Volunteer experience at Waltham Fields Community Farm

So we arrived at the farm at exactly 9am this morning (2 adults, including me, and 1 child in our group). There was a nice cool breeze but the sun was quickly heating things up. We lingered under the tent for a minute before walking out to the fields and finding someone to tell us what to do. I forgot to bring water (good one on what would be a 90-degree day!) but never fear, there was a kitchen inside the building and spigots across different parts of the field. The farm fields are located behind the UMASS Field Station building and the fields are just beautiful (the above pic is from their website/unfortunately, my camera is done for and I need a new one so I can post my pics)... they grow vegetables and herbs like pepper, eggplant, tomato, fava beans, green beans, cilantro, thai basil, mint... we picked raspberries right off the bushes by the greenhouse for a snack after we were done (the berries were so good my daughter saved the last few in her hat so she could savor them on the car ride back). We ended up helping to weed the beds of eggplant and peppers while others helped harvest some of the eggplant that were big enough to pick. The smell of the peppers was especially pungent and delicious. Bees, various kinds of beetles, inch worms, spiders, and ladybugs were all around us as we worked. The sun was hot and we took lots of breaks to drink water; the kids in the field found shade when they needed to get out of the sun. We talked to each other as we worked and really enjoyed being out in the open air and communing with the insects (in a way that we don't do when the bugs are in our houses!). The time passed by really quickly and we could see the difference our work made when we were done. It felt incredibly productive and satisfying and the whole experience gave us motivation to come back and volunteer again and again.

Last thought: I was thinking to myself how much of a privilege it was to spend the day working on the farm and getting back in touch with food. I then thought of my ancestors and how when they came to this country this was one of the types of labor that they were *allowed* to do. In fact, we live in a time when many of us are grateful to have more options and mobility than those who came before us. I think this is where the sense of privilege came in for me. That I could choose to spend my time doing whatever it is I want... that I allow myself the luxury to follow my interests. Hmm. Just food for thought.