Hey everyone! I’m McKenna Loney, a second-year student majoring in Plant Sciences and 2023 intern at the Student Farm. I currently go to Penn State Brandywine (PSBW), but will be heading up to University Park to complete my 2+2 program.
I first learned about the Student Farm through Student Farm Club when I joined their email list in the spring of my freshman year at PSBW. When I learned about the Student Farm internship the following fall, I knew I had to apply.
Since the day I could crawl, I have loved being outside and playing in dirt. By the age of five, my mom had me out in the garden with her, planting perennials, seeding herbs, and pulling out weeds on our Sunday “Family Fun days”. It was here at home in the suburbs of Philly that my love for gardening and fascination with nature started: examining all the insects, saving worms from roasting on the concrete, watching butterflies and moths in awe, and naming all the carpenter bees in my backyard (the first bee of the season would be named “Fuzzy” and all the ones that followed would have names ending in “-uzzy”).
When I was seven, my family and I visited Epcot in Disney World where we got to tour their greenhouses which supplied all of the dining facilities in the park. It was here that I touched the surface of Integrative Pest Management (IPM)– releasing ladybugs to control aphid populations– and functions of food systems.
Fast forward to my freshman year at PSBW, I began volunteering at our campus’s garden. Through volunteering and eventually becoming a Garden Coordinator the following spring, my manager Emily Dozor introduced me to the beauty of growing and tending to vegetables. Before the campus garden, I had very little experience working with vegetables (outside of the tomatoes and cucumbers my family and I grew pretty successfully in the past). Emily introduced me to disease and pest management concepts through hands-on learning and the fundamental needs of caring for both plants and pollinators.
Since joining Penn State’s Student Farm team, I have learned more than I could ever anticipate learning about sustainable food systems and agricultural practices. We have delved deeper into the various forms of IPM, soil maintenance, responsibilities of managing a farm and acknowledgments of indigenous lands, and many ways that the Student Farm supplies and engages with our Penn State community.
Before our internship prep course, I did not realize how complex food systems were and the significant contributions that the Student Farm, alone, is bringing. With that, I value all of our goals (learn, think, grow; rooted in community; farm to campus) tremendously, but especially our focus on outreach and engagement. As I learn more about Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and our goal to serve as an introduction to supporting local food systems, I hope to explore the ways we maintain our CSA clients’ connection to other local CSA– like Healthy Harvest Farms– and food markets. Moreover, I look forward to the additional ways the Student Farm incorporates native plants and indigenous knowledge into our sustainable food system and campus partnerships.
I am very excited to be interning this summer into the end of our growing season in mid-November. I can’t wait to share these experiences with everyone who joins us at the Student Farm!