I cannot explain how frustrating it is to learn about nature while confined in a packed, dim lecture hall. I find myself gazing out the window at the trees and daydreaming about being in the sun. So you can imagine how elated I was to hear that my Environmental Studies 203 class was required to go gardening one Saturday at one of the FOOD for Lane County gardens. I have always been pretty comfortable in dirt. When I was in elementary school, I collected worms as pets, and in my second year of college, I still love picking them up to freak out my friends.
I had been ready to garden since the beginning of the term, and in week 7, it was finally time. Waking up at eight in the morning on a Saturday was easy knowing what was ahead. I got my grubbiest clothes on and headed out.
FOOD for Lane County is a wonderful program that distributes food to people in need. Most of the food comes from donations; however, they also have three gardens for producing and harvesting food: Churchill, Grassroots, and the Youth farm. Each garden has specified volunteer hours. My class volunteered at Churchill on that gloomy Saturday morning, which is about fifteen minutes away from campus. I was pleased with the nice setup, and volunteers scattered everywhere, happily working away on the plants.
I instantly claimed the job of harvesting bok choy since I had recently recieved a bag of bok choy seeds in the mail from my plant-expert uncle. With no hesitation, I kneeled in the dirt and dug my bare hands in. And so it began, cutting one plant, then another, and another. It wasn’t quite the messy adventure that I had expected. But as I made small talk with other volunteers and found my harvesting rhythm, this experience turned out better than I had expected. It was almost meditative. I was calm, I felt connected with the earth, and I knew I was volunteering for a great cause. I moved seamlessly on to prepping the plant bed, planting onions, and finally to harvesting spinach until suddenly it was time to go. I could not believe how quickly the day had gone. We had been there for three hours, but it felt like only one.
Gathering in a circle, our class asked one of the garden’s employees questions for our required essay. But I only had one question: How soon can I come back?
(Photo Credit: John Loo)