Experience @ Solano Community Garden

Hello, my name is Markisse- Collette Soleta and I'm a freshman attending Cal State LA studying to become a nurse. I'm part of Jenny Hick's stretch programs and has been with her since the Fall. Since the fall the class has been covering topics that deals with the environment.The first year of college has been quite stressful due to writing a lot of essays but, I was able to learn how important it is for us to take care of our envrionment. Based on the readings Jenny assigned has made me realize that one day the problems that the environment is going through right now, may get worse. Since the class was assigned to do one service learning, I decided to help out in the Solano Community Garden.

On Saturday May 14, 2011, I arrived at the Solano Community Garden for the first time. Not only did my classmates attend, but Jenny's other English 101 went as well. I found it interesting that the garden was near the freeway because I was hoping that the garden would be in a quiet neighborhood surrounded by a lot of houses. In this garden, people come to visit and plant cilantro, broccoli, strawberries, peaches, beautiful flowers and many more. These produce are being sold to nearest restaurants. Having a local garden has helped the community conserve fuel that is being used to transfer produce from other areas.

A man named Al who was in charge of the garden gathered everyone together to give us instructions. He assigned different tasks as in: pick out strawberries, cut down branches, plow, and pick out peaches. My group and I decided to help cut down branches that were blocking the main entrance of the garden. We were given branch cutters that were almost as big as me.


After an hour, my group and I ended up doing a great job in clearing the entrance. We had to separate the branches/flowers and dead flowers which will be used as fertilizers to other plants and put them in different buckets. We had the opportunity to eat fresh peaches and strawberries that the other students had picked out. Both peaches and strawberries tasted great and juicy. They both didn't taste like the ones that are being sold at supermarkets.

Overall, I had a great experience because I was able to help out in this community. This service learning has made me become a better person because it showed me how important nature is and experience something I've never done as in cut down branches. I would love to come back with my friends or my class and help Al and others to take care of their garden and maybe eat more peaches. Thank You<3