I work at D:hive (dhivedetroit.org) as the Engage Resident, and part of my job is to explore the…read morevarious opportunities in the city and relay my experience. I had heard great things about Earthworks farm - part of of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen on the east side that grows fresh vegetables for the soup kitchen and provides training programs for folks in the area.
My day volunteering at Earthworks Urban Farm started off with approaching the circle of participants who had gathered in the parking lot. "Come join in the circle - there's room!" called out one of the volunteers. And so the ring opened up and I stepped in.
At 9am it was bright and pleasantly cool. There were about 25 other volunteers - groups and individuals - and when the excited conversation faded one of the farm members spoke and invoked a moment of reflection and mindfulness for the work we were about to do. Another member spoke about the significance of the day, Juneteenth, a commemoration of the abolition of slavery in Texas in 1865, celebrated every year on June 19th. He asked a question: "What, in our own lives, had we learned from our past and present that would empower us to create freedom in the future?" With this in mind, we went off to work.
I went off with a group of six others to work in the greenhouse, separating transplanting bok choy seedlings to small cells of soil, which would be given to families who would take them home to their own gardens. I plodded through the task, enjoying the feeling of handling the earth and living plants as the first work of the morning.
I was across from a longstanding volunteer, William, who taught me how to transplant in a way that turned out to be much more efficient and, it seemed to me, more elegant as well. It began with a gentle separation of the seedlings, loosely holding a small bunch in one hand and laying an individual on its side in each cell. In the ambient mid-morning warmth of the greenhouse, the cool feel of the dirt was a pleasant contrast.
I told William that I admired his slow and deliberate technique of transplanting, which he said that he had learned from Patrick, the program and farm manager. This lead to a conversation on deliberation and thoughtfulness, and onto the nature of manufacturing quality products and the changes in the auto-industry he'd seen in his lifetime.
After several hours and thirty or so trays, our group returned to the parking lot where we again circled up. Each of the three work groups explained to the others what their job had been and the result. After each group member announced his/her harvested item, the group would clap in unison, and we collectively created a 'song of produce' from the list of plants.
Reflections were collected: working together was one way of being open to each other as people; sharing purpose and sharing love removed barriers of fear and violence; and as one person put it, it was simply that "We just need to be cool with each other." And it was all true. We exchanged names, rinsed the dirt off our hands, and resumed our conversations. The farm's own fresh vegetables were part of the communal lunch in the cafeteria, where they thanked all of those who had contributed.
I sat with Patrick at lunch and we talked about the power of volunteering and getting involved in your neighborhood. On the way out I chatted with William again about the feeling of waking up early and the excitement of being able to grow your own food and share it with others.
I left feeling refreshed and full! The first hours of my day volunteering with Earthworks Farm had been grounding - slow, deliberate, thoughtful, and entirely enjoyable.
