Team Hops and Props

At Marra Farm, we're fortunate to work with Seattle Works Team Works groups throughout the growing season. A few Saturdays ago, Team Hops and Props volunteered at Marra Farm. With their permission, we're re-posting in full a blog post that one of their team members, Ivan, wrote about his experience.

Since I’ve got absolutely no sense of direction, the GPS has helped me get to this area in south Seattle. What can one find here, aside from the Starbucks headquarters and the music venue Showbox Sodo? The Marra Farm, of course, with their lettuces, onions, peas, artichokes… 

The farm gets its name from an Italian family who settled in the area during the early twentieth century and managed it until the '70′s, when it was sold to King County. “But wait… King County buying a farm?” Well, there are several areas, including one that provides produce for food banks or even a children’s garden. 

Sue, who was in charge of the farm this morning, told us about agriculture in the U.S., but since I don’t want to bore you, here is the essence of the problem: the current agricultural model is not sustainable and has serious consequences for farmers and consumers; sick animals, stronger bacteria, farms with economic problems… If you are interested, watch the movie Food Inc., it was nominated for best documentary in the 82^nd Academy Awards. 

Today we were just over 20 volunteers, but there was enough work for dozens of people: finish the greenhouse, cleaning and painting a fence, removing weeds, planting vegetables, organize compost…while we were working, some of us talked about the everyday routine and others talked about what skills would be more useful in case of a zombie outbreak… 

We didn’t have enough time to complete half of the tasks, but more volunteers will come soon, so we all felt satisfied. What is the most important thing I learned? That there is another way of doing things, that there are people willing to do it and that anyone can contribute a little bit.

Thanks to Team Hops and Props, Seattle Works, and the many volunteers who help us grow food at Marra Farm. Come visit the new greenhouse and volunteer with us this season!