We have Fruits and Veggies!!!!!

Hey again this is Nay and this last week has been especially exciting. We have begun to see sprouting vegetables, blooming flowers, and beautiful berry bushes. The garden and the student farm grew overnight and started producing what appears to be  a surplus of vegetables and fruits. 

On Monday we arrived at the farm and decided it was time to buckle down and put together a stronger defense mechanism for deterring the larger animals. We started by securing the front gate and adding wire further up. We suspect this small change made a big difference because we are beginning to see smaller and smaller damage to the farm. We weeded the farm as well. The weeds are starting to have a mind of their own. However we are a very resilient group and have been thinking of ways to keep the weeds at a minimum. 

On Tuesday we got off to a late start due to severe weather. We got up to 6 inches of water in some places. The thunderstorm lasted for about four hours. We met Trisha in the Science Atrium and helped her make signs for the children's garden at the Community Garden. Nico finished the peanut butter and jelly signs,I finished the corn sign. Curtis assisted with drilling the signs in the post. Everyone seemed gloomy this day, however I blame it on the rain. We found a butterfly that seemed to have gotten into the building. I thought it was shocked but  Nico thought it was  dead. We safely placed him outside in hopes that he may wake up and be fine. Unfortunately when we returned from lunch it was still perfectly in place. Curtis Bonnie and I had an amazing time at the Community Table helping with distribution. This week, we had more  fresh food and volunteers. We ended this day by giving out massive pies and chocolate cake. 

As we met for the middle of the week we started at the farm where we planted more tomatoes and more peppers. Nico, Bonnie and I weeded the farm. After all this hard work Idecided to hike to the visitor center at the Nature Center to take a quick bathroom break. Unfortunately, my ten minute hike turned into a 30 minute hike after getting lost. However, I had my friend by my side (on the phone) helping me stay calm. I fortunately made my way back with soggy feet and a couple battle scars. When I made my very gracious return I started working on securing our defense mechanism while Bonnie, Nico and Curtis finished weeding. Very soon after Curtis and I began to mulch the aisle in between the beds to soak up the standing water from the rain we endured this week. We finished about half the farm and called it break time. We came back after lunch and met with a grounds employee, Mary Nash,about maintaining the CSE pollinator plots located behind Bobbit. 

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On Thursday we went to the garden where we found lots of things beginning to grow such as lettuce, watermelons, tomato and pepper. We got off to a very busy morning. Curtis, Kyndall and I started digging holes for potatoes.We got straight to work and strategized an assembly line. Trisha helped us once we began to fall short. We were able to plant 153 potatoes (3 different kind) by lunch time. After lunch we returned to the farm where we planted more peppers this time putting them in a controlled environment with a net over it so we can see if it would deter the smaller animals that were getting inside of the hoop house. 

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As we approached the end of a much calmer and slower week, we started off our morning strong by pulling the overgrown weeds at the farm. Curtis and I met Mr. Tabb out at the senior citizen home where we helped him move dirt. Just when we thought this would be easy the dirt was filled with “eggshells” little small styrofoam shell casings that were used to take up space. After we sorted the dirt from out of the shells we found that to be very time consuming and decided to dispose of the instead of making our job harder. Soon after we began moving beds to the Community Garden (and I picked strawberries and blueberries while Mr. Tabb and Curtis did all the heavy lifting). After that we met back up with the team and helped to finish weeding as a group. This week has been filled with new plants and meeting new people, and I’m looking forward to the rest of our service.

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