Mike Arthur

Rise Up Community Farm is an amazing atmosphere and a great place to contribute to our community. I was welcomed with open arms and after a quick tour, I went straight to work. My task for the session was pulling weeds from the pea crop. The amount of recent rainfall certainly contributed to an overwhelming amount of weeds that appeared to be choking out some of the existing pea plants.

AnnaGrace provided some tools and showed me a few techniques for weeding. She also helped in identifying the differences between the weeds and pea plants, as well as some beets that were mixed in. The majority of my time was spent getting my hands dirty as I carefully sifted through the rows and removed the weeds. After a couple of hours of pulling weeds, the crop was visible again and there were now defined spaces to plant more seeds.

I placed seeds a few inches apart along each row and covered them lightly with a layer of soil. I was careful not to pack it down as the delicate pea plant would have trouble sprouting. At the end of the session, a light rain began as if mother nature was signaling the mission was accomplished.

Overall it was a wonderful experience and I met some awesome people, including a couple of my classmates. Together, we accomplished the daunting task at hand. Weeding may not seem appealing to most, but the reward will be a crop full of peas that will eventually be used as a local food source for the community.

Thank you Rise Up Community Farm for the great experience!