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01 December 2010
Noah, Jack, Aaron, and Chris, four new Urban Farmers from Springstone Community High School in Lafayette on their recent visit to Hayes Valley Farm
Noah
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to volunteer at a farm? Midpoint last Friday, the freshmen and sophomores at my school called Springstone Community High School, in Lafayette, went to San Francisco, to tour Hayes Valley Farm and to volunteer there. In the farm, I saw a work of urban development that is rare for an urban area. Some things we discovered were a horseradish-like flower, the dumping of the soil onto the farm, and things rare for urban areas like bees and potatoes. After seeing these things, we wheel barrowed hay for thirty minutes. It required work that included balancing it and moving it across pavement. The staff of the farm were friendly and exhibited knowledge of the environment, food and other farm-related matters and they were kind even though my group had minimal knowledge of such information. Just because of their personalities, I want to return.
So, I would urge those who are able to donate and keep this wonderful garden open. This urban garden needs support and maintenance for it is a treasure of the rural in urban San Francisco. It is a great, fun place where I would highly recommend volunteering. To conclude, I would highly recommend volunteering there.
Jack
Quite a day was had on the 29th of October. The ninth and tenth grades of the Springstone Community High School, including myself, went to the Hayes Valley Farm for a class trip. We went as part of the weeklong “Whose Shoulders Are You Standing On” theme, attempting to show us how the community supports us in surprisingly fun or interesting ways we take for granted. This day was no exception.
We spent around two hours there, during which the workers explained to us how the soil worked and why the compost was extremely warm, among other things, and showed us some of the sights, many of which were quite interesting. They concluded the day with the work: having us move a large number of hay bales in wheelbarrows. Though it rained briefly, nearly all my classmates I discussed it with seemed to be having a great time. Many felt amazement at the dirt truck and stick sculpture, sorrow at the aftermath of the massacre of the bees, and unrefined joy at racing the wheelbarrows.
I myself had a particularly excellent time. Joking about burying people, explaining the supervillain-style origin of killer bees, gagging on a spicy flower, and getting in a lot of bales of hay all made the day remarkably fun, especially for a day at a farm. It was a rare example of a school day that I wouldn’t have minded being longer.
Aaron
Have you ever done hard work that paid off and made you have a great feeling? My class and I did hard work and it paid off. The 9th and 10th graders at my school volunteered Friday October 29th at Hayes Valley Farm. The academic theme for our school week was “whose shoulders are we standing on.” The point this was to explore different communities and think about whom we depend on. Our group got a tour of the farm and learned about the history of the farm. One interesting fact for which I learned about the farm is that it was once a highway and they turned it into a farm. It was interesting because I thought it was an interesting story how they did all the work to turn it from a highway to a farm. The dirt at Hayes Valley Farm was warm and I got to see it dumped onto the farm. The hardest thing we did at Hayes Valley Farm was the work. We had to haul hay in wheelbarrows. Someone had to balance the wheelbarrows. It was an exercise in physical labor. To conclude, the hard work me and my class did pay off because it made it made me have a feeling of accomplishment.
Chris
Would you believe there is a farm in the middle of a city? On October 29th, my classmates from the Springstone Community High School and I visited the Hayes Valley Farm as a field trip. We got to the farm by taking BART and then walking the rest of the way. Once we got there we got a quick tour. The tour was interesting since I learned some new things about a few plants there and I heard some interesting facts about the farm itself. One thing I learned on the tour was that there are some edible flowers. I learned this when I got to eat the flower. I thought it tasted a bit bland at first but after a few minutes it started to taste a bit spicy which was weird. Next we helped move some hay bales. We did this to prevent rain from eroding the path. At first, it was hard to lift the hay bales into the wheel barrows we were using to move them but it became easier. Eventually, my group started to have fun running back and forth between where we were moving the bales from annd the area where we where moving them to. I thought the trip was fun.
Photo by John Howard, November 19, 2010
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