Rain, snow or shine – to the (urban) farming fields we go

L1006143In the Netherlands, every year the ‘Orange Fund’ organizes a set of national volunteer days; this year they fell on 15 and 16 March 2013.  Thousands of organizations all around the country in need  of some extra help sign up. This day, called NL Doet, has become the largest voluntary action in the Netherlands.  L1006354It aims to bring attention to particular volunteer projects and build community.  This year some 310,000 volunteers participated – including the Crown Prince, his wife and the Queen Mother, so I’m told. On this lovely spring day (which started with sunshine, but quickly turned to snow and in the garden, mud) I attended the two urban agricultural projects that I usually participate in (the Education Garden and I can change the world with my own two hands). This day though was a bit longer than normal, and thankfully we had the extra help.  There was a lot to be done, despite the weather!

L1006376We also had 2 great photographers (Matthew Montgomery & Barbara Pavie) along for the day, and I wanted to share some of their photos. It was fun, but frigid cold and hard work… a small glimpse of what a (real) farmer has to go through, no matter the weather.  We turned over several garden beds to be planted, cleared out roots and L1006165weeds, moved logs, planted polls and tied strings for raspberry bushes and many other things.  Well, the weather has finally warmed (a bit) and the first seeds are showing their faces. Now the fun begins – to watch things grow. But first, thought it was a nice time to show the hard work along the way! (After all, it’s not only sunshine and fresh vegetables!)

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15 thoughts on “Rain, snow or shine – to the (urban) farming fields we go”

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