On Thursday September 28th I spent my afternoon and early evening at the Organic Farm located at the University of Guelph’s campus. Upon arriving at the farm, the weekly market had already commenced, and many people were lined up with their fresh goods waiting to pay for their produce. I quickly found Martha to say hello and ask her how she would need my help, and because the market was so busy with customers as Thanksgiving was approaching, she named off a few tasks that I could lend a hand in!
The first task that I helped with was watering flowers and making bouquets for customers. The arrangement of the thriving and intense colour of the flowers immediately attracted my eye, and many people crowded the table. I spent some time ensuring that the buckets holding the flowers had enough water and filling the ones that were low. I arranged the flowers nicely in the buckets so their pedals wouldn’t be damaged.
When arranging bouquets, the customer would choose out their flowers and allow me to cut them to their desired height before wrapping soaked newspapers around the stems and placing them carefully in a bag. I found this activity very interesting because it was my first time ever making a bouquet and I was happy to please each customer with a unique bouquet. I enjoyed learning the care and ‘packaging’ process of the flowers, and I even found it quite relaxing!
Another activity I helped with was the layout and display of the produce at the Organic Farm. This was something that I took great interest in, especially because of my experience in retail and merchandising.
When Martha noticed that some vegetables were not selling as quickly as others, she gave me the task of displaying the bins of vegetables to look the most presentable for the customers eye. This meant lifting bins of produce from underneath tables, where they couldn’t be seen, and placing them on table tops where they were more accessible. After, it was much easier for customers to find what they were looking for!
The next display I did was remove vegetables from bins that obstructed the customers view, and place them neatly and attractively on the tabletop. Martha had explained to us that when the leeks are held in bins or buckets they don’t sell very well, and they needed to be arranged to look desirable to the customer. The leeks in the photo below were arranged on the table by myself and a fellow classmate who took great interest in making sure the produce could be visible! When arranging vegetables, I learned that is very important to pay attention to where they are being placed and the conditions around them. Martha showed us the proper way to keep kale to preserve it for as long as possible and told us to be careful when displaying the kale because they cannot be left in the sun. To ensure that your kale thrives for as long as possible they must be placed in the shade with damp clothes over top. This helps keep them cool and out of the sun at any cost.
The final activity of the day, and possibly my favourite, was harvesting kidney beans. When Martha asked who would come down to the field with her to pick Kidney beans I was beyond excited. I had no prior experience with harvesting the kidney bean and I was excited to learn the process. When arriving at the field containing the beans I was confused when everything within the fence line looked dead. Surprisingly, on taking a closer look, little brown and dry bean pods were hanging limply off the plants. I was shown the correct way of harvesting them and I quickly got to work. Tearing the entire plants out of the ground, hanging them upside down, and picking off the bean pods, kept me busy for quite sometime. If I didn’t have a 7:00pm lecture to attend that evening I’m sure I would have been there all-night harvesting, learning, and destressing on the farm.
Spending time at the Organic Farm was an amazing learning experience for me. I was able to learn a lot of new things and take a break from school work and the rest of campus at the same time. Because I come from a small rural town, I really enjoyed having the opportunity to go to the farm on my free time to lend a helping hand. As busy as the market got at times, I was able to talk, connect with, and meet many people from the University of Guelph and the community. I learned of different vegetables I had never heard of or tried before, and some different ways to cook different vegetables. I was lucky enough to take home some carrots, squash, onions, and garlic from the farm thanks to Martha, who was always pleasant and happy to share with me her knowledge. I will definitely be returning to the Organic Farm soon!
Written by: Bethany Green