Josh Pagan

Stockton Farm Trip

I volunteered at the Stockton Farm with my Freshman Seminar class. Instead of meeting for class, we all got on a shuttle together to go to the farm because it went along with the book we were reading at the time, which was about eating locally grown food. Having previously filled out our safety waivers, we arrived and were given our assignments. My assignment was to dig beds for garlic cloves that would grow during the fall season and into winter. Unfortunately, there were some issues with the beds being too close, and all my hard work was destroyed and dug over because my bed couldn’t fit. Instead of sulking over my destroyed work, I continued by planting the garlic cloves into the beds that were not destroyed. This assignment was amusing because the garlic cloves had little hairs protruding from the dirt after it was all done. After finishing, I decided to eat one of the habanero peppers that they had. This was a huge mistake due to my lack of a drink and the fact that they had been water deprived which causes peppers to be even spicier than usual.

Doing this project was an enjoyable parallel to what we have read in class, such as in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle where farmers grew their own local foods. It was a strange experience to see where our food actually comes from, considering I am wired to think that it comes from the grocery store shelf and not from the dirt. The amount of work that goes into running the Stockton Farm must be immense and I applaud the people that keep it going. I know my back was hurting the next day after all of that work I put into shoveling the garlic beds and then planting them. Their hard work and determination will someday hopefully change the views people have of their food.