A Short Reflection: Its Just Begun

Working in the campus garden located behind the cafeteria has been a very great way to embrace agriculture and learn many new things. Kelly, my supervisor, is a senior at UNCA and is very enjoyable to be around. She has been very sociable and interactive in helping me learn my way around the garden. Within the five hours I’ve spent with her and the rest of us volunteers, I’ve stayed pretty busy with simple work. On the first day I went we harvested the last of the tomatoes before clearing them out to make room for fall plants. After that we weeded out the herb hill and watered all the new seeds we planted; among those seeds were cabbage, radish, and kale. These were all simple tasks that I am very familiar with, but it was exciting to get to plant seeds that I’ve never grown before. I have been very anxious to see the kale and radishes sprout. The next week, just yesterday, we did quite a bit of harvesting. We got numerous eggplants, (a vegetable that I’ve yet to try in my life time but will soon) along with a full crate of peppers of different varieties. After this we harvested a full bag of basil and two full bags of spinach. After all the harvesting we had the opportunity to take some of the produce home if we wanted but even after that we were left with a gracious amount to be donated to a local food bank, a huge incentive for working in the garden as helping the needy is an awesome benefit. After a small break we set forth to more weeding in order to plant all the new herbs that Kelly had bought. We planted lavender, dill, and even rosemary. After all of this we finally did a little re-mulching on the pathways to help control weeds and give the garden a better look. Just over these two days and five short hours I’ve already had a blast in the garden. I’ve been able to work with agriculture in a way that I’m not familiar with; I’ve been learning all about the types of season plants as well as several new plants I’ve not worked with. Aside from this huge learning experience, I’ve had a great way to escape the stress of college essays, calculus two homework, and that ‘Nazi’ chemistry lab professor. Through all the weeding and harvesting I’ve been able to escape the reality around me and just relax for a while, relaxation that is very much needed and deeply appreciated. Lastly, through these two days I’ve been able to grasp the effects that UNC Asheville is doing on its community through their garden. Even though the garden is small, we still are able to donate a lot of food to local shelters and food banks, which can be a huge impact on someone’s life. Its simply amazing how a simple task like this can easily help those in need, if only we the environmental center could get more people involved in order to expand to do more for the community.