Mark your calendars today for our Think Globally, Eat Locally Organic Foods Festival on August 24th from 4-6 pm. Four skilled chefs from Philadelphia restaurants will demonstrate and prepare fresh vegetable dishes using our very own produce right in our barn. Members will taste the dishes and take home recipe booklets. This festival, funded by a SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education) grant, is free for members and interested guests, but we ask that you RSVP by signing up in the barn or emailing me (Katy Andersen) at wmandersens@msn.com by August 15th.

The chefs bring a wealth of experience and commitment to using locally grown food. Greg Ling, chef of the Rx Restaurant in University City, has hosted PASA (Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture) meetings. Sean Weinberg, chef of Rose Tattoo, www.rosetattoocafe.com, in Philadelphia, spent two years apprenticing in Northern Italy and working with Slow Food, an organization committed to ecologically sound food production and to the proliferation of regional, seasonal culinary traditions. A chef will also be coming from Bella, www.bellaepicura.com, an American bistro in Philadelphia dedicated to serving fresh American fare. Finally, Amy Naulty of Cosmic Catering will participate. She is the sister of our own member Peg Botto, owner of Cosmic Catering who also sells prepared foods at the Chestnut Hill Farmers Market. Peg uses ingredients that are produced locally through sustainable agricultural practices.

I hope to see you at the festival!

Bessie & Friend

Intern Interviews
By Colleen Cranney

Every shareholder who has been out in the beds picking peas, beans, or flowers on a hot, sunny afternoon gains new appreciation for the hard-working interns who do this all day, every day to provide us with such delicious food. We hope you're enjoying the Weekly Weeder newsletter that they print every week. And maybe you're getting to know them a bit now that the season is well underway. They are a fun, friendly and interesting group of people!

Theresa Mycek has been interning at Maysie's Farm since February, making her the "veteran" intern! A native of Pottsgrove, PA, Theresa graduated from Gettysburg College in 2000 with a B.S. degree in biology and a minor in Spanish. She then spent two years in Guatemala as a Peace Corps volunteer working in agriculture extension and teaching organic agriculture. Although she's a vegetarian, Theresa wasn't very familiar with CSAs before coming to Maysie's. Now she feels she'd like to stay involved in some aspect of farming, perhaps in education or outreach, and maybe utilizing her Spanish. Theresa enjoys the camaraderie of living in the intern house, but is also grateful to be able to spend weekend time with her family. Her mother is one of our Distribution Managers.	Cassie O'Connell has spent the last few years working as a residential carpenter in Philadelphia. She loves working outside and came to Maysie's Farm to learn more about growing vegetables. Her goal is to grow all her own food and to live as self-sufficiently as possible. Cassie is a vegetarian and spends her free time playing old-time ukulele. She also enjoys eating weeds from the farm and tending to her garden at home on the weekends when she's not attending SAITA workshops.
Lucy Holliday is the intern with the accent! Hailing from Shropshire, England, this is her first trip to the U.S. Lucy has a B.S. degree from the University of Bristol in geography and environmental management. Lucy is no stranger to farming — she grew up on a tree nursery and her boyfriend has an organic sheep and beef farm. Before coming to Maysie's Farm (which she learned about through the internet) Lucy volunteered for the Soil Association and the Farming Wildlife Advisory Group in England, where she sought ways for farms to improve their management in order to benefit wildlife. Lucy sees herself in the future working in an agricultural / environmental area.	Tim Kelliher is from Massachusetts. He spent a year studying chemistry at Swarthmore College, then decided to take a year off school to work at and experience different kinds of farms. He first worked at Tait Farm CSA in Center Hall, PA, where he started learning about growing organic vegetables. He then worked at Threshold Farm, a biodynamic CSA near Albany, NY, that offered vegetables, apples and dairy products. Tim will be returning to school in the fall, but is thinking of transferring to a more agriculture-based program. He has started organizing a project that will involve Swarthmore students establishing a garden at a charter school in Chester, PA. He would love to have his own farm someday.
Elizabeth Hamer is from Jekyll Island in southern Georgia. She graduated from Haverford College in 1999 with a B.A. degree in sociology. After college she volunteered with AmeriCorps, where she worked in disaster relief with the Red Cross, primarily in Philadelphia. She then went on to the University of Chicago for a Master's degree in sociology. Before starting at Maysie's Farm in early May, Elizabeth spent the previous 16 months as a public affairs director for a non profit women's advocacy group and working on Governor Rendell's campaign.	Margo Bucco is from Malvern, PA. She spent last year studying environmental science at the University of Vermont, but decided it was just too cold up there and will be attending West Chester University this fall. Margo likes to cook, knit and sew; she also enjoys playing with her two beagles. Because she loves nature and being outdoors, she would like to maybe become an ecology teacher and farm during the summer months. Her mother is one of our Distribution Managers and her father can sometimes be seen using a weedeater on some of our weeds.
Benny Fischer ist von Deutschland, though his English is becoming very good. He spent three weeks here in March and April of last year, having told his eighth grade teachers that he needed an extended spring vacation so he could go to America to improve his English. Now a strapping sixteen year old, Benny's in charge of mowing between the beds and repairing and maintaining our mechanical equipment, though he's involved in all the other jobs as well. He'll be with us about six weeks before going back to school. After he finishes tenth grade, next spring, Benny plans to attend a training school for automotive and aviation mechanics and then work towards becoming a helicopter pilot.