The past two weeks have consisted of orientations most mornings and a fairly regular schedule in the afternoons. 

What do I mean by regular? Well usually our afternoons go like this...

Monday and Wednesday are either seminars or hands on learning as well as some study time occasionally  on Wed.

Tuesday and Fridays are either seed bank or nursery afternoons, depending on if you are a seed bank intern or a nursery intern. I am a seed bank intern so I spend those afternoons germinating seeds. Every year we make sure that the seed we 

send out is still viable.

Thursday afternoons are designated for Farm work. Where basically we all do whatever Danny the farm manager decides needs done. Usually this consist of a larger project we all work on together. Last Thursday we planted a variety trial of amaranth. We planted lots and lots of amaranth I think there were 10-12 different varieties. Amaranth is a grain that is very nutritious, it contains a complete protein, lysine, a very high fiber content, as well as many vitamins and minerals. So if you want to enhance you bread to contain a complete          

 protein and be a lot more nutritious, 

substitute amaranth flour for about 25% of your flour.

This past Thursday the majority of us worked on preparing a large garden plot for a Papaya variety trial that needs to be planted out in a couple of weeks. We had to rake up most of the mulch and remove it, because Papaya's don't like to be wet and then form raised beds by mounding the dirt. After about an hour of raking I got thrown into fire duty. We had started burning our enormous burn pile in the morning and my job was to go around the fire and throw the big stuff back into the inferno. So the rest of my afternoon was spent dancing around the fire. Pictured Top: A small portion of the amaranth we planted. Middle: the bed we were preparing for the Papaya variety trial. Bottom: the fire at about 7 pm that night.