet towel or in a damp petri dish.  At any one time there are about 25 germination trials in progress so it's an excellent opportunity to learn more about the science behind it and get exposure to a huge number of useful food crops and their seeds.

This isn't tedious at all.

New experiences:
1. Ate a surinam cherry

A surinam cherry.  Better if no worms live there.

2. Made a duck egg omelette

3. Found out that goats really do eat everything.

4. Found out what happens when you leave the lid off your compost pail for a few days (picture writhing maggots and you'll be close)

5. Discovered that two varieties of plants that we (my siblings and I) used to play with in Liberia are extremely toxic if ingested

Bad parenting exhibit #1

Child safety law violation #2