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Over the past couple of weeks, my classmates and I have had the opportunity to volunteer at the Guelph Centre for Urban Organic Farming. This little farm is tucked away on the east side of campus and is filled with little gems such as these tomatoes I had the chance to harvest.

On September 21, I participated in the weekly Thursday farmers’ market. My responsibilities included: rearranging the harvest to make it more appealing to potential customers, sorting the firsts from the seconds, and my favourite, picking flowers from the field and making bouquets for customers.

I learned many basic skills farmers have such as the differentiation between a first and a second; essentially its down to the size, colour, and any small imperfections the produce may have. I learned how to pick marigolds, zinnias and snapdragons correctly so that the flowers are not hurt in the process. Snapdragons have sturdy stems, while zinnias have hollow stems and marigolds have delicate stems so the methods to cut them are different. I learned how to make a bouquet, which colours match better with one another and how to make sure they last the trip home (you just wrap a wet paper towel around the end of the stems). Lastly, I identified tomato blight which is a plant disease cause by a fungus which causes discolour on the fruits themselves.

Surprisingly, I also learned a new set of social skills from interacting with people who came to the farmers’ market. While I was making bouquets, I made small talk with the customers and learned so much about them and who the bouquets were for. Upon volunteering for the farmers’ market, I didn’t expect to make meaningful connections over making $3 bouquets for people.  I was recognized by lady that I made a bouquet for a month ago when she came back for the last Thursday market on the 18th of October, she told me her friend loved the bouquet I made for her and which made my day.

Looking back, I wish I had more time to spend on the farm and I definitely will go back next semester to volunteer my time when it opens again.

Unbeknownst to many, the University of Guelph has is very own self sustainable organic farm! It is run completely by an amazing lady named Martha, and many keen volunteers. The organic farm is on the east side of campus right bedside the Arboretum; you just need to follow the carrot trail to find it. I had heard about the organic farm before coming with the outdoor school class but never had the opportunity to visit it. Every Thursday in the early fall is the day of the market and is the busiest day there.

However, no matter the day, there is always work to be done on the farm.  Plants need to be watered, weeded, harvested, and sold. I often would harvest vegetables and help get produce ready so it could be sold at the market on Thursdays. It was a bit strange in the beginning to be working on a farm without big machinery like I am used to, but it was a unique experience and made me feel as though I was really working with the land and I appreciated where the food was coming from at a new level.  My favourite task however, was definitely selling. I loved to be able to interact with Guelph locals and other university students, and share my gardening knowledge with others as well as learn about the different types of produce grown and sold at the farm.

With over half a dozen green houses and fields galore, there is so much variety that the farm has in store. It contains all the produce you would expect to find, including: tomatoes, potatoes, pumpkins carrots of many varieties, as well as some more uncommon foods. Things like mouse melons, tomatillos, hot peppers, and sour melons, to name a few.  As well as my personal favourite to sell, the magic onions. These plants have similar healing properties to aloe vera plants and as flower a beautiful orange colour in the winter. This was one of the many things I learned about on the farm from Martha. It seems like every time I go there I end up learning something new, which make me love going there so much more. As well as, this new knowledge was a great conversation starter. I also found that there were many regulars that I got to know and converse with throughout the weeks of the market. It has become a large part of many folks lives and they schedule coming to the farm every week into their busy lives. Plus, for university students, there are student prices to help make the food more affordable. On top of the fact that the food sold is already at such a great price compared to grocery stores. This is  great way for people to eat more healthy in a more affordable way.

The organic farm is and amazing place to go and it reminds me of being back home on the farm. Even after completing my 10 hours, I continue to go and help volunteer there since it is a great place to be able to go and take a break from studying. It has been spectacular experience and I am so glad to have been able to find out about this little farm. I definitely plan on continuing to help out in the future and in years to come.

Nicole Corley

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

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.

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.

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.

Written by: Alexa Alman-Pastor

Beginning my first busy year of university the last thing I wanted to do was volunteer 10 hours of my own time picking weeds and vegetables, especially as midterms were approaching.  However even after the first visit, volunteering at the farm began to grow on me. (Pun intended)

My jobs at the farm included harvesting potatoes, squash, tomatoes, washing vegetables, sorting good vegetables from the seconds, and setting up or the market that was held every Thursday. I would say the most urgent job was harvesting the vegetables in time before they began to over ripen on the vine. I remember the first visit I had we had a big rain that day and the dirt was compact. These conditions were not ideal for harvesting potatoes because the potatoes were all caked in the mud. However, with myself and two other volunteers we plowed through them fast. Doing this type of difficult, hands on work really makes you appreciate teamwork. Teamwork is exactly what you need to run a farm, it is definitely not a one-person job.

The market was one of my favorite days to volunteer. Getting everything set up nice and pretty was when you really saw all the hard work pay off.  It was something about seeing the abundance of produce on the tables that gave you a sense of achievement and a sense of pride. Whenever someone bought some tomatoes, a little thought popped up “Hey I helped pick those!”. On that note, I never knew about the organic farm before this class, so I was surprised how many locals came out every Thursday!

Seeing all of the beautiful vegetables harvested I couldn’t help myself but to by some to bring home to my family to show off what an awesome farm we have here at Guelph! We cooked up some butternut squash, spaghetti squash, and a pumpkin! The butternut squash was a denser squash while the spaghetti squash was something a little lighter. Spaghetti squash is one of my favorite’s because it is so versatile. You can make so many different recipes with it. With the pumpkin I made a DELICIOUS pumpkin pie from scratch and brought it to my family thanksgiving. Everyone loved it! I thought it tasted that much better since I knew how much hard work it took to grow, wash, and harvest the pumpkin.

In the end I am so glad I got the opportunity to work on this farm, and I plan on doing it next year too!

Having never worked with plants before, save caring for a small collection of succulents, spending ten hours on an organic farm was set to be an interesting experience. When we first were introduced to Martha and spent our first hour on the farm harvesting squashes, I had no idea what to expect, and how the farm would change my opinion on the work that’s done to bring food to our table.

My first day on the farm was in the midst of September’s heat wave, and it was easily over 30 degrees with humidity. Expecting to arrive in time to help with the market, I was mildly shocked to discover I would be spending the next four hours in the fields instead. Martha was in a frenzy and wasn’t focused on training a new student how to work in the market. As a result, I was sent with Brianna and Narda to water the greenhouses, which were in desperate need of water on such a hot day. 

The greenhouses were where I first discovered that my entire body can sweat. In an environment comparable to hot yoga, we were in charge of ensuring the survival of the farms’ eggplant population. Each plant required nearly an entire watering can, and as the entire farm was watered by hand, it was easy to see what an immense task it was to keep the farm alive during the heat. This was also the moment I discovered that I am unmistakably allergic to eggplant leaves.

After over two hours of work, Martha was able to spare some time from the market to come visit the fields. At that point, I was dehydrated, covered in hives, had a cold developing, and was contemplating the likeliness of passing out from the heat. We had managed to finish watering the greenhouse, and as Martha felt bad about my reaction, I was moved to a shady thyme bush, where I was to finish my day with some weeding. Martha taught me how to remove prickly weeds and thistles without gloves by digging below the surface with your fingers and grab them by the roots (I wasn’t great at this and got pricked a few times), as well as sharing with me that the reason there was so much thyme was a tribute to her mother, who always told her she should be planting more, as it was her favourite herb.

The work and passion that goes into the organic farm is truly inspiring. I found myself with mixed emotions to leave the farm after completing my ten hours, as the pending weeks would feel strange without a visit to the farm. The work is always hard, and occasionally rather brutal, and I can see that I am probably not cut out for it. Despite all its difficulties, there is immense payoff and satisfaction that gives me a new appreciation and meaning to what farming truly is.

• Riley Grant

The University of Guelph is lucky enough to have an amazing, thriving, organic farm right on campus. It is almost completely run by volunteers, and I was lucky enough to get the privilege of working there this fall. Every Thursday, a market is put on by Martha, the woman who runs the farm. As a nutrition major, I wasexcited that I gained a lot of knowledge about organic farming practices, and was even able to get my hands dirty!

During my time at the farm, I worked on the marketing of the foods, harvesting kidney beans, and most often weeding. Before my experience at the farm, I thought of weeding as a trivial, boring task, but by the end of my 10 hours of volunteering I can honestly say that it is one of the most gratifying, meditative practices a gardener can partake in. Weeds can be pesky, and grow back very quickly if they aren’t dealt with properly, so it is very important that the proper technique is used. We were given an entire field to clear, virtually every plant needed to be dug up. With a little bit of instruction from Martha, trial and error, and a great team of volunteers, we conquered the weeds.

We started by all putting on a sturdy, thick pair of leather gloves and closed toed shoes to protect us from harmful weeds like thistles. Additionally, shovels and hoes should be brought for weeds that are more deeply settled in the ground. Once you have all the necessary supplies, you can begin your weeding! The technique is actually quite important, as the weed can continue to grow unless all of it is taken out of the ground (including the roots). I learned that getting low to the ground, and grabbing the weed as close to the roots as possible with both hands works best. After you have a solid grip, you can pull firmly and slowly so that you don’t cause the weed to snap above the roots. After the weed is removed, it should be checked to make sure it didn’t snap and that the roots are fully out of the ground.

If they are not, it’s time to bring in the big guns; the shovels. This requires lots of strength, because the roots can be deep in the earth and can often take many attempts to dig up. It’s best to drive the shovel in a foot or so away from the visible plant and then push the shovel towards the plant in order to catch all of it’s roots.

I found this to be incredibly enjoyable for many reasons. First of all, it gave me a large sense of accomplishment, because the other volunteers and I cleared a whole field in a matter of hours and I know that I helped make room for even more vegetables and flowers to flourish! Also, I dug up many hidden gems like mushrooms, which was exciting, as only 2 days before I had participated in our class’s mushroom foray.

I am so grateful for the experience I gained at the farm, and my main takeaway will be that many hands make light work. When all the volunteers worked as a team, we were able to accomplish our tasks much more quickly and effectively. We were also able to share expertise from our past experiences, and problem solve in a collaborative way.

Volunteering at Martha’s organic farm has been one of the most humbling experiences I have had the pleasure of partaking in this fall. A one-woman team who built a successful farm from the ground up, is just the inspiration  I needed to thrive this semester – even this whole school year!:) Not only was she a pleasure to work with, she was also highly knowledgeable in essentially anything to do with horticulture, and was always eager to teach us a few things on the topic.

My volunteering experience began during the hotter days of the fall, where I was stationed at the greenhouses’ to water all the plants. Instead of the imagined water hose one might think would be used to water such large areas of growing plants, we used cute little water pots to individually water each plant. The little watering pots were filled from larger water cylinders that were placed in each greenhouse. While working in the greenhouses’ during a hot day, it can be anywhere as 10 degrees hotter inside the green house than outside. This made watering the plants quite strenuous after a couple hours, making me question how on earth Martha can do this every week for hours on end.

The rest of my volunteering days consisted of pulling a variety of weeds from the ground – which was actually very therapeutic! A group of classmates and I took on the challenge of  clearing out several rows of land that had been infested with weeds during the spring time; revealing healthy & soft soil.

Pulling weeds was actually a little trickier than I had originally thought. In order to effectively remove the weed and ensure that it doesn’t grow back, we had to make sure the whole weed was removed, including the root. This was made difficult when we worked on some weeds that had roots deeper than 8″, which would have to be removed using a pitchfork; and a couple of extra hands!

Some weeds were small and very prickly (thistle weeds). In order to remove these, thick leather gloves were essential.

The last thing I did while working at Martha’s farm was washing, & sorting carrots. This consisted of dipping our hands into freezing cold mud water, pulling out a carrot, washing the carrot in the same freezing cold water, and sorting it in one of two containers: Good or bad carrots. Any carrots with signs of bug inhabitants or dark spots were the unfortunate ones who got placed in the bad box. The best part of this was finding the deformed carrots- since it’s such a rare sight at conventional grocery stores!

These past few weeks of school have been a little stressful given midterms, and assignments- but spending a few hours alongside Martha every week was truly something to look forward to. It gave me an escape from the books, & reminded me of the humble process of cultivating food, and enjoying time outdoors. Martha made this experience so enriching for me, that I will definitely be returning every Thursday to help out. Plus we get free organic food!!

Over the last several weeks, I have worked as a gardener, a merchant, and as a harvester on Guelph’s very own organic farm. Working under the farm keeper, Martha, was interesting as I learned a new gardening tip or trick each visit. Through all the tasks I completed, I had one I thoroughly enjoyed, harvesting and collecting red kidney beans. On Thursday September 28th, I worked down in the fields with the kidney beans. The task was relatively straightforward and enjoyable, but could be tedious under the hot sun.

To harvest red kidney beans one must simply pull the beanstalk, roots and all, out of the ground, pluck the yellow pods and place them into the basket. Martha taught us that it is important only the yellow pods are picked, not the unripe green pods. When placing the pods into the basket I learned to be careful so the pod wouldn’t break open and spill the beans. The leftover stalk and roots were then discarded off to the side where they would not be in the way of the unharvested stalks. Myself, and some fellow outdoor schoolers, worked our way through the bean field, starting at the bottom and finishing once all the bean stacks containing yellow pods had been gathered.

After the field had been cleared, Riley and I carried the pods to the organic farm office  where they would later be split open and the beans would be stored. Martha was impressed that the entire field had been cleared and moved us into the greenhouses to water plants. If there was one thing I took away from my time on the farm, it was that the plants could never be overwatered. It seemed like Martha wanted us to drown every single plant in the greenhouse every single time we visited! The greenhouse smelt wonderful but could be oven-like under the hot sun. The majority of my visits were spent inside various greenhouses, hand watering the assorted plants as Martha had requested.

One plant I watered that I found particularly interesting was the bitter melon (pictured below among the vines). Shaped like a wrinkly cucumber, the bitter melon is a sour vegetable that is primarily eaten in the Caribbean. I was so intrigued by this unique plant that I purchased one and brought it home for Thanksgiving… I was not a fan of the taste! 

My time at the farm was generally enjoyable, however I am not convinced that I am cut out for the farm life. Nonetheless, I did learn some interesting tricks about how to keep plants healthy and alive, a task I have always struggled with! I will be back at the farm next fall, maybe not to work, but definitely to buy some fresh produce.

Written by Brianna Marshall

Over the past month or so, I have had the opportunity to volunteer at the Guelph Centre for Urban Organic Farming. The Guelph Centre for Urban Organic Farming is a one-hectare farm/learning facility run by Martha Scroggins. The farm is located directly on the University of Guelph campus, yet many students and members of the Guelph community are unaware of this amazing place. This is somewhat disheartening as the farm does rely on student volunteers and has so much to offer. Every Thursday, during the summer and fall months, the farm puts on a market and sells their certified organic produce.

During my time at the farm, I participated in many different activities, such as; rolling electrical fences and storing other farm equipment, preparing for markets and harvesting/cleaning vegetables. I also learned many things; including a new appreciation for the amount of work that’s involved with farming. To demonstrate this I thought I’d show you what it takes for a produce to get from farm to table.

These are radishes. Radishes are root vegetables and are often enjoyed raw, in dishes like salads. Fun fact, these radishes here are in the same family as the horseradish, which is one of the main ingredients in wasabi. The process of harvesting begins with pulling the radish from the earth. After collecting the radishes transportation begins, which doesn’t sound so bad, but when you are on a farm that doesn’t use machinery, things can get tiring real fast. Then begins cleaning and trimming. This may sound crazy, but there are people who don’t realize that when vegetables come from the ground they don’t already look like they do in the grocery store. When vegetables are pulled from the earth they are covered in dirt and must be washed. There are also things like roots and tops that need to be cut off. After doing some final quality checks the radishes are ready for market. One aspect that people often forget about when dealing with marketing a product is presentation. People don’t want to buy food if it doesn’t look appetizing. For that reason a great deal of time is put into things like cleaning and arranging the produce in a way that looks pleasing to the consumer.

Et Voilà, the final product. On the left, we have the memorizing black radish. This radish has a tough black skin and is more often than not cooked. More recently, the black radish has been used in fine dining restaurants and is considered a delicacy. On the right, we have watermelon radishes. The outside of the radish is green/white, however, if you cut open the radish you reveal a truly beautiful red/pink inside.

Through my time on the farm I have learned a great deal, most importantly the time and effort that goes into farming. One thing that I hope for the future of the farm is that more students get involved and if you haven’t already been to the Guelph Centre for Urban Organic Farming, it’s definitely worth a visit.

Written by: Brett Studden