Service Learning: Farm Work Party

For my service learning, I volunteered at the EDCC campus farm on March 9th for about 2 hours. Unfortunately, it was pouring really hard that day so I wasn’t able to experience the full hands-on farm work. I met up at the hoop house where I was introduced to the event organizer, Carla Tjung (carla.tjung@email.edcc.edu) and another farmer named Marni.

The farm work party began with a quick but descriptive tour of the farm. Marla showed us the rain garden then explain its significance. Rain gardens acts as an extra storage of water as it soaks in the rain water instead of allowing it to flow into the drains. Essentially, rain gardens can also increase water quality and help pollution because rain water can carry pollutants from the streets into streams and large body of water.

Then, Marla lead us to the cultural kitchen where we met up with Anthropology students. I believed they had a special guest speaker that day and he briefly talked about his culture. A main topic that stood out was his description about the fishes available to his people. He told us that there were certain fishes his tribe could eat because others fishes were considered gods and consequences would occur if they ate one of the gods.

Finally, Marla instructed us to gather bark, clean, and replenish the farm. First, we had to rake the area where the bee’s were located and remove all the weed. Then, we filled about 5 to 6 wheelbarrows with bark and moved it to the bee’s environment. Next, we put the bark on top and raked it to level it out.

As we all may know, bee’s are towards the brink of extinction which means they are endangered. With a clean farm and healthy flowers and plants, we can provide the bee’s with nutritious meals. This will help keep them alive and help increase their population.

The goal of this experience is to teach us about the environment and how crucial little changes can affect us. Keeping the farm clean and running smoothly was the main focus in the farm work party. By maintaining a functional farm, the plants can reduce the carbon dioxide in our environment and also provide us with fresh clean air.

1)How was the rain garden designed or structured and what specific plants were used in the rain garden?

2)Are there school farms located in every college campus?

3)What varieties of crops are grown here in the garden and to whom/where are they distributed to?

4)How many bee’s live within the small cages and has Gwen thought about getting more?

PS: I didn't get any pictures of the farm because my phone was inside my backpack and I left it inside the shed since it was pouring. But I did get rewarded with a cool water bottle!