I’m an intern at the Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum, along with four other interns: Keneka, Tyler, Denzel and Luther. The internship program teaches leadership and entrepreneurship, such as learning how to do a business plan, money management, marketing skills and communication skills, as well as learning how to advertise.
The project of an internship is the opportunity to gather experiences and to learn how to interact with the world of different age categories that is around you. Entrepreneurship is the strategy in which you learn to do something (like create a product) and sell it, with your name on the label; I made tomato sauce, which was a best seller, using produce from the garden; with this experience I learned how to can food, which has to be done in a certified kitchen, and I found out I have a talent. My co-workers also made their own value-added products: salsa, hot sauce and jam.
I also learned how to identify plants, do companion planting, season extension, food security, container gardening (which deals with harvesting), weeding, planting, mulching, compost, watering (irrigation system), food storage, deadheading, creating beds, medicinal herbs for your physical health, and many more. My favorite task is harvesting tomatoes, and the task I dislike is weeding – but hey I still do it!
What I learned from my co-workers that happen to either be a friend or became a friend is teamwork, a good work ethic, taking turns, helping one another and having fun. (I love when we joke around and chase each other because it’s never boring.)
At the end of the week, we have a farmer’s market on Sunday (the best day out of our work days). The market’s purpose is to show that anyone can access locally grown fresh food. It’s better tasting than your average supermarket vegetables and fruits. We also have workshops to teach you how to grow your own food and extend the season for your fruits and vegetables.
The market taught me how to weigh produce by the pound, how to calculate money faster, how to be patient, have fun hearing people tell jokes, tell stories and teach people what I know, especially children. It also teaches regular people about food choices and eating healthier.
I have been working at the Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum for two years. It’s located in Brooklyn, where its surroundings are factories, a few restaurants, gas stations, tire shops, landfills and two schools (one public and one Catholic). There’s not much of a community focus.Working at Wyckoff created a fundamental base which helped me eat healthier than what I ate before. It gave me the options of eating more fruits and vegetables such as carrots, tomatoes, watermelon, cucumbers, broccoli, peas, beans, radishes, eggplants and beets, rather than eating fast food, which I’ve cut down on since I’ve been working at Wyckoff. I also stopped drinking soda and prefer to drink Red Jacket Apple Cider, which is made locally and organically.
All the experiences working here affect my individual life in learning how to adapt to more food choices that are healthy and organic. Making meals with corn, green beans, carrots and beets, I’ve come to love them.
I enjoy being a part of the Wyckoff community and staff because I have met friends that could be lifelong, and also working here made me realize that I don’t need to spend $200 in food. Instead I just have to pay $1.20 for a seed packet and those seeds will produce bushes or rows of produce for months. How cool is that! I’ll have the satisfaction that I know where it came from, it doesn’t have chemicals that are harmful to me, and I don’t have to pay for a bag of produce every week. I’m grateful that I made that choice, and you will be, too.
The panel was moderated by Hillary Baum of the New York City Food System Network. In addition to Jensine other panelist included the amazing women working in food justice in New York City including, Karen Washington of La Familia Verde in the Bronx, Donya A. Williams, Program Coordinator for the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Healthy Bodegas Initiative, Lizzie Ayer Farm Director and Caretaker for the Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum in Brooklyn and Cara Fraver, Just Food, Fresh Food For All Program Coordinator. 
