I completed my community service hours at the Red Willow Farm in Taos Pueblo. The farm is managed by Angelo McHorse, a fellow Fort Lewis graduate, and Hillary Duran. I worked with six other youth interns, all from the Pueblo, and very enthusiastic about their jobs. It was really fun working with the youth interns because I got to meet the younger generation of my tribe and they taught me a lot of how to do things at the farm. I volunteered every Wednesday, usually between the hours of eight and eleven in the morning. I chose Wednesdays because it’s the day they have their market called the Red Willow Farmers Market. I felt I could gain experience and knowledge in how to run a farm to help me with the implementation of my own and I did! My duties during that time there were harvesting vegetables, cleaning and bundling them, a lot of weeding, and planting.
I learned so much during my time at the farm and Angelo was very helpful in giving me advice and tips in starting my market. He helped me in developing a pricing strategy, amounts of produce I should ask of my farmers (so I don’t have to waste), and ways to set up my market. I feel learning all these new things, about the market and farming, is was the best part of my community service, along with working with the youth workers. I love learning new things and expanding my knowledge and that just what I did and it has helped me succeed in other parts of my internship. I would say the only challenging thing about volunteering at the farm was waking up in the morning. I am so not a morning person but having to wake up and to get to the farm on time showed me the benefits of starting the day off early.
http://www.redwillowcooperative.com/our-farmers-market/
https://www.facebook.com/RedWillowFarm
