"Ya'll wanna help me plant some strawberry plants? ...there are 2,000 of em' "

I worked from 8:30 to 5:30 at City Root, and enjoyed almost every moment of it. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect when I pulled up on my bike at 8:30. I made a conscious decison to only learn enough about the organization before working there to know that I'd like it enough. I wanted to leave some aspects of the farm a surprise; this made it more exciting for me.

I was first given the task of filling trays with soil in the green house, and then moved on to weed the carrot bed. Then came the defining question of the day; Eric, one of the farm managers approached us and asked, "Ya'll wanna help me plant some strawberry plants? There's 2,000 of em'." To Amanda, Seth and Sharon, this seemed like a normal type of task to be asked to do, but the only thought in my head was, "Holy crap, that's a lot of strawberry plants".  Needless to say we worked on this task for the better half of the day, and we probably only got through half of the 2,000.

My first day at City Roots probably wouldn't have been the same if it weren't for the volunteers and staff I shared the day with.

Eric, the farmer manager I mentioned before, is the son of Robbie, the owner. Robbie and his wife travel to Mexico for extended periods of time, at which point they leave Eric in charge. Robbie started out his professional life as an architect, but then in 2009 decided to start City Roots. He was able to use the farming knowledge he had from growing up on a farm to make City Roots successful. Like father like son, Eric followed the same path. The funny thing I observed about Eric is he claims he enjoys farming, but also claims to be very grumpy when he's on the farm. There is no doubt he is a skillful farmer though, it was easy to see that.

The other interns I worked with Amanda, Seth and Sharon, all had different personalities, but the four of us (including myself) seemed to create a unique group dynamic.

Amanda, the first intern I met when I went to visit the farm last Friday, is a graduate student at the University of South Carolina. She grew up, and is still living on a livestock farm only 20 minutes away from City Roots. She is the one is the group with the continuous smile, and the continuous jokes. She has a witty humor, with a touch of sarcasm, but she frequently had us all giggling throughout the day.

Seth is an undergraduate student at USC, and very involved with the local environmental activism on campus. He has been working at the farm the longest, 2 months, so any of the the decisions we had to make on our own, we let him make the final call. He has an easy going nature, but you can tell he holds a wealth of knowledge and strong intellect.

Finally Sharon, is the oldest volunteer of the 4 of us, graduated for USC and is in the process of finding a job to start her career. She ended up at City Roots to keep herself busy until she finds a job. She describes herself as the 50% of the South Carolina's population that wants to "get the hell out of the state" (the other half of the state never wants to leave). She would like to move to Colorado, or somewhere in the northwest to work, but if the job search fails, she expressed a temptation to move to Latin America and just let go of the american culture for a while.

I start day 2 at the farm today. I'm sure we'll continue to plant the strawberry plants, and it's possible we still won't finish. Thanks for reading! Keep thinking green!!!