On July 31, 2021, GTVA member Adora Xiao (2hrs) lent a hand to a local farm.
Some vegetables are very old. One such vegetable is the onion, which has been around since the Bronze Age! The onion is also famous for something else—making people cry. This might seem like this should be a misconception, but it actually does! There’s a sulfuric compound in the onion that makes you cry when you chop them.
To start off the morning, Adora sorted the onions into red and white bins, then boxed them. Each box was packed with fresh onions, 35 pounds in total. Each onion was carefully selected, brushed of debris, and slightly peeled. Then, she went to pick Roma Tomatoes. The Roma Tomatoes were adorable (pun intended) and plentiful, and baskets were filled swiftly. Picking Roma Tomatoes was much like a treasure hunt, as many had fallen within the vines. This resulted in multiple types of bugs jumping onto hands.
After baskets were delivered, the fresh produce had to be boxed and bagged to be sold for charity. The boxes, unfortunately, contained less produce than usual, as the supply of zucchini was slowing. However, there was still enough for 13 boxes with one canteloupe, two crooknecks, two zucchini, two gold mines, three cucumbers, six carrots, and two beets. Tomatoes and onions were to be added later to complete them. Then, there were two sizes of bags to be filled. In total, there were more than 50 bags filled, folded, and creatively packed into boxes. Optimization was the name of the game, and experience meant that each box was able to hold five large bags and up to seven smaller ones! Some of these packages were pre-ordered, and others were purchased in person.
