Is This A Weed?

     If the Mardi Vols survived an apocalypse and therefore had to grow our own food, we learned this morning that we would all greatly miss our grocery stores. We were just really bad at gardening. Writing the blog this evening however, our chances of surviving have greatly improved.

     We started the day at Arthur Ash Charter School in their edible schoolyard. We did everything from pulling weeds, planting banana trees (Did you know banana trees are the tallest and biggest grass and they have varieties of bananas that taste like ice cream?), learning about compost, laying down mulch, and digging a flower bed. We learned a lot of new gardening skills and the quote of the day was "Is this a weed?" because to us the plants and weeds looked the same.

      Leaving Arthur Ash we went to City Park and had lunch with the head gardener, Charlie, under the chime tree (literally a live oak tree filled with wind chimes and it was beautiful). He talked to us about the city and how they deal with water issues, what is becoming of the parks they have, and how the locals feel about the various environmental situations. One of the great parts of ASB is that we do not only get to serve with the community, but also learn from the community to understand the extent of our service.


     The afternoon was spent at Langston Hughes Charter School were we did many of the same acts of service in addition to painting tables, working with goats, and planting cut flowers (which the students use for decoration at their lunch tables). We met some more super great locals while volunteering, all of which were extraordinarily appreciative of our volunteers. Our team loved the opportunity to serve Edible Schoolyards at two different schools, especially since the first school was in the beginning stages and the second was in the last stages, so the comparison was amazing.

     Overall, the edible school yard teaches kids about where their food comes from, how to eat healthy, and have something to be proud of by saying that they helped grow the plants themselves. NOLA edible schoolyard was founded after Katrina in 2006 with a mission "to improve the long-term well being of the students, families, and school community, by integrating hands-on organic gardening and seasonal cooking into the school curriculum, culture, and cafeteria programs".  They also helped a bunch of college from the mountains learn how to plant their own garden.