GrowMemphis Days 1, 2 and 3.

Day 1

Stop in St. Louis

Stop in Columbia

We planned to meet at the Leid Center at 7:30, I was on time whereas some were not. I got over it and it turns out that Sarah K. had an issue with her car. We got it figured out, got some gas and were on the road by 9 a.m. in our 15-person van. We decided to take the highways to Memphis through Columbia and St. Louis. My personal highlight was our adventure through Columbia to take a group photo outside of “The ZOU.” A few hours later, we made it to St. Louis. Even though it was raining, we managed to run outside and snap a photo in front of the Arch. Finally, after a tiring day we made it to our destination of Memphis, Tennessee! We found the location where we will be staying for the week, Idlewild Presbyterian Church. We were told that it was haunted and it seems to be haunted by the drawing in the bathroom of Eliza.

Day 2

Listening to some music downtown

Rock Chalk!

Free day! Since we wouldn’t be working until Monday we decided to venture through the city of Memphis. We went downtown to Beale Street, listened to live music and went out to lunch at B.B. King’s Blues Club. Erin and I split a barbeque pork sandwich and fried pickles. It was really good! While walking downtown, we were taking a picture with the Jayhawk and a girl ran up to us saying that she was a native Kansan! We, being the Memphis group of course, got a picture with her. 


We spent the day just walking around town and it was a lot of fun. Later, we went to Patrick’s Steaks and Spirits to meet up with KU alumni to watch the KU vs. Purdue game. It was Kylie and Sarah K.’s first time ever watching a KU basketball game. Although the majority of the game was irritating, the ending was great! We’re planning on meeting with the alumni (and hopefully more) for the game on Friday.

Day 1 of work

 Day 3

Today was our first day of working for the Mid South Center for Peace and Justice. We met Chris, the Grow Memphis director, and went to our first site. We pulled weeds, shoveled compost and put it into the beds. That was really it. Pulling weeds doesn’t sound like it would take so much time but it did! We drove back to the Mid South Center and had our pb&j lunches outside on the patio. 

Transplanting

After lunch, we went for a walk through the area and then left for the greenhouse. I was in heaven in the greenhouse! It took me back to my summers working at a garden store back home. We transplanted the seedlings from small plastic containers (similar to the ones you would get annuals in at the store) into paper cups. We worked there for an hour or so then went back to the church. We made another trip to Kroger (right across the street from the church, so convenient!) and had grilled 
cheese and tomato soup for dinner. After dinner, we went downtown to take a tour of the city of the River Front Trolley. We met some ladies from Australia and had an interesting experience with a couple of locals.