Service Learning Hours Reflection

          I did all ten of my service learning hours at the Food Forest located on campus by the Welcome Center. My hours consisted of two days of work for five hours each. My first day I dug up soil to create a walkway so that a wheel chair may be able to go through once the forest is complete. There were so many people at the site my first day and I was able to talk too many of them about University Colloquium and how our classes were the same and how they were different. The Backyard Farmers club was the organization running this event and site. A member by the name of Erica informed me and a few other people about what the organization’s plans were for the site. She said that they hoped to have the food forest ready by the time school started in the fall and that once every plant was ripe students, faculty, and community members will be able to walk through the forest and pick and eat anything you want. I thought this was such a wonderful idea to bring here to FGCU. We all had smiles on our faces while we were thinking about eating ripe fruit and vegetables. She then said that many of the plants they will have there will be exotic and some will be toxic if the fruit is picked and eaten at the wrong time. This concerned me, how would we know if something was alright to eat? Erica informed me that there will be signs along the pathway with information about each plant and when their fruit is safe to eat. The second time I went to the Food Forest there were not that many people as there was the first day. This time I was flattening the huge beds of compacted soil by using pitchforks and a wheelbarrow. This experience took a lot of hard work and patients. The first day when I began working in the morning I worked so fast that by the time two hours came around I was so exhausted I quickly learned for the next time I came to take my time and to stay hydrated. Overall, I enjoyed my time at the Food Forest and meeting new people.