Blogger 3/27
It is the middle of our week here in Little Rock. We all awoke a little sluggish today, and relied on cereal and leftover eggs for breakfast. Again, we headed to the hospital to pick up our lunches before we drove out to Cloverdale. Ryan must have been feeling sluggish as well, since we beat him to the school by about fifteen minutes.
Today's work consisted of tilling all of the rows we had worked so hard to de-weed. We worked in teams today, some weeding the two rows of junk, some spreading feathermeal, and some sprinkling compost on the completed ones. Feathermeal is a very "hot," meaning nitrogen rich, fertilizer with a pungent odor (like stink bait). Eric, Alissa, Lindsey, and Carl all joined Lulu in the classroom today.
We took a break from work around 11 to have an early lunch, then trooped to North Little Rock High School for a special project called the EAST Initiative. – Fun fact: North Little Rock is actually a separate town from Little Rock – The EAST Initiative was created by a group of ninth graders to improve the health of the community. The leader of the project, Mason Graves, explained that they hope to build a community garden to promote local produce and a healthier lifestyle. They also hope to create a research facility and eventually incorporate high school education, much like our Delta Garden study.
After the ground-breaking [literally] ceremony, we hopped back into the vans and returned to Cloverdale. We worked hard until the end of the day weeding and tilling. By the end of the day, everything was ready to go for seeding on Thursday! Eric, Alissa, Lindsey, and Carl all came back to the group with stories of how great the kids were, contrary to those from the day before. We found out they had been with 7th and 8th graders rather than 6th graders, so maybe this had something to do with it.
Although we had a break from working when traveling to the EAST Initiative ceremony, we were all feeling pretty exhausted when we arrived back at the church. For dinner, we decided leftovers including rice, soup, pizza, and pasta would be perfect. The church had meditation prayer event going on in the evening, so we spent the rest of our night in the River Market area taking pictures and playing on playgrounds. There was a beautiful park and walking bridge that allowed for some great shots.
Refreshed and a bit chilly, we came back to the church around 8 to once again partake in some leftovers. Brian brought some flavored hot chocolate on the trip, which we promptly devoured. After a wonderful massage circle led by Alissa, some of the group crashed while the others headed down to the movie room to watch The Princess Bride. Very few of us made it through the whole movie without dozing off once or twice, hehe. Around midnight everyone had decided bed was a necessity.
Tomorrow we hope to plant watermelon, sunflowers, okra, and zinnias! The fruits of our labors are definitely showing by the beautiful beds we have created!
Blogger 3/28
Today's Authors: Jamie Blake and Alissa Henderson
Today was a day unlike any other. In the words of Ke$ha, we woke up in the morning feeling like P Diddy, so we knew it was bound to be a fantastic day! We arrived at the site with only two garden rows left to turn before it was time for the fun part: planting! After finishing the two beds, we proceeded in planting two rows with watermelon seeds and one row with sugar baby corn seeds. Awesome, right? You want to know the better part? Ryan said that we exceeded his expectations on our weekly work, and he had to brainstorm more work for us to do. All of us were proud and humbled by the hard work we've been able to accomplish as a team.
As the days go by, Dani has found true love in chickens and seems to become more and more attached to her chicken "boyfriend." None of us would be surprised if she opened a chicken farm in the near future. We were lucky to have Austin, the Youth Coordinator at the church we're staying at, come by and help us with our planting. He wanted to see what our service trip was about, and was excited to take part in it with us. With one more day of work left, we're all thrilled to see how else we can help Ryan in the garden.
After overhearing the church choir practicing on Wednesday night, we decided to go to their Maundy Thursday service, which ended up being a trip-defining moment. It was a new experience for most of us, and we enjoyed the angelic voices of the choir yet again. The end of their Maundy Thursday service included a silent ritual. Everyone in the pews remained focused on the ceremony before them when, lo and behold, one of our cellphones went off. We managed to silence them beforehand, but apparently alarms do not answer to the calling of silence. We quickly exited the church, faces more red than the sunburn on Chris's neck.
After church, we headed to the Flying Fish for dinner. With walls filled with singing fish, the place sure had some character. Without us knowing, our site leaders ordered raw oysters for the group. Those who hadn't tried a raw oyster before were forced to try them. I think most of us can agree, it's one experience we won't be trying again anytime soon!
When we got back to the church, we went to the youth room to hang out for a little bit. After a nice massage train and a little bit of relaxation, Brian and Chris came into the room holding blindfolds. Oh boy! We were asked to stand in line according to our height, and placed the blindfolds over our eyes so we could begin a trust walk. After some squeals, giggles, and sweaty hands, we finally made it to a top-secret room! Just kidding… but it was a room that none of us had ever been to before! Our reflection turned out to be one that brought our tight knit group even closer together. Who would have thought that would even be possible after spending so much time together?
We wrapped up the night with a group sleepover and a classic Eric bedtime story! With our time in Little Rock coming to a close, we plan on a little bit of sight-seeing today along with a final visit to our beloved garden. We're all excited to spend one last day in Little Rock, and can't wait to see what it has in store for us!
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