CIIP: Week 5 🥐

Adventure of the week: Taking a road trip with Rev. Brown to the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Delaware.

Rating: 10/10

My week started on Monday preparing for a mini-conference with Rev. Brown on Tuesday. I studied up on the needs assessment for black farmers of the Delmarva (Delaware/Maryland/Virginia) peninsula. This on its own was eye-opening enough to change the course of my week as I learned about the struggles of black farmers and began forming some of my own questions. One question for example: even though the population of black farmers has declined exponentially of the last century, On Tuesday, we headed down to Easton where we met with board members of NESAWG (Northeastern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group) and other Ag (cool nickname for agriculture apparently) groups. There, we had a roundtable discussion about the state of Ag on the Eastern Shore primarily by comparing it Ag in New England states since we are comparable areas with similar populations. This discussion was incredible to witness because as an engineering college student, they brought up very real problems that never crossed my mind. Right after the first comment was made, I wanted to jump in the discussion myself, however I became timid as I felt I didn’t know as much as these professionals. The conversation passed and I wrote down all my thoughts and responses and I was really enjoying myself. The perspective is very different because sometimes in school, we talk about other world problems, but ultimately end with us not knowing what can be down and concluding nothing can be done. In this case though, these professionals actually had the power to make a difference and weren’t afraid to grill each other to come up with a solution. That is how stuff gets done.

The following day we had the opportunity to tour Fifer’s Orchard- and orchard in Delaware. While my interest in ag (am I cool now?) remains just that, an interest, I was piqued by the inner workings of this orchard and how they’ve been able to sustain their business for about a hundred years. While their case is unique, they are a sort of goal that the network is striving for on a more urban scale.

One of my favorite parts of this little adventure was spending the time with Rev. Brown, getting to know him personally and at the end of the trip, welcoming him into my home and introducing him to my family. I am so grateful to have been paired with him for this summer, because he has become a sort of role model to me and more importantly, a friend. While we are past the halfway point in this program, I am not too worried because I know I am going to stay in touch and do my best to continue this good work with these great folk.

Signing off, Awoe