I thoroughly enjoy volunteering at Apple Seed Farms. Volunteering on the farm reminds me of home and also reminds me of how crucial farms are to providing food for the general population. I enjoy knowing that the harvesting I do will directly go to kids who may experience food insecurity. Farmer Paul is always so wise and nice when directing volunteers too!
Doing this event today was so inspiring. Kicks for kids gave out so many free shoes to kids who needed them. I really enjoyed playing and interacting with the kids today and help learn what they want to do when they grow up. I also enjoyed talking to the parents and observing the strong relationships parents had with their kids, makes me miss my parents a lot. It was so powerful learning how Samaritan Feet started, how even just one pair of new shoes can change your life forever.
Apple seeds farm was super insightful for their mission! All the vegetables and herbs they grow are directly used for the elementary school kids or donated to the community! Today it was about weeding out a garden bed to make way for spring crops and then planting spring flowers around trees to make the farm more inviting! Farmer Paul was super helpful and friendly!
Today the Sierra Student Coalition hosted a volunteer opportunity at Watershed Conservation Resource Center. It was very fun to meet new people in this group and continue to help with volunteering with WCRC. Today was all about replanting saplings that will be used for the white river conservation project! Today was a great group bonding experience with the group and I plan to be more involved with the Sierra Student Coalition going forward!
Today I was taught to pot some oak trees and the importance of soil composition. I was told that a lot of their oak trees died a while ago and I was gonna be apart of their “Guinea pig” trial with a new soil composition with perilite to make it less aerated. I also learned about a specific fungus that acts as Morse code between different species of plants and how they exchange nutrients based on signals. These plantings have made me realize that if they live long enough to become mature, that I might have potted a plant that will become a humongous oak one day, and that made me happy.
It was my first-time volunteering at WCRC, and I was pleasantly surprised how much fun it was. I've always wanted to help impact the environment and helping this organization pot some Indigo made me feel good about myself. It was also a nice mental break from the rest of my day getting fresh air and hearing bird's chirp. I will for sure do more volunteering for this organization in the future!
