Service!!!!!!

Monday 22nd February: I imagined a white bearded old man pitchfork in hand with his 'ole straw hat and chewing on a blade of grass. His loyal sheepdog named Bilbo at his side.

We arrived at Soil Born Farm.

How wrong I was. It was really inspiring to see that the farm workers were “young”. The wise old man's spirit and enthusiasm for agriculture was inside them and in the atmosphere at the farm. They were all incredibly passionate about their work. These young people were running a successful non-profit organisation in this consumer driven world and living in harmony. There was however the dog, Porter. He was a black Labrador who dug a hole for half an hour to retrieve a ball he had miss-laid. His main usefulness was allowing the 30 + chickens to be free range, something we all are eager to work out for Woolman's chickens. Whisky the "mentally impaired" (their words not mine) pig who walked sideways entertained us and kept our minds off the poverty and serious issues we were bound to encounter when coming face to face with the people we are helping by volunteering at the farm.The work was physical. The sun shone hard on our backs and the breeze reminded us of the sea side. We pulled up and old metal fence with pliers, thinned samplings, weeded onion beds, pulled up drip systems, got hay-fever and rolled barded wire. Curiously only 5 of their 25 hectors was cultivated.

Tuesday 23rd February: Early morning made crepes . . . British style! We went on an eventful 3 and a half mile bike ride as we weren't due at Sacramento Food Bank until 1pm. About 15 minutes into the ride we had a flat tire and the rest of the ride was shaped by attempting to sort this out. We had a quick lunch before heading into Sacramento. The food bank was a large warehouse. I was overwhelmed by the smell of compost that lingered inside. It was disappointing as it meant that some of the produce donated wasn't fresh. Although it was better than nothing, my heart ached at the thought of the people in need not getting what I would class as standard. We had to bag bread two loaves for each client. They would receive a French stick and a sour dough loaf each. The employees said it had been donated fresh, although it had been on a supermarket shelf for a week. It made me think of the “freshly baked” in my supermarket it has always been made the morning you purchase.We then headed toward the distribution sight. The most exciting element of the whole trip for me were helping people face to face. We took three large vans full of food tables and tents. The produce ranged form fresh and organic to old and mouldy. The rain hammered down. We were in the car park out side a community centre and it was so bizarre to me that we weren't in a sports hall inside. We set up 15 gazebos, lined tables and stocked them with food, doing our best to separate the really bad produce. We were allocated posts by the “go ahead and . . .” lady. I was on grapefruit duty. Clients were primarily black, Hispanic, buck toothed and short. Whomever they were they were grateful and receive their food with a smile. However not everyone wanted grapefruit.I was really curious about the means testing that they had to go through as all we were told was that they couldn't have orange juice if they didn't live in the zip code. The rain was relentless and the gazebos useless. The organisers wanted to pack up but there were still people coming through with their soggy cardboard and the prospect of a wet waddle home.

Wednesday 24th February: To avoid the prospect of another soaking Soil Born put us to work in the green house potting and seeding. We were thinning and re-planting and I sang to them to reduce their separation anxieties. The weather cleared up, so we took down another fence and filled in a trench.

Thursday 25th February: The plan was to cycle 15 miles across Sacramento in an hour and arrive at the farm at about 10am. We had agreed to go at the pace of the slowest although this was a more difficult concept for some than it seemed. We had a few injuries and bumps, bruises and falls. We stopped pretty much at every mile. We arrived at Soil Born Farm in time for lunch, rather than at 10. The workers felt we had done them a favour as the work was limited and they had had a high school group in that morning. We worked weeding the green house inside and out, seeding and then more weeding. Hay fever got the better of me so I joined some people in cutting chicken wire. It was being put around some deer detering fences to stop the rabbits.

Friday 26th February: River City Food Bank was a really impressive organisation. It is the only Sacramento-area food bank open every weekday to anyone experiencing hunger from anywhere in Sacramento County. It offers nutritionally-balanced 3-day emergency food as well as shelter assistance. It was a clean, well organised indoor distribution house. The means test was computerised, asking for ID, residency, dependant information and ID, income sources (if any) and their mode of transport as this determines the weight of their bags. Their information was processed and sent to a computer at the back were the freshly bought food was packed individually. This meant that depending on children's ages or number of people in the family each client would receive appropriate produce. The options included nappies and baby food as well as dairy goodies such as yoghurt. Homeless people would get specifically made up bags from the United States Department of Agriculture. They offered nutrition classes and books for children to take home. It was very clear that not all of the clients were homeless or out of pocket, some had just hit a bump in the road in terms of budget. When food budgets get cut RCFB will offer meals.Empty Bowls is River City Food Bank's major fundraiser. The annual event raises both needed funds and awareness about the challenges of hunger in Sacramento County. A ticket  includes a serving of gourmet soup and a handcrafted bowl in reminder of hunger in the community. The day was the one which most connected to the reading of “Walking each other home” because River City Food Bank was a place of compassion and hope. Definitely the most rewarding element of the week was talking to people, hearing their stories and just being able to spend time with them as they waited upon their food.

Saturday 27th February: The total from our east Sacramento harvest was 4197 pounds! We volunteered with about 30 others to harvest residential fruit trees with an organisation called Harvest Sacramento. We picked an array of citrus including oranges, grapefruit, mandarins, tangerines, blood oranges, lemons and even some kumquats. The fruit gets donated to the Sacramento Food Bank that we had visited on Tuesday. It was a very satisfying to think that fresh fruit we had picked would be given out instead of the mouldy supermarket fruit we had sorted through. As we had been asked to make a promotional video for Harvest Sacramento, the Sacramento Food Bank and Soil Born Farms we were filming and asking people for interviews. The most interesting was with Robin the founder of the Harvest and a Quaker. He had started out donating to his Meeting House but as they received too much got in touch with the food banks.