On July 27th, 2021, Greater Temecula Valley AYLUS (GTVA) team Ally Negulescu (2 hrs), Adora Xiao (2 hrs), and Jessica Lu (2 hrs) volunteered at their local farm to help harvest and chuck produce! All of the produce grown from this project is donated directly to the Temecula Community Mission of Hope for distribution to other local food pantries in our region and Fallbrook.
The damp dirt roads cushioned GTVA members’ shoes as they made their way over to the farm. Even though they were unable to find a football player to help with the harvesting today, everyone was still able to get a lot of work done today. Members first arrived to the site and checked into the farm. Instead of starting with their usual warm up and zucchini size contest, they set straight off over to the tomatoes. Members hauled over a total of 5 large crates, and in no time, they were all filled with large, bright red tomatoes(Big Beef)!
A small pile of unusable tomatoes were put aside, which included tomatoes which have a defect, or have been infested by bugs. AYLUS members then took the opportunity to once again practice their throwing skills by taking a rotten tomato and chucking it across the field. Each person grabbed a couple of tomatoes and stood on a large rock, with their eyes set on a target for the tomato to land. It seems that the President’s aim has improved significantly!
After the small throwing competition, members then directed their attention to the “Early Girl” tomatoes. These tomatoes are smaller in size, shaped somewhat like a cylinder but rounded off at the ends. They also especially like hiding at the very bottom of the branch; you can always find some very rip ones hiding in the vine! The GTVA Advisor offered some very “friendly” competition between members and the parents on who was able to pick more tomatoes. I’m sure everyone knows who obviously won…
The eventful morning soon came to an end and GTVA members started packing up and leaving the farm. Everyone enjoyed this very “tomato-y” day, and members can’t wait to go back yet again!
