Hi! I’m Josie McCarthy. I’m a rising junior majoring in Landscape Contracting. This summer and fall, I’ll be working at the Student Farm as an intern in the 2025 cohort!
While I was raised right here in State College, I grew up traveling to my aunt & uncle’s farm in Penn’s Valley, a few towns over. They own a small, organic vegetable farm similar to this one. Nestled in-between rolling hills and cow pastures, I found my love of agriculture by sneaking handfuls of raspberries and racing to the top of towering pallets of ProMix with my cousins. Once I was old enough, I started working for Patchwork at the farmer’s markets in State College, and spent my summers doing field work.
My connection to Patchwork Farm taught me how much I love working on a farm, and the sense of community that comes from sharing good food. So when I came to Penn State, I knew I wanted to get involved at the Student Farm as much as I could.
This internship is a great way to expand upon my knowledge of growing practices, and I’ve already learned so much! The Student Farm uses many tools and organizational systems that differ from what I have experience with, and it’s been great to compare the different ways that farms can be run. I also love that the Student Farm has a mission of connecting with the community. Some of the things I’m most excited about are leading group tours and helping with events. It’s exciting to see how many people are interested in being involved with the farm.
Moving forward, I’d like to combine my experience with vegetable production with my degree in landscape design to incorporate edible and medicinal plants into landscapes (commonly called “foodscaping”). I think that having a way to produce your own food, even just some of it, is such a rewarding and empowering experience. I hope to make that as accessible as possible for others!