Air's Wild Acres
Small goats and small batch cheesemaking on a small farm, all with big laughs.
Category: Education
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Earth Week Action Items: Partnering to Motivate Change
I need to start this post with a disclaimer: I make a lot of mistakes. I’m human, and we’re subject to a variety of outside forces that will affect our likes, dislikes, personal biases, economic situation, decision-making processes, etc. etc. Too, I recognize that everyone has different value sets and priorities, and what works for…
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“I’m going to be a good food farmer,” but with the help of my friends
As an extrovert, I thrive on the type of informal exchanges I can have via good conversation with people: the sharing of good ideas and excitement, gaining motivation to continue in fields that can be somewhat daunting at times, getting feedback on how to move forward on a project, etc. Having the opportunity, then,…
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Post highlight: Nerds Without Borders!
I went to a conference last week, the World Food Prize, which had a strong theme regarding #WomeninSTEM, and encouraging young students to enter agricultural development. However, I really struggle with that dialogue sometimes, as typically the people discussing those topics are older, very successful, and only talk about the highlights of their careers. As…
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Money isn’t everything when it comes to conservation
Lately, there has been a great deal of coverage on pollinator health in the media, and the need for conservation of bees in particular. Obviously, as a conservationist and an interdisciplinary agricultural professional, I am strongly in support of conserving any species, especially those with huge economic impacts in agriculture, like the pollinators. However, I…
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Entomological Society of America (ESA) Science Policy Fellows do DC!
Increasingly, funding for science research is fairly tight, and many professional societies and higher education institutions have begun programs to advocate on Capitol Hill for their fields. The Entomological Society of America (ESA) began a Science Policy Fellowship program in 2014, selecting 5 individuals (myself amongst them) to advocate on the Hill, learn about policy,…
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Resources for the job search.
Although I don’t necessarily suggest doing so because of the likelihood that career anxiety may follow, I make somewhat of a hobby of searching for jobs. Since my days as a Peer Advisor for the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources at UC Davis, I’ve enjoyed keeping abreast of the type of opportunities that…
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Creative connections
I love the website Brain Pickings. This, in particular, is pretty fantastic in thinking about identity and how we come to create knowledge: “The idea that in order for us to truly create and contribute to the world, we have to be able to connect countless dots, to cross-pollinate ideas from a wealth of disciplines,…
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Camel spiders for the win!
Since I’m writing and analyzing my data these days, and haven’t spent hardly any time in the field since 2013, I figured it would be a nice time to have a #flashbackfriday to a video I took of a Solifugid eating a waxworm. Solifugids are amazing little animals, something I could have only dreamed of…
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Monarchs at our Great Insect Fair!
For many years, Penn State’s Department of Entomology has collaborated with community partners to deliver a very large outreach event every year, the Great Insect Fair! It’s a wonderful time to share our work with families, friends, and the community. I spent the morning in the butterfly tent, with live monarchs. A few pictures below!
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Patterns and pastures.
In the recent weeks, I passed my comprehensive exam, visited with a fantastic Carabidae specialist at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History (another #loveyourtaxonomist post is likely to follow about this trip), and camped at one of the most beautiful places in PA (“It feels like we are hiking into ‘The Hobbit!’” said a young hiker…
Air's Wild Acres 