JBG Day 2!

Heavy rain was in the forecast, so we got to work at the JBG greenhouse on our second day of volunteering.  Not only was the different experience beneficial for our aching backs and hamstrings, but we also got to see a different side to the farm and also meet more of the people involved in other parts of JBG. We spent the day doing a combination of transplanting and labeling tomato and pepper plants with names such as Brandywine Red and Cherokee Purple heirloom tomatoes, Serrano and Cayenne peppers. At this second location for JBG, we saw the seedlings sprouting and also harvested vegetables from the field being washed. Seeing both the beginning and end stages of the entire process really put what the farm was about and how we were helping into perspective.

We ate our lunch with the two people we had been working with and got to hear their stories better. Kim was working in the field the previous spring and was one of the main workers that the Alternative Break group that went to JBG last year worked with. She is now the greenhouse coordinator and had both stories about the last group and knowledge about the farm and about the greenhouse. Ian was the other person we got to know today. He had been working for JBG for a year and had experience with both the field and greenhouse work. Their stories were inspiring and talking with them made the time fly by.

After our dinner, we spent our evening touring more of Austin. We went to a graffiti art area in the city, and we were able to get a good view of the city skyline with the sun setting on it. Then we drove out to a hill outlook on the opposite side of town. We were there after sunset, but we had another great view of the downtown and also of the Lady Bird Lake and the luxurious houses on the lake.