Reported by Adora Xiao
On July 5 and July 9, Greater Temecula Valley AYLUS members Adora Xiao (6 hrs) and Jessica Lu (3 hrs) helped out at a local farm.
Members began, as per usual, with the squash and zucchini. As the summer went on, the squash and zucchini lowered in quantity. Members got to work with their buckets, quickly clearing the rows. They carefully twisted and cut the vegetables off the plants to prevent breakage, and took trips back and forth to deliver them. After picking, members removed the plants that were dying and unable to produce more crops.
Members then moved to the onion area. Since many were already picked, they got to work removing the weeds. While walking through the rows, they also discovered some onions on the dirt, which they moved onto the tarp to prevent rotting. Members rooted up the weeds between the rows, then went through to move them to the side and clear the walkway.
On Saturday, members started with the squash and zucchini as usual, then moved to work with weeding the onions. After the onions, members moved to start the bagging and boxing process. Only the most quality produce was selected and moved into a row to be bagged and boxed to be sold. The funds earned would then be donated to local charities. The boxes were first, with cantaloupe, patty-pan squash, goldmine, beets, carrots, and more stacked and closed. Then were the larger bags, with smaller quantities of the vegetables, then squeezed into boxes for easier transport. Lastly were the Grab and Gives, which would be sold at a local church service. After the bags were filled, they were loaded into boxes and stacked for transport.
