CP Day 5

This was our last day of volunteering at Potrero Nuevo Farm. We started with some weeding of course, near they rosemary garden. After our hard work of weeding, Suzie let us into the strawberry field saying that it would be a competition among all of us to see who can eat the most strawberries. We all ran inside the field and ate several of them. They were as delicious as ever. It was a great way to end our volunteering experience at the strawberry field because this is where we first started on our first day by weeding. We ended it watching these strawberries grow and tasting them. Volunteering at the farm made me realize how must I truly enjoy being out in nature and spending my time in the environment where I am contributing to my community.  It was so peaceful and honestly a great de stressor from school. I was really able to appreciate farming and the time and effort farmers take to do what they do. I don’t want to end my volunteering at the farm just this class ended. Even over the summer, Erika and I plan on going to help out at the farm and to continue to have the relationship with Jay and Suize and continue to contribute to our community.

 

CP Day 4

Day four, this was another day filled with weeding. We mainly worked with Suzie today because Jay was feeling a little under the weather. This was another rough and tough day at the farm. We were taken to the fruit trees where we spent hours weeding. There was a point when the weeds were so overgrown that we were crawling on the ground and the weeds were poking at us at every angle. Although it seemed like a lot of work, which it was, it was still a lot of fun. We had long conversations with Suzie about her life and how she met Jay. I thought it was the funniest stories of them all because she actually hit Jay with a shovel to get his attention. Having conversations with everyone just made it a lot more interactive and more fun because nowadays people are so busy with their own lives and techonology that no one takes the time to have heart to heart conversations. To end the day, we got to taste the strawberries that we worked with on the first day of our volunteering. These strawberries were so delicious and fresh. The fruits and vegetables here always taste so amazing.

CP Day 3

On our third day we went to the farm, Jay was not actually there this time so we worked with Suzie the entire day. When we got there we focused on picking up all the dried up lavender on that field. The smell of the lavender was always so refreshing. After this was the hardest part of the day. Erika and I did some intense hoing and weeding which gave us blisters between our inner thumbs and index fingers. This also made my arms very sore the next morning, I truly felt like I a farmer doing hard manual labor. After such intensive work Suzie took us around the farm to taste different vegetables and fruits. We also did this cool, amazing asparagus challenge where we had to eat the asparagus from the ground without using our hands. I don’t think I have ever even tried asparagus as much as I did this day because it was so delicious!!!! Ever since then I always got asparagus in the school cafeteria even though it was not as tasty as it was in the farm. I got to pull out a carrot from the ground and this again tasted so good. This wrapped up day 3!

 

CP Day 2

On our second day of farming, the projects and things we worked on the farm was a little different because it was raining. The first thing we worked on was weeding near the rosemary garden then moved on to weed in another garden where they had planted artichoke and rhubarb. They let us pluck the rhubarb from the garden and taste it. It would this super sour taste, I wasn’t the biggest fan of it compared to the other. It also makes sense as to why this is used to make jams. Then we went back to the strawberry field to see the progress of them from the last week we had been there. It was crazy to me to see that we can actually start seeing the strawberries growing within a week because I had expected it to have taken about like two  or three weeks to actually see any progress on it. We were also able to meet one of the owners of the farm, Christine. She led us to the asparagus and was explaining the differences between the purple and the green ones. She also showed us around the orchids. Around this time, the rain started to pick up so we were led to the greenhouse to do some work. Here we made sure all the tray tables were sturdy and pulled more weeds. Didn’t know how much hard work weeding was until today. Never really assumed so much work is put into farming. We also laid down new crops on these beds that they wanted to grow for the next couple of weeks. This was the end of day two, and it was a good one too except for the rain.

CP Day 1

At first, I was really hesitant to volunteer my time at a farm and was not really looking forward to digging or planting plants. However my entire experience and viewpoint after my first day completely changed. It actually took us longer than expected to reach there because it was difficult to find. As soon as we got there we were welcomed by Jay and Suzie the farm managers who were so warm and kind. We also met bear, this giant dog that is super adorable. This made all my nervousness and thoughts of me not wanting to volunteer here disappear. First they gave us a small tour of the farm and told us the type of work they do for the community and with the volunteers. This day, we picked and pulled weeds where the strawberries were planted so they wouldn’t be hindered in their growing process. We also learned about compost tea and Ahmed actually watered the strawberries with that. As we weeded we talked about college and got to know about Jay’s and Suzie’s lives a little bit. There was no cellphone signal which was great because we were spending time in the moment and it was nice to get away from school and life. Overall it was a wonderful first trip especially of the previous judgments I had before.

 

Blog #9

At Potrero Nuevo Farm, it is not really mentioned exactly if they get funding from outside organizations especially because they do so much for the community without asking for much back. However, I do know that POST helps with land protection and conserving it as well. Students from alternative high schools come throughout the week to help out on the farm land with planting, weeding and watering.  Potrero Nuevo Farm is mainly based on helping out the community. They are connected with Table of Plenty to help serve food for the needy. This farm also helps with providing food not only for the homeless but also for low income individuals. I am not too sure if Table of Plenty gives back to the farm or not. Potrero Nuevo Farm relies heavily on volunteers because they don’t have much funding from outside either by private or public companies. Because of this they are hindered without being able to hire more harmers to help them out on the land.

 

 

Blog 4

What is Subsidiarity? I think that the main idea of what subsidiarity is so that people feel like they have a voice and they matter in society. It is where political decisions are usually made through a central authority but it should be made more at a local level so that people feel more included in the process of making change. Also, the issues, problems, and solutions that arise should be handled by a least, lowest and smallest centralized authority in incorporate a sense of community.

While reading in the book, devolution means the delegation of power and programs from the federal to state and local governments. I feel like this relates a lot on subsidiarity  when it lets the local government like communities and neighborhoods make executive decisions so that they feel like they are in the process of bringing/creating change within their communities.

Devolution in Kenya dealt with local governments having control over changing laws instead of a higher government. this gives the people what they need and want in their society instead of having a higher power decide what is best for them. Also, in Kenya ever since devolution occurred  a lot of things have been improving because of less outside control and more inside control.