Antonio's Blog

Hi, my name is Antonio Cendejas. I'm a service learning student and MIAD with a fresh new blog to talk about my volunteering career.

[antoniocendejas]

Reflection

During my time at growing power, I’ve developed and learned a lot about nature. When I first started, I honestly didn’t know too much about what to expect. My Google searches showed they did farming, but knowing what you were going to be doing on a farm lets the imagination run a bit. The orientation cleared up many questions and gave me a better understanding of the organic growing process. While I still may not be the right person to trust when growing your flowers, I do have a much clearer understanding of how to get a garden started. My supervisor was very knowledgeable about the ecology around us, introducing me to the salmon run, worm castings and everything in between. He showed me how a line of dirt can be valued at a quarter of a million dollars. Because of this service, I finally understand the difference between dirt and soil. I was able to learn so much about plant and marine life in the short amount of time I was with them, and am happy to have had the opportunity to do some “real work” for a while. This is definitely a place I would like to revisit once I don’t have college breathing down my neck, as the environment and people around made the experience pleasant. Thanks to Growing Power for taking me in, and thanks to Service Learning for giving me the push to get started!

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Question - Why do rams have a mating season that goes into the winter?

On my last day at Growing Power, my supervisor told me not to touch the rams with my bare hands. This is because the rams had begun their mating season, and therefore began secreting an oil into their fur that indicates they are ready to begin breeding. The oil isn’t really the issue - it’s the smell. It’s very sharp and obvious; not horrid, but very easy to detect. Because it’s an oil, it will not wash off easily at all, either. Therefore, you will want to touch it with a glove you can take off. So it made me think - why do some animals decide to go through mating right when winter is going to start? Between the harsh conditions and food scarcity, it doesn’t seem to be the most tactical in my uneducated opinion. So that’s why we look it up! When it comes to rams in particular, there are a series of factors that go into their mating cycles. A ram’s drive to mate is rated by a term called “libido.” Their libido is mostly affected by their weight, puberty, and testosterone levels. When a ram is in good condition, this increases their libido and will begin their mating cycle. With these factors being dependant on their health, it just so happens that rams typically make themselves at a “healthier” weight in the fall, just before winter. Since they begin the process of fattening up for the winter, this provides more resources for the animal. This is important since rams will typically lose around 15 percent of their weight through mating cycles. One other factor not directly related to food is the temperature. Rams are actually accustomed to cooler temperatures, so much so that they can actually become infertile from being too hot. Keeping this in mind, it helps make a little more sense as to why they would pick that unforgiving Wisconsin winter as a prime mating time. 

Sources: http://www.sheep101.info/201/ramrepro.html  https://web.archive.org/web/20080728104359/http://www2.dpi.qld.gov.au/sheep/4989.html

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The Final Day

November 11 - My last day at Growing Power For now, at least. I came in at noon and stayed until closing (5pm). It was a good thing I came in as well, as my supervisor was up to his eyeballs in work. Since the winter was drawing near, it was time to sell off our goats and rams. Typically we just do a mass sale to a local company that will process the goats on their own, but people are allowed to come in and purchase one of the animals before we ship them off. Whenever one is purchased, we place a string around their neck to indicate that they are going off to a new home. It is a bit sad to sell them though, considering that they were all being sold just before Thanksgiving. While my supervisor was handling the sales, I was directed over to a family that was visiting us. We helped them take a family photo with one of the goats (named Casablanca). When another family of customers came in to purchase one of our rams, my supervisor had me give the original family a quick tour of our facility. This is when Sophia came in and began writing out receipts for our rams. She was especially heartbroken to sell them, but she toughed it out and made it through. Once all of that was taken care of, my supervisor took a couple other volunteers to do some small jobs and assigned Sophia and me to take care of the produce shop. This was essentially the remainder of our day, helping a few customers with purchases and bringing out some pre-orders for others. Overall it was a pleasantly simple day and was good to stay inside considering it was a bit cold outside. 

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Question - What’s so special about wheatgrass?

I hear a lot about the product and see plenty of lines for wheatgrass smoothies. While I have seen all of this excitement over it, I’ve never taken the time to research the question - what’s the big deal about it? I understand it has to be a health thing, but what about it makes it so good? After a bit of research, I have a couple of varying answers. While there is a strong fanbase over the grass, and several sites such as WebMD and MayoClinic anticipate seeing the potential benefits of it, these sites also pose the issue that there is no real evidence that wheatgrass heals as many issues as it does. While it is filled with a plethora of vitamins and minerals such as A, E, C, K, B6, Calcium, Selenium, Magnesium, and Iron, doctors cannot confirm that this helps more serious ailments such as cancer or aids, contrary to what fans believe. This is mostly due to a lack of available research on the product. What we do know for sure though, is that wheatgrass can improve symptoms of ulcerative colitis, and reduce chemotherapy side effects.  Sources: https://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/wheatgrass#2  https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/wheatgrass/faq-20058018

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Solo Run

November 5 - A busy day for everyone. I worked for 4 hours from 12-4. When I first got in, I was greeted by the manager of this Growing Power location: Tammy. She was friendly, and was just there to collect some paperwork. My supervisor and I began handling the microgreens and wheatgrass. There was a lot of it that was prepped on the tables inside the primary greenhouse, and they needed to be moved into storage. On her way out, however, Tammy told my supervisor that she needed him to take care of the tours that were to take place today. With no other volunteers available, that left it up to me to take care of the transfer. I would run between the greenhouse storage and our freezer storage, making as much freezer space as I could to store more wheatgrass. Unfortunately, there was not enough space in the freezer for everything, but when I filled it up as far as it would go, I moved everything around to optimize table space for the remaining wheatgrass. I did a quick walk-around to find my supervisor, but he was still giving the tour. I took the time to go sift dirt until 4, when my shift ended.

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Question - how does a hydroponics system work?

At Growing power, one of their pride and joys are their hydroponics system. It’s definitely a fascinating and beautiful system. We first saw it during our tour, and after that, never really had to interact with it again. There were several periods where we had to work near it, but for the most part it was left alone. The importance of this system was high - we weren’t even allowed to take photos in the same room it was in. This of course is a pristine way to poke curiosity, so whenever I had the chance, I would walk over to this device and study it. It was comprised of a series of really deep holes filled with fish and water, and shelves of micro greens or other plants, with a lot of water running through them as well. There was also a large barrel of algae filled water, and a series of fishing nets catching the algae water. Eventually I asked my supervisor to give me a more in-depth rundown as to what it did. Essentially, it’s a glorified fertilizing machine for the plants. The large collections of fish in the 8 foot deep hole in the bottom provided fecal matter. This fecal matter is one source of food for the plants. It would also feed the algae, which would in turn create another source of nutrients. Because of this setup, plants will typically grow 25 percent faster than normal rates, and use less soil content than traditional planting systems. If done incorrectly, however, the cost of the hydroponics system can cost more than it’s worth, between the amount of water needed and the electric bill that comes from the pumping system. So long as you keep the conditions right, you can get a much more positive return.  Sources: June Lewis  http://www.fullbloomhydroponics.net/hydroponic-systems-101/

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Question - Why would you need to buy dirt?

Apparently, you are buying SOIL! With much of my volunteer work revolving around dirt, I would run into instances where I would help package up the “refined dirt” for sale. Whenever I put dirt through that large sifter, I was actually sifting out the soil. This, in turn, adds another question - what’s the difference between dirt and soil? The answer is a bit simpler than I thought! The compost pile we had consisted mostly of two things: garbage and dirt. Dirt is mostly vacant when it comes to resources available inside of it. The soil, on the other hand, is the nutrient-rich substance filled with plenty of microorganisms waiting to become tasty plant food. The soil (or as I kept calling it, refined dirt) was what we would sell to customers. This would negate the need for additional materials to help plants grow, as the food resources they would need are then readily available.  Sources: https://askmax.countrymax.com/lawn_and_gardenDetail.php?Soil-Vs.-Dirt-What-is-the-difference-46 https://newengland.com/today/living/gardening/dirt-soil-compost/

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So what is Growing Power?

Growing power is a non profit organization that helps create organic food for the community. Growing power is actually one of the last working crop farms in the Milwaukee area. Started by Will Allen in 1993, this organization has been providing a large variance of produce, from veggies, to honey, to even goats. They even provide refined dirt that is substantially fertilized, worm castings, and soil pots for you to use in your home. They are a national leader in the Good Food movement, providing food for whoever is interested. When our CEO Will Allen left his basketball career, he went back to just being a farm boy with a plot of land. He decided to use his land and bring a dedicated group on board to start this organization, and once it picked up speed, it became the group that it is today. After some time, they picked up the building they use today for their Milwaukee location, and continued to put their footprint on the community. Growing Power does a lot of work with the city, but for the most part, runs independently. They have most of their work done in Milwaukee, but they have a few hands in Chicago as well. As they continue to develop, they continue to help the organic produce around us, and even deal helpful insights as to how necessary a green community actually is. 

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Question - Why do banana trees have to be cut down after they produce fruit?

After a bit of research, it seems that I’ve been maintaining the banana tree a bit more than I thought I was during my volunteer work. Apparently, the banana tree is not a tree at all; rather it is a type of herbaceous plant. This explains why the ‘tree’ never really gets that wooden texture that actual trees have. When the shoots that stem up from underground wrap together to create the “trunk,” this actually creates a pseudostem. The banana flower then has to push through and stalk up to allow a fruit. However, once this has been done, the stalk has been used up, and will start to die off. Since these stalks can become part of the tree, this explains why you have to actually trim the tree, not cut the whole thing down. On top of that, a lot of stalks will make their way onto the floor, and will need to be tidied up to ensure a mess isn’t made. That’s where I came in.  Source:  Gill, Dan. “Banana Trees Are Beautiful, but They're a Lot of Work.” NOLA.com, NOLA, 7 July 2011, www.nola.com/homegarden/index.ssf/2011/07/banana_trees_are_beautiful_but.html.

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Day 5 - Leadership

October 28th - Today was a particularly special day, as my supervisor felt confident enough to give me the reigns for a change. With the weather becoming more and more chilly as the days go by, it’s getting to that point where it’s no longer healthy for the plants to remain outside. This started the project of getting the potted plants into the greenhouses where they will be able to survive the winter. This is an important process because Growing Power runs all year long. Since no one else was available, my supervisor was required to do the tours that usually take place on Saturdays. That being said, there was no one to direct the project of transitioning the pots. He told me that he trusted my judgment and that I should get the pots wherever I believe they best belong. This then required me to direct the other volunteers to where they should place the other materials, ensuring that there is still enough space for everyone else to be able to walk through the greenhouse. After several hours, we were able to move everything where it needed to go, and in the end my supervisor was happy with the job we did. 

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Day 4 - A quiet day

October 14 - With the rain picking up and having so many puddles in the area, today was spent cleaning up and organizing. We started off by getting into the basics - separating trash and recycling. There was an assortment of screws, old power tools, fans, saw blades, even window blinds, all crammed into one small indoor shed. My supervisor and I took the time to make sure everything found the correct bin, and that nothing was misplaced. Once that was cleaned up, we swept the floor since the banana tree nearby was dropping so many leaves. Once all was swept and separated, we took some rags and started scrubbing the place down. All in all, this project took about 5 hours. It was definitely one of the less physically demanding days.

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Day 3: Expanding Opportunities

October 7 - A very eventful day. I got there around 10 am, and began with the job I expected at first - sifting dirt. After only a few minutes of doing that however, my supervisor decided to take me to the back where a new job was waiting for me. Instead of using the pickaxe to get the raw dirt, there was a collection of small plastic buckets that had decomposing plants in them. This process involved separating between the plants and the dirt, putting the plants in one wheelbarrow and dirt in the other. The dirt wheelbarrow would be the raw dirt and the plants would be placed into the compost pile with the refuse from the sifting machine. Once this process was complete, that’s when the call happened. My supervisor gets a call while we’re cleaning up the plastic buckets. This call forces him to drop everything and tell me to follow him - turns out the owner, Will Allen, just arrived with a truckload of produce. The 6 ft. 7 in. retired professional basketball player and owner of the establishment came in with produce from his farm to dictate what produce would go in an outdoor fridge, and what produce would either get thrown out or placed into the store; all the while reminding me how short I actually am. Once we were done moving around produce, all the rejected foods were placed on a pallet, and Will decided to go and give the 2 o’ clock tour for visitors to see the property. My supervisor and I rushed to go take care of a quick dirt dispersal job to look good for the tour. Once that was done, we rushed back over to the sifter to give the tour a demonstration. After they were able to see the process, we stopped the machine so they could ask questions, where I was given the opportunity to show off my knowledge of the dirt sifting process. When they were leaving, Will gave us all a bit of praise, and left with the tour. My supervisor then gave us the reward of getting to feed the goats the rejected produce. After enjoying that, it was back to sifting dirt until about 3pm, and once that was it, that was my day. Overall, a grand experience!

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Day 2: More Dirt

September 30th - A day with less intensity but no less work. From 9:30-2:30, it was another day of sifting dirt. Since I was more understanding of the process, I was left a little bit more freedom when deciding which part of the process I participated in. With this opportunity, I was able to take part in each step available through sifting dirt from start to finish. Using the pickaxe to loosen up dirt, I’d shovel it into wheelbarrows and haul it over to the machine. From there I would shovel the raw dirt into the machine and run it, filtering it through the drum. The refined dirt would fall through onto the floor underneath and pile up while Sophia would clear off the opposing end of the drum where the refuse piled up. Once Sophia’s refuse wheelbarrow was full, I would haul it up to the compost pile and empty it, while Sophia would start collecting the refined dirt. Once I was able to get the refuse wheelbarrow back, I would help Sophia clear up underneath the sifting drum. We would continue this process until the refined wheelbarrow was full and drop it off to another area where the refined dirt was trayed up for other produce. This was continued until our 5 hours were up. The refined dirt is filled with the ideal levels of nutrients, minerals and PH to promote a healthy and efficient growth for whatever produce they decide to plant it in. The labor shows how much work we have to go through to get healthy organic produce, and begins to show some of the reasoning as to why organic produce is more expensive. The work was heavy but helps add a sense of perspective to some of the work that needs to be done before you can eat.

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Day 1: Dirt

September 23rd - A day there with no time to waste  From 9am to 3pm, this was my first day actually volunteering with Growing Power. As soon as I came in, my supervisor brought me over to the sifting area. There was a large mound of unsifted dirt that me and a few other volunteers had to go through. From start to finish, the process essentially went like this:  I would go over to the designated area where I would take a pickaxe and chip off hunks of dirt from the ground. I would then shovel the hunks that I picked off into wheelbarrows and haul them over to the sifting location. Once I unloaded 6 wheelbarrows, we would load shovels of the “raw” (unsifted) dirt into the drum compartment of the machine. The machine would then spin and drop refined dirt on to the floor, where the other volunteers would scoop the refined dirt and pack them into buckets that were aligned across the floor. I’d be on the other end of the sifter, where I would shovel out the refuse into another wheelbarrow. Once it was full I’d haul it up to a refuse mound, empty it, and go on until we needed more raw dirt. This was definitely physically taxing, so it definitely became obvious why they appreciate the help they can get. Unfortunately there were some volunteers that were not there by choice. While Growing Power still appreciates all the help it can get, it’s obvious that not all help is beneficial. The team I worked with however definitely makes it known when they appreciate you as a worker, and they do what they can to look out for you. It helps keep the environment friendly and worth coming back to. This day was great for learning about the qualities of dirt and how the nutrients in the soil can affect different plant lifestyles, as well as some “useless” trivia, like which places consider tomatoes fruits vs. vegetables. It was a good start to the experience and definitely keeps my attention engaged.

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Growing Power Orientation

After a few discussions and a previous failed attempt, I was able to find my place in an orientation to begin volunteering at Growing Power on the 16th of September. At 10am sharp I arrived at their facility to meet my soon-to-be supervisor. I was started off with a short video explaining a bit of the history of the organization, along with their mission and goals. According to the video, the company was intended to be able to help give teens a place to work. A retired professional basketball player named Will Allen was a man that had farm land that needed work, so he turned his land into what would become Growing Power.  Through my volunteer work, I’ll be able to help Growing Power be able to work on their mission of “providing equal access to healthy, high-quality, safe and affordable food for people in all communities.” The tour I received helped me get an idea of what kind of affordable food was under that umbrella. From their fish systems, beekeeping hives, chickens, goats, worms, and of course many plants, there was obviously plenty of work that needed to get done. What position I would be filling during my volunteer hours was still a mystery, however it seemed that I would not be working a position, but possibly several positions. While daunting at first since I have no clue what I’m doing, it became a bit more exciting with all the new material that I would get to learn firsthand. While I doubt I will be doing beekeeping anytime soon, there is still a great deal of additional plants and animals that need care and maintenance. Any chance to learn for free is most definitely welcome in my life!

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Why Start Volunteering?

As someone who is admittedly fresh to the volunteering world, it becomes rather easy to fall back on the old “never too late to start” philosophy. I have always spent so much time trying to advance my own benefits, it seems it was only a matter of time before I had to start returning the favors. The service learning course I am now a part of is definitely a good way to get the kick in the pants needed to get started. As I expose myself to this new experience it provides a great opportunity to start sharing with everyone my experiences and personal developments created as I begin making my mark on the volunteering community.  Through a bit of soul searching and guidance, I managed to find Growing Power - a nonprofit organization that focuses on produce. Through a bit of government funding and hefty volunteer work this organization is able to provide rich soil and organic produce to the communities around. Considering my lack of green thumb knowledge, this area seemed to have provided a very good opportunity to get a few volunteer hours in while learning about proper organic care. This learning opportunity is what helped peak my interest since I am the last person you want to watch over your tulips (for now). On top of all the teachings they can provide, I can help keep an organization that promotes a healthy and strong lifestyle continue to flourish as they should.