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.

 

 

Blog 8

Potrero Nuevo Farm makes some of it profit from partnering with different companies like Abundant Grace Coastside Worker. The farm would donate some of it’s land to seed, harvest and use the farm’s equipment so that they are able to further their mission of helping homeless low-income communities. I feel like this would relate most to our hallmark six because it talks about creating a community among those that work together and the ones that are going to be served. It is honoring friendship as a fundamental value for learning community relationships as there are community building activities among the members part of the community. Potrero Nuevo Farm fits well with this Hallmark because they are partnering with another association that is trying to help better the community. While they are doing that, they are creating bonds of friendships when they allow the Coastside Worker individuals to use the farm to harvest and seed together. Bonds are also being created when food is being distributed to the homeless and the low income communities. There is a sense of interactive and collaborative educational experiences when this Farm also partners with schools to teach kids how to farm and why the farm is important and what they do for the community and without farms individuals would not be getting produce. It is creating a community as a whole with several other different communities coming together by doing farming activities together.

Blog 7

Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) is trying to save local farms through donors which helps support having clean water and air, locally grown good, scenic beauty and a place for wildlife and people to flourish. The farms that POST protect are generally private and they announced Farmland Futures Initiative (FFI) where they deal with legal land protection, land acquisition, and strategic investments in farmland infrastructure. Their main goal is to triple the amount of farmland acreage and farm that are already protected. The FFI work with willing landowners to preserve or buy land with legal protections called conservation easements. These easements let the land remain in agricultural production while they are helping to fight and removing threats of development while protecting natural resources. The council of Land Trust of California is legally protecting Potrero Nuevo Farm through conservation easements. These councils of government have a liberating collection of local governments that increases coordination and communication within a certain area. This creates a neutral forum where leaders from local areas which are able to come together to discuss and diagnose problems of common worries. Councils have considerably increased and improved the operational capacity of rural local governments by providing facility to small local jurisdictions that cannot afford to hire specialized staff. All states in the U.S. have a department of community affairs where they have antipoverty programs. Potrero Nuevo farm donates part of its use of the land, farm equipment, harvest support and seed, and other materials to feed the homeless and the low income worker communities. Hence, why the council found it substantial to save the farms and help them be protected

 

 

 

Early adopter of an easement that will guarantee agricultural land production in San Mateo County.

Blog Topic #6

1. What are the three principal functions of legislature?
   1. Policymaking, representation and oversight are the three principal functions of legislature.
2. How would you characterize the lawmaking process?
   1. The lawmaking process is tough because it is very difficult for laws/bills to get passed because it is either delayed or obstructed. Any member of Congress can introduce a bill but any bill pertaining to taxes or spending money then only members of the House can introduce such bills. However, both the houses has to pass identical versions of the bill. After the bill is introduced, each bill would be given for review by a committee where it is decided if the bill is worthy or not. If it is, then it will be sent to the other house, if not it fails. Then the joint committee work have to both agree on the bill. Then the Vice President and the Speaker of the House has to sign the bill before they can send it to the president. Then the President decides if the bill can become a law or he can veto it so the bill will not pass. Because of the long process and having so many individuals trying to agree on a bill makes it difficult for one law to get passed. Looking on the bright side, this difficult system of lawmaking process allows our country to not make laws or pass bills that are irrelevant.