I am one of three directors at Camp DeSoto, Inc.

, where Allison Bosma is working to fulfill her

internship requirements for your program. Though I work as a team with the other directors, the
kitchen is my responsibility so I have enjoyed working with Allison, learning from her, and having
my understanding of our food services strengthened.
Though Allison entered this internship with remarkable experience in food services, her learning
curve for our situation was cooking farm to table for 300. She is a very quick study and I have to
remind myself that she came in here with little to no experience managing a kitchen in a farm to
table model.
Something that struck me about Allison and the way she works is that upon her arrival she
identified some key resources and established working relationships with those people:
the head of food services at our brother camp whose dining hall operates very similarly to
ours
a local woman knowledgeable and experienced in farm to table cooking for 60 to 250
local farmers who provide Camp DeSoto with produce, fruit, pork, and eggs
Allison has weekly meetings with the farmers and her local farm-to-table resource. Before our
season started, she met with the head chef at our brother camp, interviewed her about every aspect
of the job, and even went and observed her kitchen at meal times.
I was impressed with the way she identified her teachers immediately and purposed to establish
those relationships before doing anything else. I was impressed with how astute she was in
knowing who her resources were she chose very well. Because she brought strong
cooking/kitchen/management skills to the job, it was very interesting to see her establish her
support system readily and maintain those relationships throughout her time here. (She is now at
the halfway point of her internship.)
Allison arrived knowing what she didnt know. She knows the questions to ask to get any job done.
Her job with us is multifaceted because the food is closely tied to our program. Thus, she is
coordinating (and adapting to) the unpredictability of a gardens harvest, a camp schedule that is
affected by weather, long-standing traditional southern menus for special events, and a host of
dietary concerns without well-established infrastructure to facilitate serving those concerns. She
has seemed to embrace the challenges that come with the givens of our dining hall and has known
great success in her work here.
Marsha Hurt
Director, Camp DeSoto, Inc.
P.O. Box 432
Mentone, AL 35984
256-643-4394
marsha@campdesoto.com