LINK description
LINK stands for; leading internships for new knowledge. LINK is a 3 week internship, that Animas High school offers for all Juniors. The internship is for all students to have an experience in a field or a specific career, of their choice.
Business description
James Ranch is a family business in Durango, Colorado. What is special about the ranch is that the ranch is organic, which means they dont use any synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics, or added hormones.
The ranch produces 100% gras fed beef, cheese, raw milk, eggs from pastured hens, an organic vegetable and flower garden, and whey-fed pork. The ranch has a market where they sell their products from the ranch, they also have a grill, where they serve food that they produced.
http://www.jamesranch.net
The ranch produces 100% gras fed beef, cheese, raw milk, eggs from pastured hens, an organic vegetable and flower garden, and whey-fed pork. The ranch has a market where they sell their products from the ranch, they also have a grill, where they serve food that they produced.
http://www.jamesranch.net
(4/29/18) Preparation and anticipation
My experience so far have been a little challenging. I had an internship down in New Mexico with this lady who owned a camp/farm, where she worked with wild horses, it all was something I was really excited about and thought I would learn a lot from it. Because of bad communication with my mentor, (she didn't respond to my emails for days), then I couldn't work with her because all of the paperwork wasn't done in time, (this was also because I am an exchange student, and there was paperwork needed from Rotary). I was kinda upset about that, since I already had tired so hard to find an internship somewhere. You contact and e-mail so many different people, and most of them don't even respond back to you. I had 3 days to find a new internship, but I had some help from my link mentor, who mentioned James Ranch.
Tomorrow will be my first day at James Ranch, and I am excited about that. I think I still will have fun, and can learn from this internship. And after all it is pretty similar to what I first were looking for.
Tomorrow will be my first day at James Ranch, and I am excited about that. I think I still will have fun, and can learn from this internship. And after all it is pretty similar to what I first were looking for.
LInk project
My LINK project was feeding the chickens, and making sure they have enough water, sunlight etc. I learned a lot about taking care of the chickens, and what their needs are on a daily basis. In the afternoon when most of chickens have laid their eggs, I would go in a collect the eggs, wash them properly, and put them into the packages. From just packing the eggs I saw the whole process of finding the good eggs, which eggs can be sold, which are too ugly or too small. There was actually a lot of requirements for the egg in order, for it to be sold.
Being organic is also a big part of the James Ranch, for example it affects what and how they feed their chickens.
Being organic is also a big part of the James Ranch, for example it affects what and how they feed their chickens.
(5/22/18) LINK reflection
For my LINK it was really good to be flexible with a lot of things. Not everyday was the same, and there were no “business hours”, for when you were working, so if you had to work a little bit later, or do some extra work then expected, that would not be unusual. I learned a lot about how important the feed, that you give the animals is. An example would be how sunlight can affect the egg laying from the hens, if they don't have enough sunlight then they would not lay enough eggs, and if you didn't give the hens enough proteins, it would make the shell of the egg weaker.
I didn't have any problems during my LINK, my mentor was really thoughtful of figuring out a schedule for me, so I had a lot different experiences working there, which was really awesome. Agriculture is something I have never experienced before, and I have never thought of it as an actual career. I definitely learned a lot from my internship, I learned about the business part of farming, the rules and laws there is about farming and ranching, and how to take care of the animals correctly.
I didn't have any problems during my LINK, my mentor was really thoughtful of figuring out a schedule for me, so I had a lot different experiences working there, which was really awesome. Agriculture is something I have never experienced before, and I have never thought of it as an actual career. I definitely learned a lot from my internship, I learned about the business part of farming, the rules and laws there is about farming and ranching, and how to take care of the animals correctly.