This summer, thanks to the John Wasileski Arts Externship Awards, I had the opportunity to intern with the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust. I spent the summer learning about community organization, sustainable land management, and inclusive food systems, which would not have been possible without the financial support of John Wasileski.
The Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust (BTLT) is a non-profit organization in Maine dedicated to promoting sustainable land stewardship, supporting local food systems, and engaging in educational outreach, efforts made possible thanks to dedicated, hardworking volunteers. I interned under the valuable supervision of the Agricultural Programs Manager, who oversees the land trust’s Saturday Farmers Market and the Tom Settlemire Community Garden, and the Stewardship Coordinator, who helps manage their conserved lands and trail networks. I am also grateful to have worked alongside Wren, my co-intern from Bowdoin College.
As a Geography student minoring in Political Science and Field Studies, I was drawn to the diverse learning opportunities offered by an internship at a land trust in a state I had never been to. I wanted to better understand how organizations build and maintain relationships with community partners through the lens of a non-profit organization. My interest in community-based participatory research and collective decision-making practices made the volunteer-driven work of BTLT particularly appealing. Additionally, I recently worked on a policy analysis project around food security, which sparked my interest in the land trust’s agricultural programs, as I sought to deepen my understanding of local food systems and food security initiatives. These interests shaped my learning objectives for the course of my internship, contextualizing the work we were doing beyond the framework of the land trust.
Helping run the information booth at the Farmers Market and the workdays at the Common Good Garden (CCG) were crucial in reaching these goals. Aside from supporting local farmers and businesses, the BTLT Farmers Market works towards increasing accessibility to local, quality foods. At the info booth, we ran the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) table, which transfers funds from electronic benefits transfer cards into tokens that can be used at the market, as well as the Power of Produce (POP) program started by the land trust, which offers vouchers for kids to buy fruits and vegetables while introducing them to financial decision making. At the community garden, we ran the CCG workdays, where volunteers come plant, tend to, and harvest vegetables that are then donated to the Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program. I learned a lot from the cooperative problem-solving skills and effective organization of the volunteers and was moved by their commitment to the garden.
I learned first-hand about property monitoring, conducting maintenance work on public access trails, and using Landscape, a land conservation software program. I also assisted with camp activities at BTLT’s nature-based summer camp, including designing and leading a workshop on nature journaling with Wren. Regularly attending staff meetings provided valuable insight into the strengths and challenges of working in a nonprofit, as well as how relationships with community partners are built and maintained. I also attended various committee meetings where relevant stakeholders shared their ideas on how to use the space of property newly acquired by the land trust. These discussions provided insight on how they planned to reach their own goals of integrating a broader reach of community members into their projects in both the creation of and use for the space.
Along the course of my internship, I designed and completed a personal project, a magazine that aims to highlight the vendors at the BTLT Farmers Market and their roles in the community with the goal of personalizing customers’ relationships with their local farmers and businesses, bringing awareness to who and where people buy their food from. I spent almost every Saturday at the market and chatted with many vendors, conducting some interviews over the phone or in person at their respective farms or workshops. Aside from being personally fulfilling, this project gave me the opportunity to learn from a wide range of farmers and producers who are committed to sustainably supporting their local community. Getting to know and learn from the vendors at the market and the volunteers in the CCG was the highlight of my internship, and I hope to maintain the relationships I developed over the course of my time in Maine.
This opportunity was only made possible thanks to the funds awarded to me through the John Wasileski Arts Externship, for which I would like to sincerely thank John Wasileski. Thank you for your generous support!
