Name: Lucy Brannon
Class Year: 2027
Major: Biology
Internship Organization: GartenCoop Freiburg
Internship Title: Volunteer with the Anbau Team
Location: Freiburg, Germany
What’s happening at your internship? We would love to hear what kind of work you are doing!
I work as a gardener in a small-scale local vegetable farm that serves just over 300 households, or about 850 people. The organization is run as a coop, and the farm is run as a small team, the Anbau Team. Every week, they name a different person to be the ‘Team Fairy,’ who is then in charge of organizing the farm tasks. I work on the Anbau team and a committee that helped organize the GartenCoop’s portion of the Agrikultur Festival, which aims to gather people working towards a just food transition. On the farm, I have learned a lot about how planting, cultivating, and harvesting plants is done, and it has given me a higher appreciation for fresh vegetables, knowing how much work goes into them. With the planning committee, I went to planning meetings, helped set up our tent and posters, and showed up every day of the festival to raise money for our participation costs and market the GartenCoop to potential new members.
Why did you apply for this internship?
I got to visit Freiburg, Germany, last fall as part of my Climate Change 360 course cluster, and I fell in love with the city. I really liked the ecological focus of the place and wanted to be able to live the sustainable lifestyle I’ve always dreamed of, but is very difficult to achieve in the US. Then, I heard that there was an opening at a vegetable farm. I remember visiting my grandparents’ farm every summer in the mountains of North Carolina, and spending hours wandering their acres of land eating wild berries, and being a menace to their vegetable fields as I picked whatever I pleased and ate whatever I wanted. I have a really complex relationship with food because I have severe food allergies that have dictated my ability to interact with food. As a child, I did not experience food freedom in grocery stores or bakeries, but I was on an equal playing field when I was snacking on fresh berries and vegetables. I have spent my teenage years learning to navigate my allergies in an uneducated world where food is mislabeled, waiters don’t know what cross-contamination is, and food bank programs don’t cater to special dietary needs.
Food injustice is far beyond access alone; access to SAFE food is a necessity for all. This summer, I wanted to participate in an organization that is working on reforming the food system, and I wanted to make progress in my own food freedom journey while I was working to help others. While the GartenCoop only focuses on small-scale change and pushing for Community-Supported Agriculture, at their core the idea of making fresh produce ecologically sustainable by using a Pay What You Can model is incredible progress for the food injustice movement. Immediately upon hearing about them, I thought that they are a great grassroots model and I want to learn from them so that I can bring this kind of thinking back to the United States.
What has been your favorite part of this internship?
I love the community that the Anbau team has created, and how they all look out for each other, me and Cece included this summer. I also really love getting to meet members of the wider community who, as part of their membership, work at the farm 3-5 times a year. It is such a cool organization, and I feel so lucky to be a part of it.
In addition, I feel like I’ve learned a lot about myself and what I enjoy doing. I really enjoy working a job that has me moving around and doing different activities every day. It’s a lot of learning, and I love the change of pace.
Can you give us three adjectives and three nouns that describe your internship experience?
Novel, Rejuvenating, Introspective
Members, Community, Vegetables