Service Learning Post #2

Finally we have some nice weather after the stormy weekend and pretty much all last week. The weather was perfect while a dozen or so UNCA students helped harvest and work on the Lord's Acre. This was my third time time out there and this time I got to do even more than the last couple times. We separated cloves of garlic for seed harvesting, which is way harder than it sounds. I am a garlic fanatic. I asked Sarah, one of the interns there, if it was possible to grow garlic in my apartment. Possibly on a window sill since that's the only actual sunlit area I could 'plant' something. She suggested it would be better if I grew herbs instead because garlic has long roots which would take up my whole window almost.

Academically there are social and agricultural lessons to learn at the Lord's Acre that can't be pulled from a text. There are so many different ways to grow food in the demo garden. From growing straight out of hay bails to using the natural lay of the land to get the most out of rainfall. From the picture above you can just see how amazing the garden looks with the help of volunteers from all over the community.

Getting to interact with other students outside of school isn't something I get to do much with my busy schedule. It was awesome to be able to sit around and get to know more about some of the students while helping out at the same time. I learned a lot about the way certain plants are grown, and actually getting to see the man-power that goes into cultivating those amazing crops was enlightening. I always knew it took a lot of work but getting to see it first hand solidified it.

There's always room for improvement no matter where we go. Someone is always in need of help. I will strive to continue helping my community wherever I live. I won't always be here in Asheville but at least when I leave here I'll know that I helped contribute to make it a better place than it already was when I first came here.