Woohoo! Lets reminisce on the first time we met Martha, our beloved small organic farm owner. For me this was the first time I ever stepped foot on any organic farm, let alone one walking distance from a University. To be completely honest I was expecting a traditional farm with perhaps extra vegetation. When we finally arrived at her farm I was surprised upon the realization that there were no chickens running around or farm dogs and cats. Her farm was small, dirty, scattered, and different. Of course, after being shown around more and actually getting the opportunity to volunteer there, I soon realized how important this small, dirty, scattered farm really is.
Martha showing us a green fruit of some sort with a spiky shell. Very cool to look at!
Of course, a spontaneous task was assigned! Of course we all agreed we would be happy to help her. This first visit included gathering squash for the farmers market. Half of us were scouters looking for squash and cutting them off by the stem. The other half os us resembled an assembly line and passed down the squash to the be sorted in an orderly fashion.
Here you can see the squash being passed down in a line, how cute!This is Will displaying the art of placing squash in an end loader.
Going on a hike was the first official field trip we took as a class. We went to Mount Nemo Conservation Area located in Burlington, Ontario. Doing this was a great way to introduce the outdoors to all of us. It was a first hand experience to interact with nature together. This may not have been my first time being here but regardless, hikes are always enjoyable. Hiking is done for many purposes. For example, it could be for the reason of exercising, meditating, observing plants and animals, and/or exploring.
Nicole enjoying the view (as most would do on a hike and hope someone takes a picture).
I remember about halfway into our hike we realized that we didn’t have much time left to complete the full 5 km. It was around this point when we decided to pick up the pace while being careful with the obstacles along the way. For example, there were large roots and steep slopes as well as narrow passageways between rock. It was incredibly hot that day and on top of physical activity, I think it’s safe to say we all broke a sweat (or two).
Classmates walking cautiously down a narrow path between rock.
Oh won’t you look at that. Another post about weeding! Indeed this is! Of all the activities one can take part in at the University Guelph Urban Organic Farm (or as I like to call simply “Martha’s Farm”), weeding is the most time consuming, labour intensive, and important task.
With only 10 hours of volunteer work, I took part in many tasks, whether it be on the field or at the front helping run the market. I found that I completed tasks fairly quick and always ended up hunting down Martha to be assigned other tasks. When all was completed, she would revert to weeding. This is a task that was constantly being done at Martha’s farm due to the fact that it wasn’t able to get done in the summer as she would have liked. At first, the thought of weeding brought back memories of my mom and I weeding together during summer months in the scorching heat to find myself covered in burrs and tan lines. Naturally, I was a little hesitant.
Martha began by instructing us to wear proper gear. This included gardening gloves, preferably the leather kind, that way we’d be able to weed out any prickly plants, in particular, thistles. Now let me tell you, handling thistles without proper gloves is not fun. The pain is a mild, sharp, irritating and spontaneous pain, comparable to a splinter. Next would be making sure to wear close toed shoes. Doing so prevents any injury from heavy tools or external dangers. Also, to wear comfortable clothing you don’t mind getting a little dirty. By little I mean a lot!
Then Martha took us onto the field and showed us how to properly pull out a weed. All you do is grab the weed as close to the base as possible and pull. Once the weed is pulled. It is important to shake off the soil trapped in the roots as this minimizes the weight and space taken up in the wheelbarrow.
Here, Catherine demonstrates how to properly pull a weed.
This technique is almost always successful. In the case of plants that are deeply rooted and have a main root with the circumference of a water bottle, a fork is much needed. Using the fork to take out the tough guys was my favourite part. To do this was also simple, you just dig the fork into the soil next to the root at a slight angle and lift upward to try and lift the roots keeping the weed down. I won’t lie, this did require some upper body strength and you will break a sweat after doing quite a few. You do this all around the weed to make the final upward lift as effective as possible in catching the whole root system. Seeing this task took some strength and persistence.
Here I am taking out a deeply rooted weed that was improperly pulled.
Upon the first removal of a weed that required a fork I was incredibly impressed with how deep this root grew and spread with a great circumference. After clearing all the weeds, they were placed in a wheelbarrow and taken to the compost pile.
Seeing Martha’s excitement over our hard work always put a smile on my face. You could see how much she appreciated our help. This entire experience has been eye-opening to all the other farmers like Martha that put so much passion and hard work into providing delicious fruits and vegetables to local consumers including organizations that rely on donations. The thought of weeding will now be replaced with the feelings of gratitude and accomplishment. Thank you for this opportunity.
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