A multitude of perspectives concerning the environment around us

The student garden internship position this summer at Mount Holyoke College was an introduction to the hands-on maintenance of a garden. My coworkers and I made many personal decisions that affected the health and quality of the garden and the produce it yielded. The additional aspects of the internship, such as working closely with the South Hadley farmer’s market and attending the NOFA Summer Conference (Northeast Organic Farming Association), truly enriched the experience and made it unique.

Over the course of the summer I interacted with many people connected to the land in a variety of ways. I met large scale CSA farmers from Dracut, MA, the owner of a homestead – and thus a winemaker, animal caregiver, and gardener - from New Jersey, a permaculture landscape designer from Holyoke, MA, environmentally-and-culturally focused documentary producers from Florida, and many more gardeners, farmers, and permaculture designers along the way.

Meeting so many people, with such vastly different interests in the land, introduced me to a multitude of perspectives concerning the environment around us.

As I entered the internship in May with an acute interest in permaculture, these perspectives offered many lenses that I could apply to my interest in permaculture.