Volunteering at ICF: September Weekends Have Been Added

We’ve had such an amazing spring and summer of volunteers working on weekend projects that Bonnie Acker has added 4 more dates.

Saturday September 3 & Sunday September 4

Saturday September 10 & Sunday September 11

Contact Bonnie Acker to let her know you’re coming down (anytime between 7:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. City Market worker hours may be earned. See the original volunteer announcement for what to bring, where to meet, etc.

Weeding carrots

So far this summer many beds of carrots (over 4000 feet) and scallions have been weeded, tomato cages installed, edges of strawberry beds were cut back, old fencing in the corral was removed, and one day was assisting the Intervale Center with pollinator plantings.

Bonnie writes about one special group of volunteers:

Members of the Black Youth in Action group.

There's a program at the Y, Black Youth in Action, and the coordinator Jervaughn Scales brought down some fellas this past Saturday and the Saturday before. This batch of teenagers gets together for a community service project once a month and our Farm was a perfect place for helping out. Along the way, in the midst of pulling huge weeds in the Abenaki corn and squash and PYO parsley, and then smaller weeds in some very very long rows of carrots and beets, these young people and Jervaughn got to hear about our Farm and how food is grown on a large scale and how tons of beautiful veggies get to many food shelves around the state.

I also think that having several of us together for side-by-side weeding, that made a deep impression on these teenagers for how people can love field-work and thrive on this sort of endeavor. One of the fellas asked me, "So, do you really like working down here?" I answered, "Yup, I really love being here and I think when you really love something, it doesn't seem like work." The fella nodded his head in complete agreement.

Strawberry field weeding.

Just a note to everyone, these mornings for volunteers wouldn't be continuing without Mark's amazing dedication (it's so true Mark!) and without the amazing help of two new Farm members Richard and Emily Moore (you Richard have come to every single weekend morning and Emily has come to most!)! It really has been "taking a village" to keep these times so enjoyable and productive. Thank you so much Mark and Richard for the mornings with these teenagers who now have such meaningful memories of making a difference!

Thank you to everyone who has come to the volunteer days so far. We look forward to seeing you for any of the four final days of the season.