A Morning at the Central Florida Second Harvest Food Bank Farm (@2harvestCFL)

I had a great experience not too long ago, a lot of friends have asked me about it, so I thought I would share..maybe get a few volunteers motivated for such a great cause.

The Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida (@2harvestCFL) has a farm; all of the produce goes to the local community at the meal center. They are able to provide healthy and fresh offerings in addition to the nonperishable items donated by the community. At work, we also harvest our leftovers and send it over to the food bank, as well as preparing a monthly dinner service. It is a great program, I love getting involved, and I really liked getting dirty 🙂

Punch the clock and get on it boys!

The “Farm Girl”, Kirsten, was great- She was very knowledgeable despite that it has been less than a year of her managing the farm. That particular morning there was about 7 of us volunteering, a couple of college kids studying Aeronautic Engineering (I really don’t know what they studied, but they interned at Lockheed Martin) and a mother and her high school son, all of these guys were doing it as part of their school volunteerism. There was also a gentleman there, who also worked for Lockheed Martin, I told the college guys, how fortunate for them to show up today the same day as a senior leader.

We were tasked with an important job in all farms, I anticipated it being like in the movies, but actually it turned out to be the same as what Sir Wes tries to makes me do …weeding..

Doesn't look like much, I thought.. my back thought different the next day!

For the first hour, we quietly weeded the rows of squash, exchanging some small talk now and then. Making our way down the row, someone asked about the squash blossoms, which perked me right up. I asked a few questions which led Kirsten to ask if I was a foodie, professionally I told her. The senior engineer was particularly interested in dehydrating, after I told him about a boyfriend that had rode his bike from Seattle to Poinciana, with me sending him boxes of supplies including a week’s worth of dehydrated meals. Anyways…we had a great time, weeding, chit chatting, I think the best was when one of the college boys asked me (his first language was not english), “Do I say, I picked weeds or weed this weekend?” I quickly told him, it was weeds, and please don’t tell everyone you were at the Second Harvest Food Bank Farm, picking Weed…LOL.

We did take a break; Kirsten should us around the farm, and told us a lot about agriculture, which led to a Q & A for the last hour or so. She had a lot to tell us, leaving me wanting more. Overall it was a great experience; I am looking forward to going back, and arranging some “field trips” at work. Helping out and giving back always feels good, but when you walk away having learned something…even better.