Greetings Bounty community! Petaluma Bounty recently held our annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, kicking off volunteer hours for 2023. It was a beautiful day filled with many hardworking individuals AND sunshine.
In the days leading up to the event, farmer Raney and I kept a close eye on the weather. While we hoped for sunshine, it looked like Mother Nature had other plans. So, we brainstormed several “indoor” activities that would benefit the farm while keeping volunteers from getting too soggy.
Monday, January 16, turned out to be an absolutely beautiful day! It was one of the first full days of sun this year! It was fitting to have such beautiful weather on such a special day.
Pathways mulched, electric fence moved
We extended our normal volunteer shifts by an hour. Volunteers ranging from age 5 to 75 mulched several of the key paths that Bounty staff and volunteers use to traverse the farm. All in all, volunteers made more than 100 wheelbarrow trips. Next time you visit the farm, be sure to look down and appreciate the ease of walking on the mulched paths!
Other projects included laying out donated cardboard as a base for the paths as well as moving the chicken electric fence, which we learned can be quite the team bonding activity! Other volunteers painted plant signs which will be placed in the field for plant identification.
Small actions toward long-lasting impact
Overall, we had more than 20 volunteers come through, some of whom were veteran volunteers and some of whom were brand new! We are so incredibly grateful for each of our volunteers every day, but it was particularly powerful to spend the first volunteer day of 2023 with community members of all ages and backgrounds united in the mission of making local, fresh food accessible to everyone.
While it can be hard to envision the tomato that will be part of someone’s dinner in August as you are carrying the 15th load of mulch, it serves as a reminder that the actions we take now can have long-lasting effects.
60th Anniversary of the March on Washington
This August marks the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington and Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Dr. King fought for a better tomorrow and we are still fighting for racial justice more than half a century later.
Working with like-minded volunteers on MLK Day reinforces our belief that service to community, with community, can be a slow but hopeful process to create a better tomorrow.