Service Learning Reflection 3

The last few weeks in the Castanea garden have been a little different than normal. We did our usual routine of picking weeds but two weeks ago we had to tackle a big problem. A very invasive plant had been grown in the garden on accident a few years ago and it had spread all over the garden, so we had to take it out. We started by digging around the plants and locating the roots. Once we found the roots, we took a pickaxe and broke the roots. Then came the hard part. We had to get down in the hole we dug and pull the plant out of the ground. The plant we pulled out is the big one in the bottom right corner of the picture of all the weeds. After this, we headed behind the garden to a greenhouse. A few years ago, the greenhouse was functioning but because of a problem with the plastic on the outside, it fell apart. This year, the garden coordinator is trying to make the greenhouse functioning again so we went to go paint it.

These past few weeks in the garden have been interesting because they have showed me that gardening is a lot more than just planting fruits and vegetables and harvesting them. I learned that you have to do a lot to keep a garden tidy and functioning and I probably wouldn't have really thought about it if I didn't do it. These past weeks have also taught me a bit about working in a community. I had honestly never really given much thought to who does things like paint buildings or pull weeds. I think that working in the Castanea garden has possibly made me a bit more thoughtful about my community and overall, I'm very happy I did it.