Tuesday, April 19, 2011

My second big day, surrounded by potatoes


After missing two Saturdays at BUGS being sick for a while and running the Beat Pete race, I was happily back in this spot of Boise. It was a great morning, the good weather helped us to work continuously and even more motivated and we all were in a good mood.



Our duty that day was digging a long row of 6-inches deep, water it, place the cut potatoes and bury it. The task were easy and diverse, so that we weren't burnt-out at all. Besides, we were talking all the time between each other while we were working, and it was fun to get to know more Emma, Amber, Hailey, Megan, and the others.

Once I told what did we do this Saturday, I would like to concentrate on two topics: places famous for planting some sort of vegetables and volunteering.

I was born (and I lived my whole life) in Vitoria-Gasteiz, the capital of the Basque Country. This city is in a rural province called Araba, which is famous for its famous potatoes, too! It was really funny when I first got here and I saw in the driving plates the sentence 'Idaho, Famous Potatoes'.

I really like the idea of being famous for that, as long as we produce vegetables and we maintain traditional and healthy habits. In this days when the mass population is concentrated in cities, I dream about seeing people moving to small towns and start working, once again, in the orchards and farms. Maybe, in that way, we will become famous for the quality of our healthy life, not for a 'stupid' etiquette in our lives.

On the other hand, there were some volunteers from fraternities in the garden. Some of them they did spend a couple of hours over there, but the vast majority left in few minutes. Volunteering is really rewarding and beneficial, specially if it is full of commitment and not only related to the picture.

That's all for today, see you next time folks!


Ourselves, paying attention to Master Mike's word, while the sweaters were hanging in the sticks! Good time!

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Our first contribution, not only physical effort


After spending my Spring Break in a nice trip in Portland and Seattle, it is time to go back in the time and remember that the break started nicely, as I did my Service Learning at BUGS.

We met as usually, around 10 am in the morning and after talking about the compost and the plans for this semester we got started with the main task: move the compost from the huge pile to the garden. After two hours of hard work, we were done and I have to admit that it was fun, as we were talking to each other, with great humor and time went by quickly.

This reminds me of my lazyness back in the days. I didn't understand why did we have to work to get our food as we can buy it. Now, I can totally see my relatives' extravagant motivation. As Mike (our Spartan great boss) said 'If you work hard and happy here, the plants will grow much better'. I thought that was a hippy mentality but I will do my best, I really want to see BUGS full of colors and live.