Student internship presentation about Shalom Farms in Powhatan, Virginia.

1. Shalom
Farms

2. About Shalom
● Mission: “to work with communities to
ensure access to healthy food and the
support to live healthy lives”
● Programs: Mobile Market, Prescription
Produce Plan, Healthy Corner Store
Initiative, Kitchen Clinic
● Partners: FeedMore, local pantries,
community kitchens, and other
organizations (eg: Peter Paul Development Center)
○ Earned income: Ellwood Thompson’s, Little
House, Capital One

3. About Shalom About the Farm:
● 12-acre farm in Powhatan, 7 acres
currently being cultivated
● Sustainable, regenerative agriculture
→ adheres to organic practices
● Around 30 different crops grown
● 200,000+ lbs of fresh produce
annually
● 6,000+ volunteers each year
● New Westwood Urban Farm
● About 15 Staff in 3 areas:
○ Powhatan Farm Staff
○ City Staff
○ Westwood Farm

4. How I Found and Chose Shalom
● Previous volunteer experience at
old farm site + as a CHAT intern
● Interest in outdoor careers
● Wanted to work with other interns,
not just experts/employees
● To gain practical, hands-on
knowledge of sustainable
agriculture
● To more fully understand how
food justice initiatives work
● Flexibility to make internship fit
my interests
● Workshops and farm visits

5. Intern Responsibilities
Morning:
● Harvesting produce for all
programs and partners
○ Harvesting time varied widely
each day
● Helping in the packing barn to get
orders ready for delivery and/or
storage
○ Once a week, barn duty all
morning
● Small projects or helping
volunteer groups finish their
harvesting

6. Intern Responsibilities
Afternoon:
● Pruning and weaving
tomatoes and peppers
● Shaping beds, laying
irrigation tape, staking beds
● Weighing and spreading
fertilizer
● Hooping and covering crops
● Transplanting crops
● Seeding in the greenhouse
● Chores: taking compost,
washing/drying bins,
sweeping the barn

7. WORKSHOPS
1. Pest and Disease
Management
- 20 inches of rain in 4 weeks, standing
water pose unique pest/disease
concerns
- IPM: Integrated Pest Management
- Spraying with pyganic or
spinosad are last resorts
- Monitoring, avoiding (trap
crops), and prevention (physical
controls like row covers, hoop
houses)
- Emphasis on creating healthy soil →
healthy plants → fight disease more
easily
2. Irrigation
- Well was supposed to be main water source,
but to water the field it would have to run
non-stop and burn out in 5 years (only used
for HH, GH, packing barn)
- Pond!
- Pump → filtration system → flat line
hose → irrigation tape in all crop rows
in the field
- Fertilizer injector (calcium, fish emulsion, etc)
3. Soil Fertility
- To create highly productive soil, need to
examine physical, chemical, and biological
factors
- Main issues on farm? Soil compaction,
erosion, nutrient levels (esp with crazy wet
season)

8. 8

9. Exciting/Surprising Discoveries
● Learned and adapted really quickly,
picking up new skills literally every day
● Able to train others in some areas by the
second half of my internship
● Increase in self-confidence
● Learned that I really thrive in hands-on
learning and love working outdoors/in
nature
● Genuinely loved farming and would
consider pursuing a similar career path
maybe

10. Coworkers + Career/Job
Info
Full Time Powhatan Farm Staff
● Steve: Director of Farm Operations
○ Vanderbilt Divinity School
○ 15+ years of sustainable ag
experience
● Seyra: Assistant Farm Manager
○ Outdoor industry/outdoor retail
○ Farmer in Residence at Shalom
● Hannah: Volunteer and Education
Manager
○ education/teaching background
● Amber: Farm Crew Leader + Demo
Garden
○ Peace Corps Food Security in
Madagascar
○ Farmer in Residence
● 2 Farmers in Residence
(Apprenticeship)
○ Recent college grads
trying to figure it all out
● Interns (4-ish)
○ HS seniors, college
students, former military

11. Future
● Adding new partners
and extending program
sites
● Increasing crop
production and yield
with Westwood Farm
● Main harvesting season
is March-November
● Planting, harvesting,
and educating for many
more seasons to come!