LINK Internship - Turtle Lake Refuge, 848 E. 3rd Ave in Durango, Colorado (970-247-8395)
My Internship takes place in the unique and healthy setting of Turtle Lake Refuge. Turtle Lake Refuge functions as a vegan restaurant and a farm. They grow all of their botanical ingredients either within the downtown residence or at their outside garden near Turtle Lake. The foundations for several of the recipes are all organic and majority of them homegrown! They sell their homegrown items to several places in Durango including natural markets and public schools. Their goals are to emphasize the important connection between personal health and wild land. Members are Turtle Lake Refuge are especially dedicated, considering they transport using a vehicle run on vegetable oil. They also use a bicycle-powered blender and wheatgrass juicer and utilize a solar powered dehydrator. Turtle Lake Refuge is a very informative and exciting place to be!
Project: Studying the nutrients and effects of Turtle Lake Refuge's garden plants and recipes.
DAILY LOG:
March 2, 2015
Today, I met to the friendly and courteous owner and employees at Turtle Lake. Katrina Blaire, the owner, introduced the facilitation of a harvesting work day. I put on my apron and immediately set to work. We worked on removing micro-greens from their pots. Micro-greens are the shoots of vegetable plants that are harvested right after the leaves begin to sprout and before the vegetables grow. I spent a good two and a half hours snipping the roots and cleaning sunflower sprouts (Sunnies). We pull the sprout up (before it grows the flower) to appreciate the nutritious edible stems that often go unnoticed. The next three hours, I cleared and cleaned off the seeds of a plant called, "Buckwheat". Its lower stem limb has a light pretty pink shade and the texture of the leaves is thin and soft. Even though you can add them to a recipe, you can eat these plants raw! Afterwards, we bagged up our picked plants, weighed them, and stuck them in a basket to be sent to local stores. (Specifically Nature's Oasis) Tomorrow, we open our doors and begin preparing and serving organic gourmet food to our hungry customers at noon.
March 3, 2015
Tuesdays and Fridays are our Cafe days in which we prepare and serve food. Today, we prepared Mediterranean/Israeli dish consisting of Falafel and salad dribbled in cucumber sauce along with yellow soup and hummus. The refreshment is almost always a green juice made from blended fruits, vegetables, and micro-greens. I chopped off some wheat grass first and added lots of apples with slices of ginger. (A few pears too) The Falafel was made by combining nuts and seeds and setting them in a dehydrator for more than 24 hours. The dessert was yummy Chia pudding. We served food at noon to very excited and grateful customers who ate the last bite. Tips and donations were given. I ate the meal myself and it was a unique and tasty experience. Interestingly, everything was raw and uncooked. If you walk in the doorway and gaze near on the door leading to the kitchen, you'll see a sign that states fruits and vegetables lose most of their nutrients after being cooked above 118 F. Not only their meals are not cooked, but their products Turtle Lake sells as well! I'll be witness to that tomorrow when we assemble items to be sold.
March 4, 2015
It began as a slow day with few people around. For the beginning three hours I spent time wrapping products to be sent across the United States and some even in different countries. (One of them was being sent to Stockholm, Sweden!!) Orders were combinations of Katrina Blaire's (The owner) published book with potions of greens and fruits. I worked on packaging a "superfood" powder consisting of several green plants powderized and poured in a small jar. At noon, Cara, an employee, came in and we started preparing two more goods. One of them was raspberry macaroons with coconut. I aided by plopping the mixture onto trays. The trays were then sent to a dehydrator. (A dehydrator is an appliance that removes water or moisture from food through a heating process.) Afterwards, we prepared "Nori chips". Sunflower seeds were soaked and added into a food processor with poured green juice. Eventually, that was spread across seaweed sheets and sent to the dehydrator as well.
March 5, 2015
I helped package foods of the Turtle Lake Refuge store. I began with labeling granola bars and printing off new ones with the printer. Afterwards, I aided everyone in cooking future goodies products. One of them was these cute granola hearts called, "Mesquite Cacao Hearts" filled with oats, walnuts, cashews, honey, cacao, carob, mesquite, raspberry leaf, buckwheat groats, vanilla, and salt! I pushed the contents in a heart shape cookie cutter and did about 25.
March 6, 2015
Today, I started off chopping up carrots within the food processor but moved outside to clean trays. This took pretty much the entire day. I used a hose to clean off any excess mud for several trays used for microgreens to grow. I must have cleaned more than fifty trays. For the last few minutes, I swept clean the outside concrete entrance. I also tried the apple crisp desert which was YUM YUM. The trays were then dipped in a garbage can of cleaner to be sanitized. (I wish I could expand but it was a really quiet day with me doing just one thing.)
March 9, 2015
I spent the majority of the day harvesting microgreens. The microgreens I picked included the Sunnies, Buckwheat, and Peas. We cut their stems, cleaned them up, bagged them, and weighed them to be sent to local stores and schools.
March 10, 2015
Today is lunch day, so I spent a great deal preparing and some serving. Lunch was salad with guacomole spread and nutmeg spread. I made the mistake of adding too much avocados but it was sort of a happy accident because of the extra we were able to serve.
March 11, 2015
There was no one at Turtle Lake Refuge today, so I was excused to work on my project at the library! I aimed general at first, looking up various healthy foods and how it nourishes the body. (Specifically fruit and greens like blueberries and lettuces.) I dug into different resources to explore the lifestyle of veganism as well.
March 12, 2015
I got a visit from Steve (Physics teacher of Animas High School) as a check up during microgreen harvesting. I explained how my progress was going and what this experience was doing to benefit me and my project. Turtle Lake offers many insights on nutrition but not on the specific physiological and chemical effects. Because of this, I'm doing outside research on my own to explore specific nutrients fruits, vegetables, and seeds offer.
March 13, 2015
I visited for about an hour but soon left due to feeling ill. I am making up this day by working until 4:00 PM for all of next week.
March 16, 2015
TODAY, we harvested more and more microgreens for over six hours. Yay. I also helped make granola with an intern, Morgan, from middle school. The granola was delicious! It had this unique dried fruit with a tart flavor. (I forgot what it was called.)
March 17, 2015
There was a lunch day with lemon desert, salad, mushroom soup. The lemon desert was comprised of grain crumbs with lemon cream smothered on top. The salad was kale and other lettuce drizzled in sauce. The mushroom soup was obviously comprised of mushroom, other flavors, and water.
March 18, 2015
This was one of the best days of my experience. I had the oppurtunity to visit the actual Turtle Lake Refuge farm as well as Katrina's beautiful handmade house! I started mixing mulches soon to be inserted in tiny pots for new seedlings. I planted a variety of squashes and melons. The technique was to add two seeds in each pot to ensure growth. We even used coconut shells for planting. (Isn't the Earth's natural recyclable processes interesting?) I took a break and entered Katrina's great home. We had a heart to heart discussion about her life and experiences. She went to college and earned a Master's degree in biology. However, her business did not require college. We discussed her solar heat powered appliances and how it worked. We had organic tea complete with raw honey and fresh milk using her solar heat powered appliances. I knew I had to take pictures of her house so I took well over 50! I explored more of the farm complete with sheds and yurts. At the end of the day I moved cardboard boxes.
March 19, 2015
Today, I began harvesting microgreens again for a couple hours. Afterwards, I was preparing to work on the farm again, however, it started raining so I had to return. When I came back, all members of Turtle Lake Refuge had an all cafe clean-up. We cleaned around the window seals, the floors, the shelves, and the kitchen.
March 20, 2015
Ah, last day. For my last day I went through the usual routine with a side of something new. Entering the kitchen, I diced several bell peppers in preparation for lunch. There were a lot but soon enough I was done. I said my goodbyes
My Internship takes place in the unique and healthy setting of Turtle Lake Refuge. Turtle Lake Refuge functions as a vegan restaurant and a farm. They grow all of their botanical ingredients either within the downtown residence or at their outside garden near Turtle Lake. The foundations for several of the recipes are all organic and majority of them homegrown! They sell their homegrown items to several places in Durango including natural markets and public schools. Their goals are to emphasize the important connection between personal health and wild land. Members are Turtle Lake Refuge are especially dedicated, considering they transport using a vehicle run on vegetable oil. They also use a bicycle-powered blender and wheatgrass juicer and utilize a solar powered dehydrator. Turtle Lake Refuge is a very informative and exciting place to be!
Project: Studying the nutrients and effects of Turtle Lake Refuge's garden plants and recipes.
DAILY LOG:
March 2, 2015
Today, I met to the friendly and courteous owner and employees at Turtle Lake. Katrina Blaire, the owner, introduced the facilitation of a harvesting work day. I put on my apron and immediately set to work. We worked on removing micro-greens from their pots. Micro-greens are the shoots of vegetable plants that are harvested right after the leaves begin to sprout and before the vegetables grow. I spent a good two and a half hours snipping the roots and cleaning sunflower sprouts (Sunnies). We pull the sprout up (before it grows the flower) to appreciate the nutritious edible stems that often go unnoticed. The next three hours, I cleared and cleaned off the seeds of a plant called, "Buckwheat". Its lower stem limb has a light pretty pink shade and the texture of the leaves is thin and soft. Even though you can add them to a recipe, you can eat these plants raw! Afterwards, we bagged up our picked plants, weighed them, and stuck them in a basket to be sent to local stores. (Specifically Nature's Oasis) Tomorrow, we open our doors and begin preparing and serving organic gourmet food to our hungry customers at noon.
March 3, 2015
Tuesdays and Fridays are our Cafe days in which we prepare and serve food. Today, we prepared Mediterranean/Israeli dish consisting of Falafel and salad dribbled in cucumber sauce along with yellow soup and hummus. The refreshment is almost always a green juice made from blended fruits, vegetables, and micro-greens. I chopped off some wheat grass first and added lots of apples with slices of ginger. (A few pears too) The Falafel was made by combining nuts and seeds and setting them in a dehydrator for more than 24 hours. The dessert was yummy Chia pudding. We served food at noon to very excited and grateful customers who ate the last bite. Tips and donations were given. I ate the meal myself and it was a unique and tasty experience. Interestingly, everything was raw and uncooked. If you walk in the doorway and gaze near on the door leading to the kitchen, you'll see a sign that states fruits and vegetables lose most of their nutrients after being cooked above 118 F. Not only their meals are not cooked, but their products Turtle Lake sells as well! I'll be witness to that tomorrow when we assemble items to be sold.
March 4, 2015
It began as a slow day with few people around. For the beginning three hours I spent time wrapping products to be sent across the United States and some even in different countries. (One of them was being sent to Stockholm, Sweden!!) Orders were combinations of Katrina Blaire's (The owner) published book with potions of greens and fruits. I worked on packaging a "superfood" powder consisting of several green plants powderized and poured in a small jar. At noon, Cara, an employee, came in and we started preparing two more goods. One of them was raspberry macaroons with coconut. I aided by plopping the mixture onto trays. The trays were then sent to a dehydrator. (A dehydrator is an appliance that removes water or moisture from food through a heating process.) Afterwards, we prepared "Nori chips". Sunflower seeds were soaked and added into a food processor with poured green juice. Eventually, that was spread across seaweed sheets and sent to the dehydrator as well.
March 5, 2015
I helped package foods of the Turtle Lake Refuge store. I began with labeling granola bars and printing off new ones with the printer. Afterwards, I aided everyone in cooking future goodies products. One of them was these cute granola hearts called, "Mesquite Cacao Hearts" filled with oats, walnuts, cashews, honey, cacao, carob, mesquite, raspberry leaf, buckwheat groats, vanilla, and salt! I pushed the contents in a heart shape cookie cutter and did about 25.
March 6, 2015
Today, I started off chopping up carrots within the food processor but moved outside to clean trays. This took pretty much the entire day. I used a hose to clean off any excess mud for several trays used for microgreens to grow. I must have cleaned more than fifty trays. For the last few minutes, I swept clean the outside concrete entrance. I also tried the apple crisp desert which was YUM YUM. The trays were then dipped in a garbage can of cleaner to be sanitized. (I wish I could expand but it was a really quiet day with me doing just one thing.)
March 9, 2015
I spent the majority of the day harvesting microgreens. The microgreens I picked included the Sunnies, Buckwheat, and Peas. We cut their stems, cleaned them up, bagged them, and weighed them to be sent to local stores and schools.
March 10, 2015
Today is lunch day, so I spent a great deal preparing and some serving. Lunch was salad with guacomole spread and nutmeg spread. I made the mistake of adding too much avocados but it was sort of a happy accident because of the extra we were able to serve.
March 11, 2015
There was no one at Turtle Lake Refuge today, so I was excused to work on my project at the library! I aimed general at first, looking up various healthy foods and how it nourishes the body. (Specifically fruit and greens like blueberries and lettuces.) I dug into different resources to explore the lifestyle of veganism as well.
March 12, 2015
I got a visit from Steve (Physics teacher of Animas High School) as a check up during microgreen harvesting. I explained how my progress was going and what this experience was doing to benefit me and my project. Turtle Lake offers many insights on nutrition but not on the specific physiological and chemical effects. Because of this, I'm doing outside research on my own to explore specific nutrients fruits, vegetables, and seeds offer.
March 13, 2015
I visited for about an hour but soon left due to feeling ill. I am making up this day by working until 4:00 PM for all of next week.
March 16, 2015
TODAY, we harvested more and more microgreens for over six hours. Yay. I also helped make granola with an intern, Morgan, from middle school. The granola was delicious! It had this unique dried fruit with a tart flavor. (I forgot what it was called.)
March 17, 2015
There was a lunch day with lemon desert, salad, mushroom soup. The lemon desert was comprised of grain crumbs with lemon cream smothered on top. The salad was kale and other lettuce drizzled in sauce. The mushroom soup was obviously comprised of mushroom, other flavors, and water.
March 18, 2015
This was one of the best days of my experience. I had the oppurtunity to visit the actual Turtle Lake Refuge farm as well as Katrina's beautiful handmade house! I started mixing mulches soon to be inserted in tiny pots for new seedlings. I planted a variety of squashes and melons. The technique was to add two seeds in each pot to ensure growth. We even used coconut shells for planting. (Isn't the Earth's natural recyclable processes interesting?) I took a break and entered Katrina's great home. We had a heart to heart discussion about her life and experiences. She went to college and earned a Master's degree in biology. However, her business did not require college. We discussed her solar heat powered appliances and how it worked. We had organic tea complete with raw honey and fresh milk using her solar heat powered appliances. I knew I had to take pictures of her house so I took well over 50! I explored more of the farm complete with sheds and yurts. At the end of the day I moved cardboard boxes.
March 19, 2015
Today, I began harvesting microgreens again for a couple hours. Afterwards, I was preparing to work on the farm again, however, it started raining so I had to return. When I came back, all members of Turtle Lake Refuge had an all cafe clean-up. We cleaned around the window seals, the floors, the shelves, and the kitchen.
March 20, 2015
Ah, last day. For my last day I went through the usual routine with a side of something new. Entering the kitchen, I diced several bell peppers in preparation for lunch. There were a lot but soon enough I was done. I said my goodbyes
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