This week was extremely taxing, beginning with an illness and subsequent trip to the emergency room on Monday. I returned to school on Wednesday but found myself still so physically and mentally exhausted that I could not commit to joining the farm for volunteer hours. Instead, I spent Wednesday afternoon in the community garden, sitting on the ground, weeding, seeding, and enjoying the company of friends who joined me for my light labor.
My fellow intern Zoe Dewitt, as well as students Laura Reusche and Ali Bailey met in the garden at 2:30pm and spent a few moments catching up and making a plan. We dove into weeding one of the most overgrown beds, creating space for seeding intercropped carrots and onions, as well as an endcap of colorful, spicy nasturtiums. As we worked, we discussed a little of everything: our classes, SCARF, herbalism, the tool shed, tree trimming, Ukraine, TEK, family, the housing crisis, our cats, and summer plans. By the end of our session, I realized that the work had cleared some of my mental fog and warmed-up my muscles, allowing me to walk into the rest of the week feeling much refreshed. Sticking my hands deep in the soil at the community garden is such a centering experience, and I am coming to crave my time there.
Image Credit: Sarah Dyer
In addition to my limited physical labor time this week, I’ve been assisting faculty in the food and agriculture pathway with a project: planning a food and agriculture pathway party for the end of spring quarter. To that end, I met with F&A faculty and staff this week for the purpose of organizing a graduation bouquet building party on Thursday, June 9th, followed by a fundraising sale of the bouquets to graduates on Friday, June 10th. It would be an opportunity to draw attention to the pathway, the farm, and SCARF, who has offered to support the party for a share of the fundraising profits.
On the front of SCARF this week, we are beginning to see increased student interest in membership, leadership, and volunteerism. We gained 4 new members this week and elected to enlist a fourth coordinator for our group. This solidifies our leadership structure and allows each coordinator to play to their strengths. As I lead the community garden, Zoe represents the Medieval Herb Garden, and Maleah has domain over projects in Demeter’s Garden (mirroring our internship goals); our newest coordinator Gabriel Vesenka will coordinate our club marketing and events, freeing the other coordinators to focus on accomplishing labor, like the volunteer work hours supported by the club, special maintenance, administration, etc.
We held our first official coordinator meeting on Friday and discussed SCARF’s involvement in the food and agriculture pathway party, as well as possible fundraising ideas. Additionally, Zoe and Maleah presented our budget to Student Activities on Monday afternoon, bringing us one step closer to bringing Demeter’s Garden back to life!
As a volunteer project, I have offered to assist the farm in creating a Volume II for the cookbook I wrote last year. My partner for that project is currently on a study abroad, with very little bandwidth for anything else. As opposed to waiting for her return to reprint the first book, I suggested to Beth that we add more recipes, develop new art, and reprint at a slightly more standardized size. I’m very excited for this project, as the first print is a rousing success and has not only paid for itself, but also produced profit for the farm. My current plan to elicit illustrations, the main missing component in our new enterprise, is to hold an art contest with prizes: one for best drawing and one for cover art. I’m looking forward to working on this goal over the late spring and early summer, hopefully receiving our new book in time for fall quarter and the Harvest Festival!