YSOP - Day 2

Today's contributing editors:  Ellie Fleming, Grace Hourigan and Aven Jones

            LOL today was great. We arrived early to the Clagget Farm, being the punctual individuals that we are. Clagget Farm is 290 acres, and is also a part of the Chesapeake Bay foundation.

Trekking to the fields.

The farm grows crops including: arugula, peas, a variety of turnips (including purple-top, white turnips, & red of course), bok choi, romaine lettuce, collared greens, kale, and various other agricultural goods. Half of these fabulous agricultural delights are donated to food banks around the DC area that feed the homeless. We started today’s service by harvesting the plumpest and girthiest of peas we could find.

Displaying peas of appropriate plump and girth.

During the harvest Caroline talked to the peas, Kelsey ate as many peas as she harvested, and Peyton played with mud. Some of the boys in the group sliced bok choy, indirectly creating the verb “bok choying”.

Taking a wee break from "Bok Choying".

On average this farm harvests 70,000 pounds of produce. Today we contributed 500 pounds. Harvesting was followed by weeding as well as vegetable washing. Added bonuses included experiencing the composting toilets and accumulating 20 pounds of mud on our shoes.

When we returned to the church in our mud-soaked state, we listened to a guest speaker named Alan. He had struggled with homelessness twice before and shared his motivational story with us and another YSOP group from Florida. Alan highlighted the fact that just because you may currently be living comfortably, homelessness can happen to anyone, even if they make the right choices. Before he became homeless, Alan worked for the government and had a happy family.  However due to his depression, he got divorced, lost his job, and found himself without a home. After several years of living on the streets of DC, Alan turned his life around and decided to start making the right choices so he would not end up with out a home again. However, during a robbery, he was shot three times, once in each hand and on his left arm. Unfortunately, he ended up losing his home again after a long surgery due to his injuries. After again turning his life around, he reunited with his family and, he told us, discovered his love of showers (his first shower after being homeless for three months lasted an hour and a half!) Alan’s speech was very inspirational and taught us a lot.

After Alan’s speech, the group headed in for some much-needed showers. After we were all squeaky clean, we sat around for reflection on the day. We discussed both Alan’s speech and our impending day.

Reflection time

Next we headed out for some dinner at Eat Food Court. We even met a peer group from Texas. After our hunger was satisfied, we headed to CVS Pharmacy and bought a few sweet treats, some much needed toiletries, and ingredients for a Sundae bar! As our Texan friends might say, “What a great day y’all!”

Pea picking time at Clagget Farm.

Yup, more pea picking. 

Big knives were a hit. . . tad scary to work in close proximity to these guys!

Bringing turnips in from the field. (these bins were HEAVY!!)

Weeding the collards and kale.

Lunch time on the pick-up truck.

...our harvest.