Editor’s note:  Grace has been an intern with Petaluma Bounty since the spring of 2022. We’ve absolutely loved having her on the farm. This is a blog post by Grace on what her time at the Bounty has been like. While we will be sad to see her go when she moves to Santa Cruz for college, we are excited to see what the future has in store for her!

Hi! I’m Grace, and I’ve been interning with Petaluma Bounty since April of 2022. I’ve always had a deep love of nature and the outdoors, and originally began working at the farm to fulfill a school community service requirement. I was drawn to Petaluma Bounty from day one because of the way it allowed me to grow my passion for gardening into a more thorough understanding of sustainable farming practices, transparent food systems, harvesting practices on a larger scale, and more. Long after completing all my service hours, I continue to look forward to every Saturday I can spend helping out with the farm. I’ve particularly loved being able to connect more closely with my community, especially via working side by side with amazing volunteers I might never have otherwise met, and by working on Petaluma Bounty’s farm stand and famer’s market booth. I’m also incredibly grateful to have had the experience of raising the farm’s chickens, and it’s been so exciting to see them thriving and beginning egg production!  

 I will be leaving Petaluma in late September to begin a degree in Ecology and Evolution at UC Santa Cruz. Although I’ll definitely be visiting Petaluma Bounty whenever I visit home, I also can’t wait to continue my interest in community agriculture in Santa Cruz as well!