I’m so excited about being selected as a Kenan Fellow. I am pleased to be partnering with the NC Farm Bureau, Chowan County Farm Bureau, and Local Peanut Farmers. I will be creating an Ag Mag on peanuts which is a non-fiction text for grades K-8. It will feature sections on types of peanuts, history, career profiles, and other suggested activities. I can’t wait for my students and other classes to learn about peanuts.
My internship experience has been educational. I have learned new information about peanuts that I did not know. I took one week and visited three different retail businesses. Some of them start the peanut process in the field and continue to the retail business. Other companies buy from Sugarland or Hampton Farm to create gourmet peanuts (chocolate-covered, cajun, salted, and plain in-shell peanuts). I started working with Neal Bass with Beech Fork Farm in late April. I watched the planting process and have taken pictures of the peanuts’ growth during these past months. I have learned that bears and deer love to eat peanuts. Once the peanuts are starting growing, the animals start eating the peanuts. It is hard to see the change happening because peanuts grow underground. I wanted to capture the peanut cycle. I decided to dig up one of the plants and place it in a clear plastic container to see the growth of the peanuts. We will see what happens. I will continue working with Neal and his family through the harvest season to see the whole process.
