Finding Your Tribe through Volunteering
How volunteering can help you learn new skills, meet likeminded people, and expand your community
I sit writing this article on Earth Day and it got me thinking of ways people can think about celebrating year-around while also learning new skills and helping their community.
A few weeks ago, Maddie and I volunteered at Bene Vivendo Farm here in Arizona where we helped harvest vegetables, plant seedlings, put down tarp along the edges to provide a walking path and of course, pulled weeds - No list of farm duties is complete without pulling some weeds.
We met Emily of Bene Vivendo at our local farmers market awhile back, and she’s been the friendliest and most helpful person, even coming to help Maddie and I get our garden off the ground. So when she mentioned that the Arizona Sustainability Alliance was having a volunteering event at her farm, we signed right up!
We saw this as a great opportunity to help a friend, as well as a valuable growth opportunity for us (no pun intended) to learn how the pros run their farms and meet others who might be at similar stages of learning.
In today’s fast-paced world, many of us “don’t have the time” to volunteer at places, but it’s all about how you frame it. If you consider volunteering as a box you have to check for community service that you have to do for school or for work, you’ll just associate it with your 5 day work week bleeding into your weekend and taking those precious days off from you. If you frame it as an opportunity to learn or as a social event to meet friends, you’ll probably find yourself looking forward to it!
There are TONS of ways you can volunteer in your city from cleaning up parks to working in a food kitchen. All are valuable and needed, but for the sake of keeping this article focused on Back to Our Roots, I’m going to stick to volunteer opportunities in a way that you may not have thought of before - Helping people at your farmers market.
According to the US Department of Agriculture, farmers nowadays are receiving a record-low 14.5 cents for every dollar Americans spent on food. Let’s face it, their job is HARD and they aren’t compensated nearly enough. One way to help of course, is by purchasing direct from them vs. a chain grocery store. The second best way is by simply asking them if you could volunteer to help at their farm. I can assure you, that while they might be a bit shocked that you are volunteering to do so, they would love the help.
Learning New Skills
Farmers will benefit by having another set of hands (or another back) around to do random farm chores and you’ll benefit by learning a priceless new skill! Better yet, each time you volunteer, they’ll probably have you doing something new because from what I hear, no two days are the same in farm life.
Beyond helping at Bene Vivendo Farm, I’ve actually asked the rancher we get our meat from if I can help there as well. Like I mentioned above, they were a little shocked that I would ask, but they agreed! Now unfortunately, I regret to say I haven’t been able to come through and visit the cattle, sheep, and pig ranch to help, it is still on my list and I talk to them every week to keep the relationship strong and it’s nice to know that I can do once I make the time!
So by doing something good for an integral member of your community, you are also learning valuable skills that you simply can’t learn at school or on Youtube. Think about how many generations the skills of farming have been passed between - by volunteering at a farm, you are interjecting yourself squarely into that chain to hopefully pick up a thing or two and begin your own legacy of information sharing.
Meeting Like-Minded People
Most volunteering events are done as part of a broader effort and not just one or 2 people randomly showing up to work. And most times, the people who are willing to choose working a field or pulling weeds as their community service as opposed to packing boxes of food in an air conditioned building are probably going to be very similar to this community here and therefore, a great place to meet friends!
While Maddie and I were at Bene Vivendo Farms, conversation flowed naturally among everyone else there. We were able to trade notes with others about their garden, learn about what they were growing, success and failures - I can say we learned so much in those 3 hours and met so many people that were in our community that we may have not met otherwise!
Taking Action: If you are in Arizona, visit the Arizona Sustainability Alliance to look for opportunities to volunteer at local farms and parks. Or simply go talk to a farmer or rancher at your farmers market and ask them if there is any way you might be able to volunteer. Even better, get a group of friends to come with you!
If you are in Arizona, visit Maddie and I’s website at Get Back to our Roots to stay tuned for volunteering events that we will host locally!
Happy Earth Day!
-Sebastian