My Omi once told me "My mother was a gardener, I am a gardener, your Oma is a gardener, and your mother is a gardener. I wouldn't be surprised if you become a gardener as well"
It's true that a care for plants runs through my family. But I've always been more interested in growing food over flowers and maintaining bushes. When I was a kid, I went to this farm almost every fall to go get my own pumpkin from the field. For a year or two, my mom was part of that farm’s CSA, or the Community Supported Agriculture subscription program, where you pay a certain amount of money to the organic farm that is running it, and every week during the season you could go pick up freshly harvested, organic produce.
Throughout my time at college, I have learned about organic farming and polyculture and how amazing it is. I don't remember how I got to this point, but I wanted to try working on an organic farm to see what it was like.
Thankfully, that farm I went to as a kid was not only organic, but they had a workshare program. The workshare program basically lets you work for your food: work on the farm for 4 hours a week for the entire season, and each week you are guaranteed enough produce to feed a couple for a week (or what is called a 'couples share' on the farm).
I wanted to try doing a workshare last summer, but I just didn't have the time. I pushed aside time this summer so I could actually do it this year. My experience was awesome.
On the days I worked, I worked on "harvest days" aka, workshare members and farm employees harvest produce in the morning, so it was ready to be sold nice and fresh at the 'market' (which was inside of the barn, aka where people came to pick up their weekly produce "subscription") by noon. I worked from 8am to 12pm. As someone who is an early bird, I didn't mind getting up early for this. This way I wasn’t working in the afternoon heat. Also the farm is about a 15 minute drive from my house, so the commute wasn’t horrible at all.
Also for a place that was 15 minutes away from my house, whenever I was at the farm, I felt like I was somewhere in the middle of Washington, far away from my home. It is tucked away in a valley and it felt like a hidden paradise. Because it's all farm land out there, it is incredibly peaceful. On any given moment, it's just the sound of nature or typical farm noises. Trees rustling, cows mooing, birds chirping or simply the wind blowing. It felt like a safe space, and honesty I hope most of my peers don't find it. But maybe that's me being possessive.
What also made the workshare an enjoyable experience was the people. I live around a snooty, mostly-rich suburb, so whenever I was on the farm, it was a different type of company. Everyone there was interesting, down to earth, kind, and intelligent. When doing less strenuous tasks (especially micro weeding), it was the perfect time to talk to the other workshares about literally anything. Food, politics, family, school, careers, life in general, etc.
Then of course there is the "gardening" aspect of it all. There is something so therapeutic about harvesting or even weeding sometimes. You are getting your hands in the soil (I never really used gloves; the soil didn’t have any rocks in it, so it was incredibly soft and it didn't feel right to wear gloves most of the time). Afterwards, when the clock struck noon, the other workshares and I would go to the market and collect our portions of the produce that we harvested to take home and enjoy.
To see the growth progress of the plants week by week, getting to harvest what was once a seedling that youplanted, and then going home to eat what the earth produced is just so amazing and almost fulfilling in a way. Like you were a part of planting this, taking care of it, and now your end result is this gorgeous produce that you get to feast on and it is just a magnificent thing, man. Especially also because the way the plants were grown were with organic practices. For example, we got this amazing giant kale that you wouldn’t find in a typical supermarket. That was all done by Mother Nature! I mean, how freaking cool is that?
Because of all the fresh produce I took home each week, my family and I started eating healthier. It kind of just happened. When you take home as much produce as I did, why waste it? We found new recipes to cook with some of the produce that we have never eaten before like chard, pok choi, and kohlrabi.
Honestly, everyone should try workshare programs. For a measly four hours of work a week, you get a bunch of delicious, nutritious food (@ college kids: this is a perfect substitute and money-saving way to get fresh produce that tastes good and is better for you!), you meet new people, get some exercise and fresh air, and it’s just therapeutic. You also get a taste of what is it like to be a farm worker, and actually how incredibly laborious it is. The whole experience makes you rethink the way you eat and what you are putting in your body all the while realizing how important and amazing Mother Nature really is.