I graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno in December 2020 with a degree in Environmental Science focused in Natural Resource Policy and Management. Over the years I have been sticking my foot in various environmental fields in an attempt of finding where I fit best. I’ve done my part through trail maintenance, forestry and wildlife conservation, wildfire fighting, alternative building for low-income communities, various volunteering with the Carson Valley Chinese Cultural Group, and now sustainable agriculture. There are so many more fields within the environmental boom, making a final decision difficult.
I began my AmeriCorps service with no intentions or goals and was unsure early on if DFI would be the right path in finding future interests. Jill offered me a job and I could see they needed the help. I told myself that working in a greenhouse is quite ideal and I’d help them get through their seeding lists and check in later. I spent the majority of my time of February, March, April, and the first half of May in the greenhouse hand seeding or vacuum seeding a variety of crops for DFI and local surrounding farms. One of the first things I started in the greenhouse was Calibra and Cabernet Onions for DFI. I then moved on to leafy greens, chives, melons, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, artichokes, flowers, herbs, and beets. I passed the time talking to some of our regular volunteers, April and Katy, listening to the Lord of the Rings audiobooks, arguing with podcast hosts who couldn’t hear me, and jamming out to “dad-rock” alternatives from the 80’s, 90’s, and early 2000’s. I was able to hang around the field crew during lunch and as soon as I started regularly seeding, the end of April arrived and so did the time to plant the onions in the field.
May and June passed and my role as the greenhouse manager turned into greenhouse checker and field crew member. I began delivering orders, giving tours, helping harvest and farm tasks, and even gave tips on proper tool use. The days became longer and hotter and I was lucky enough to catch a sighting of the hawk that hangs around the farm catch a mouse, see a coyote run across UNR’s agriculture fields in broad daylight, and get fooled by the fake coyote intended to scare off the geese. July came and so did the time to harvest the onions I started back in March. Once hands are washed, the farmer (me) loosens the dirt around it and pulls directly up revealing a satisfyingly round fresh onion with green stems and a sharp, fresh onion smell. She cleans them up, trims off the roots, partners them with a friend so they aren’t lonely, bob off the tops, and pack them in a box ready to be sold and enjoyed by you.
An onion takes about 110 days to mature from seed and coincidentally, so was a large majority of my AmeriCorps service. Within this time, I was able to start thousands of seedlings, contribute to surrounding farms’ productivity, learn the ins and outs of organic climate-smart farm operations, a bit about food sovereignty for native lands, a bit about garlic braiding, and had enough time to make a map that will be displayed in the hall of the DFI office, all while onions were growing in a former parking lot. I’ve come full circle (pun intended).
Oddly enough, farm work has been one of the harder mental battles I’ve experienced; meeting new people is often times difficult, and the results of your labors are slow. Instead of having immense amounts of land to explore and not a soul in sight like in my former jobs, all of our team’s efforts are concentrated to a handful of acres and a greenhouse across the street from a rodeo arena in the middle of Reno traffic. It takes quite a bit of time to see all the hard work we’ve done to produce healthy produce to be seen and enjoyed by the community. And yet it was exactly what my present self needed. I’ve gained an immense amount through the relationships I’ve created with the people who work here and the regular volunteers I was able to meet. These current moments are quickly becoming another past experience I’ve done and I am off to another new thing to try. I’m grateful to have stuck it out and learn as much as I have.
Thank you DFI.
