The great Guelph Organic farm is no joke. I had the pleasure of working alongside the head farmer Martha, as peers from the Outdoor school class of fall 2017 and a different variety of other students and volunteers of The University of Guelph. There is a lot you can do in just 10 hours and Martha likes to use every minute to its fullest. A farmer is a master category of multiple different subdivisions. During my 10 hours of physical demanding labour I explored the harvesting, washing, marketing and gardening aspects of farming.
One of the many different crops I was chosen to harvest was lemon grass. Lemon grass as an odor of a typical lemon. Lemon grass is often made into a tea as its oils are natural muscle relaxers. Accompanied by a 5th year student I eagerly raced down to one of the many green houses and learned to harvest lemon grass. The most efficiently and optimal way of harvesting lemon grass is to, reach down to the bottom of the stem and bend it until it snaps. As I was getting a head of myself my lack of experience delivered me a paper cut on my finger. But that did not stop me, I put on a pair of gloves and continued with my day.
With the little time I had to escape the fields, Martha had me washing,bagging and sorting different variety of vegetables for the weekly market. I used this time to collect and prepare myself for the hours in the sun that were about to come. Parsnips as displayed in the pictures were one of the many different vegetables which were assigned to me. It was brought to my attention that some vegetables must be kept moist after being picked while others need to be completely dry. With the watchful eye of Martha I somehow did everything correctly.
The last hours of my service fell just in time for preparing for the winter . One of my last protruding tasks I had to do was to remove all the left over flower pots of a Guelph class experiment. At first I thought this activity was going to fun, but as removed row by row I suddenly found myself staring at the last row hoping it would be all over. What doesn’t seem to be that physically demanding, it sure took a tool on my body. By the end I felt as if I was an elderly male with back problems.
All in all the 10 hours on the farm made me realize and appreciate all of the hard work that is put into having food in markets and on the shelves at stores. I can definitely see myself going back next year to lend Martha a helping hand as she has so much on her shoulders. Her recent success of her market being published in the paper is going to put her sales through the roof next year. She already has me as a loyal raspberry customer.
-Adam Patzelt