On Wednesday October 8th, students hurried off campus to head back home for their fall break. 10 students, including myself, and two staff members stayed behind as they chose to participate in FallSERVE. Instead of going home to friends and family, they headed to Valatie, New York to help out with a Community Garden at the St. Joseph’s Center.
This Community Garden is an initiative of the Brothers of the Congregation of Holy Cross and this was the first time the trip was an option for FallSERVE. Prior to their actual trip, student coordinator Susan Prentice and SERVE coordinator Leanne Mazurick held weekly meetings to get the students acquainted with one another and give some background information on the community garden.
Seniors Susan Prentice and Christina Curcio; Juniors Stacey Lauffer, Sarah Hester, Dustin Lusby and Adam Hellyer and Freshmen Giancarlo DiLonardo, Kayla Brandriff and Kris Kelly were the students chosen to go on the trip.
eanna Mazurick, the director of Volunteer Services, and Kelly Gibbons from the Human Resources Department were also in attendance. They departed at 4 PM from the Office of Volunteer Services and embarked on a four hour ride to upstate New York. They arrived at 8 PM and the next morning got to work.
“It was nice to get a chance to work outside,” says Hellyer. “I really liked harvesting.”
The students had two days to help farmers Paul and Kelly Hess weed and remove black plastic from the strawberry fields, harvest a variety of vegetables and put together orders for their customers. The purpose of the black plastic was to make their vegetables organic. Many farms use harmful herbicides and pesticides that aren’t good for people to consume. Making vegetables organic is the farmer’s way of showing they care about their customers and the manner in which their food is grown.
Harvesting included picking the vegetables from the fields, washing them off, and preparing them to be sold to customers and at the farmers market. Students had a chance to harvest radishes, potatoes and kale along with others.
“The trip was eye-opening because I didn’t realize how much work went into farming,” says Hester. “I learned how organic is better for your health and how important it is to support local farms.”
Each day of the trip ended with nightly reflections allowing students to share what they enjoyed most about their day as well as new things they learned. One evening they had the chance to watch The Future of Food which explained the importance of local food and how dangerous food can be to consume if not treated properly.
On the last day of their trip, students took a break from the work and attended a local farmers market in a neighboring town. After the farmers market, students made a trip to Harvest Valley Farms for a festival. Here, students enjoyed live music, saw farm animals, enjoyed some food and even had the opportunity to get their faces painted. On the bus ride back to King’s, students had a chance to reflect on their experience.
“I learned how important it is to think about sustainability and how our individual decisions can affect the future of food,” says Curcio.
The Valatie trip proved to be a success. Students really enjoyed the education value of the trip but also the nice weather and the opportunity to help farmers.
“The best way to learn something is to go out of your comfort zone and do something you’ve never done before,” says Lusby. |
