Dear Mom and Dad,

I’m not 100% certain but I think I’m supposed to be getting ready to leave or something..? The Extension staff keep talking about final presentations and reports, I’m not positive what they mean by “final”. I should really touch base and make sure they know I’m not ready to leave yet.
I’m not sure they know that I don’t want to leave for a few reasons.

Reason #1: I enjoy being here. I like the atmosphere of Sheldon. Although I enjoy Readlyn, our little town does not have an ice cream shop that truly has our hearts. I mean how could I say goodbye to Dairy Dandy after being this loyal of a customer? As for the people of Sheldon, I can’t thank them enough for embracing us out of towners. Whether they reached out to us at the store, church, or out and about, I have always felt welcome by this community.

Reason #2: I like my roommates. Even though we have had some tough times, we always seem to pick ourselves back up and get on with some of the great work we do together. Jessica has taught me to love the oldies music. I will forever think of this summer when I hear “It’s Raining Men”, by the Weather Girls. Jess has also taught me to never take life too seriously, she has this uncanny ability to make light of every situation and always has a song for whatever mood you’re in. Jessica will continue to share her passion to live life to the fullest with every person she meets. Allie has taught me to appreciate her sense of humor. I have to tell this one. I will ask at our next family dinner if this joke is truly funny; Allie swears it is.
“Two windmills are standing in a field. One asks the other, ‘What kind of music do you like?’ The other says, ‘I’m a big metal fan.’” But in all seriousness, Allie has taught me to appreciate deep conversation, talks about our faith, and agriculture issues. She and I share many views on what we can do in our profession to influence the world’s agricultural status. Allie will move mountains with her determination and ability to see the good in every person. I have sincerely loved every bit of working with these two and gaining two incredible friends.

Reason #3: I simply enjoy what I’m doing. How many people can say they go to work and have a different experience every day? I have been in love with every aspect of this internship since the start and that love, and appreciation has only grown. I have been privileged with working under one of the most incredible people, someone who’s work is so vital to the continuation of Extension as a whole. She has opened her home and her life to three girls who laugh more than not and ask far too many questions. She has shown understanding and is always there when we need her. I simply can’t thank Cheryl enough for being the most incredible boss and mentor. We sincerely lucked out.
So after I wrote all this out, I think it’s decided. I really am not ready to leave.

I guess I’ll see you when I see you.
Love your 4th daughter,
Kass

The End is Near.

As I write my last blog post, I am filled with a great deal of emotions, it feels like a bittersweet moment. This has been one of the best summers of my life. I would like to thank everyone in Extension that has made us feel at home this summer. I am amazed at how fast the summer has gone; it feels like yesterday we were all waiting for our programs to start. Even though everyone said there was nothing fun in Sheldon, Allie, Kassidy, and I found fun. I have loved working and learning with all our programs. I had the chance to develop my professional skills and strengthen my personal skills. The programs we have developed have run smoothly and we’ve been able to adapt to changes. Getting to hear from parents that their kids look forward to the day of our programs is an amazing feeling.

With all our programs running smoothly, we found time to tour several community gardens around the counties and a Hopp’s farm. All the garden tours were interesting because we got to see each community come together in support of them. Each community garden was different in their set-up and in what was planted. I thought the community garden in Rock Valley was interesting because of the diversity in the plants. There were tomatillo plants we had never seen in any of the other garden. Our guide also told us the goal of that garden was to help bring the diverse cultures in Rock Valley together. On Friday, we went to the Sioux County fair to make potato people with the kids. All the kids thought it was cool that we used a real potato and not a piece of paper.  Our weeks may be limited, but fair season started and still have much to keep us busy.

-Jessica

Last week our Region 2 interns had the opportunity to learn about the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center at North Iowa Area Community College, as well as a tour of Sukup Manufacturing in Sheffield Iowa.  The John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center is an organization that provides resources and assistance to small businesses. Some of the services they provide include but are not limited to, one on one business counseling, feasibility and business plan preparation, grant development, entrepreneurial development training and many programs for students to take advantage of. This visit was extremely informational for us, as learning some of the keys to succeeding in running a business in small town Iowa is important to our economic development projects this summer.

Our next stop for the day was a tour of Sukup Manufacturing. It was a one of a kind experience to see a company of that size in a small town in Iowa.  Emily (Sukup) Schmitt gave us the tour and really emphasized the importance of businesses involvement in community development in small towns. We must keep our small towns alive because these companies and jobs are so important to the economy of Iowa, and we do not want them to relocate. During the tour we learned about the companies internship program, their Safe T House, and received a tour of the facilities which included a brand new on campus healthcare center for employees. The day was an invaluable opportunity to learn about the importance of strong companies in Iowa and how they can help contribute to a strong Iowa!

Wow! I don’t know if any of you have ever tried to fill balloons with flour with young children on a windy day, but that is exactly what we attempted at Power of Produce last week. We made “silly bees”, which was essentially a stress ball balloon, in order to teach the kids about pollinators. The kids loved it despite having flour fly everywhere! All our PoP Clubs have been so much fun, but that may have been one of my favorites. Seeing the kids laugh when the wind blew the flour was just great. They even got excited to tell us everything they already knew about bees and other pollinators!

However, none of this would be possible without our many sponsors for the Power of Produce Clubs in Rock Rapids, Sheldon, and Hawarden. At this point in the summer, Kassidy, Jessica, and I would like to take some of our time to thank our sponsors for helping fund our programs.

First off, the ISU Foundation Excellence in Extension Grant helped fund all three Power of Produce markets in Rock Rapids, Sheldon, and Hawarden.  Each community then had its own sponsors. Frontier Bank, US Bank, Premiere Bank, Mike and Jackie Austin, and Rock Rapids Chamber of Commerce all made the Rock Rapids PoP Club possible.  In Sheldon, we would like to thank Sanford Sheldon Medical Center.  Finally, the Hawarden PoP Club, which begins next week, will be funded in part by Peoples Bank, Cooperative Farmers Elevator (CFE), and Premier Bank.

So, a big thank you and round of applause for all of our wonderful sponsors. Without them, we would not have been able to work with the children that have made our summer truly memorable. Now with only a few PoP Clubs remaining, we are definitely going to cherish what time we have left with all of the kids that we have come to know during our internship. If you’re in the area, feel free to stop out to the farmers markets to see the impact that these sponsors and the program have had on the children. It is quite a scene every week!

Allie Faivre

This week Emma put out a survey to see what kind of interest people would have in a Farmers’ Market in Buffalo Center. The survey started on Tuesday, and so far we have 54 responses all saying they would be interested in this market. She has also been working on advertising and looking for vendors. Her goal for next week is to establish specific vendors and begin planning an opening day for the Farmers’ Market. Here is the awesome poster she created for interest in the event

Jamison has been working more with Cassie Johnson the Executive Director of the Lake Mills Chamber Development Corporation. He worked on his interactive map created with ESRI Arc GIS online software with Cassie and did a test run to make sure everything would be shown on the Lake Mills City website under there Economic and Development tab. The map details each business and business vacancy in Lake Mills that will show the location, contact information, and the business service provided by that business (e.g. salon, retal, contractor, ect.) as well as a photo of each businesses store front that he will add periodically as more survey results come in.

Claire has been working more with the city of Whittemore with their economic development wants. Her survey was sent out and she is eagerly awaiting the results to see what the citizens want. While awaiting these results she met with Marc Thoma the General Manager of Winnebago Cooperative Telecom Association (WCTA), as well as Evan Fritz, Marketing Coordinator for WCTA, this helped her gain more knowledge on how to start up a fitness center in a small town. This is something that Whittemore is exploring, and she wants to gather all the information possible about this concept before compiling options to give them at the end of the summer.

Region 1 has just reached passed the halfway mark and the realization that our days are limited has started to set in. This makes our programs become a little more cherished and the relationships we have made with the kiddos in our programs a little more special.

We only have 28 days left and the greatest summer of my life will come to a close. Before starting the internship, I thought I was going to miss the flexibility I had with my schedule, the time spent with family and friends, and had it in my head I would somehow be missing out on the fun. What I have come to find out is that I have gained so much more than what I have “lost”. I have gained two incredibly fun and creative friends that make laughter a constant in the work we do together. I have found the connections I have made with extension and county staff to be ones I can reach out to in the future with questions or information. We have also been a part of programs and events that are appreciated by kids, parents, and those within the counties we serve on multiple levels. I have never felt like the work I would do as an intern would be something that would benefit me so greatly.

We worked on the parts of a plant with the Beginner Gardeners program and the information we are teaching is starting to make the students look at the plants around them a little differently. Within PoP and the gardening program, the impact we are making is starting to be seen in their retention of the content we present.

Allie, Jessica, and I attended the WIDA Dairy tour last Thursday, in Lester Iowa, and we had a fantastic time meeting new people and catching up with some faces we’d seen before. We had a dairy trivia game that we played with the children and handed out cheese sticks that were donated on behalf of Agropur out of Hull, Iowa. We enjoyed the events and all the goodies we got along the way.

I hope everyone had a safe and fun 4th of July!

Kassidy Kuhlmann