Service Learning Reflection

I was completely surprised that my English class was a service learning course that first day. A surprise that has been good in every way. I love that my learning experience in English has been so much more than sitting in a classroom. Yes, I'm learning about how to improve my own writing and critical thinking skills but I've also had a new appreciation for talking about food. I have even more of an appreciation for the vegetables I'm eating, I've learned about using putting plants together as natural pesticides. I've had the joy of planting new life and clearing away the old.

Doing little tasks like clearing out the watermelon bed and harvesting squash is therapeutic for me. I love having that time in my week to get away from the stress of school and the campus. The ROOTS garden is tucked away from the activity of Asheville, it is a peaceful place that I can also learn. My favorite tasks so far have been the small menial things, like planting garlic. It gave me so much joy just to sit on the ground surrounded bu plants and nestle the garlic
Just in the little things of how the campus garden does it differently than I'm used to. For example, the campus garden reuses old plants for future enrichment of the soil. The emphasis on replicating natural processes like putting two coexisting plants on top of each other is new to me. I tend to think of plants as needing to be separated out in a garden bed. In my mind, a garden should also have the plants only in the beds and the paths well kept. However, through this experience I am seeing the value in letting a garden go more natural. I have a new appreciation for the small plants I normally would deem weeds and rip out. Those plants I am learning can have value in the whole system of the garden. One such plant I always rip out I have recently learned enriches the soil for the main