Let me introduce myself

Welcome!

I’m Ryan Karerat, a rising sophomore and the 1812 Garden’s intern for the summer. Since I’m planning to major in World Politics, it wouldn’t seem that the 1812 Garden would be a natural place for me to work for a summer. I’m originally from Maryland, but with one parent in Saudi Arabia now and the other in India, going home wasn’t really an option for the summer so I sort of stumbled into this job. I did spend one fall during high school helping tend an organic garden, but this summer has still been a lot of on-the-job training for me. David Gapp and Frank Sciacca, the brainchildren of this project and supervisors of the Food for Thought seminar that oversees the garden during the academic year, have certainly showed some patience with me, but at this point I think I can say with some confidence that I actually have the hang of it. One month ago I would not have even been able to tell you what a velvet leaf is, and now I spend my mornings and afternoons going to war with the weeds in an effort to maintain the garden!

The 1812 Garden, in its second year of existence, has flourished this summer with most of the vegetables we planted successfully springing out of the ground [aside from the peas I mistakenly snapped out of the ground, of course!]. The plentiful supply of rain hasn’t’ hurt either. I’m looking forward to continuing to posting update blog entries here for the rest of the summer.

Ryan Karerat
1812 Garden Intern
Hamilton College