Day Eight: Thursday, January 12
Today is Justin's birthday! It was a beautiful day in New Orleans, and after a breakfast of homemade donuts (made from biscuit mix and cinnamon sugar) and Community Coffee (a coffee/chickory blend that is a local staple), we headed back to the garden on the Xavier campus. We took every shovel in sight and hand-tilled the entire thing. Then we picked through the dirt and tried to remove as many of the Bermuda grass roots as we could, even though we know that this endeavor is rather hopeless. Things were somewhat quiet, except for the blaring classic rock coming from "The Bayou: 95.7; Rebuilding New Orleans One Hit at a Time." They play the same songs over and over day after day, but this whole team doesn't seem to mind. Today's job was somewhat tedious, but it got almost meditative as we knelt in the dirt next to each other and had different kinds of conversations than our normal ones. It was almost like what happens on a long, long car ride; knowing that we had all day, we just let conversations flow wherever they might. We learned a lot about each other's families, particularly siblings, and all of the various places that everyone had lived. We also talked about mundane issues like favorite candies, hair products, and quirky songs we love. We haven't had many opportunities to talk like that as our jobs are often too intense or our group is sometimes too unwieldy to allow conversations like these to follow their course. These floaty conversations helped to take our minds off of the monotony of the job, while also deepening our already strong bonds.
We learned from Macon (the market gardener who will be the prime planter in the Xavier plot) that he intends to plant as quickly as he can, so that he can bring fresh produce back to his neighborhood. He talked about how thin the selection of vegetables has been since the storm, and how people crave homegrown tomatoes in particular. He and Mario have been doing soil tests throughout the city's community gardens, and have found no contamination from the aftereffects of the storm. Still, people continue to think that there is reason for concern, so Macon and Mario will keep testing so that they can confirm the safety of the soil for growing food. They sent samples from our weekend of labor to Louisiana State University, as we removed about eight inches of topsoil, so it should be interesting to know what lies beneath.
We also got the opportunity to reconnect with two of the "Katrina students" who came from Xavier to Saint Mary's for the fall semester. Nikita and Courtney came and met us at the garden as we were packing up to leave. Courtney had just flown in this afternoon, and Nikita had arrived a few days earlier. They were both having trouble solidifying their housing as the school was trying to reopen. They seemed confident, though, that they were on the verge of working things out.
After the workday, we all went home to camp and got ready to go out to Macon's house to celebrate Justin's birthday. Chris and Shawny went to the grocery store and actually got hamburger, hot dogs, chicken breasts, and vegetables to cook over the fire and on the grill. Macon's house is on a sandy beach just downriver from our camp. We made a huge bonfire and fired up the Weber grill. We cut up vegetables, wrapped them in foil and roasted them. We threw foil-wrapped potatoes directly into the fire, and pulled them out with shovels later. The hamburgers and chicken turned out to be the best we think we've ever had. (We're sure it has nothing to do with the fact that we've been eating instant potatoes and granola for a week.) We roasted marshmallows, cranked up music and danced by the fire. Jorge, Sal, and Hugo gave salsa lessons on the beach, as barges slowly moved past in the night. One barge hit our beach with its searchlight, and we all jumped up and down until it blew its horn. We felt like little kids on the highway, trying to get the attention of a passing truckdriver; we felt great joy.
When we came home, we busted out a pile of processed snack cakes that Shawny had stashed. We managed to squeeze 24 candles onto one of them, and presented the flaming Twinkie to the birthday boy. We had already read our website messages on the way home from the bonfire, so we were ready to go to sleep. Tomorrow we are taking the day off of work to reorganize our camp and meet with our project groups; in the afternoon, people will either rest in camp or tour the French Quarter. Ah-h-h-h...
By the way, the mailboxes for Mount Carmel Academy are finished. They will be delivered tomorrow.
Every night, someone wins the "Blood, Sweat, and Tears Award." Last night, Mallory won, for having gotten covered in paint in the spill at Lowe's Hardware. She shared her prize (little beaded hair ties) with others, and now Mal, Casey, Alli, and Em are rockin' the side ponytails on their way to the market garden near Xavier.
This is the entrance to the market garden that we tended for the entire weekend.
Here's what the market garden looked like before we began working.
Jed, Mal, and Shane start up the chipper on the second day of work at the Xavier Garden.
A shot from the ground of the crew getting dirty with their shovels.
Elijah rests on his shovel to survey the work so far.
Cheese and crackers seem better than ever on the sidewalks of New Orleans
Mallory works away fighting off Bermuda grass roots at the Xavier garden.
We all worked together to turn the soil of the whole garden in order to prepare it for planting
Anyone without a shovel sat on the ground and pulled out roots of Bermuda grass.
The garden is one of the first parts of the neighborhood to be revived, as compared to the houses across the street.
The crew as it finishes the garden.
The lot at the end of the day.
A shot of Justin's 24th birthday party: For Justin's birthday, we had a big cookout and bonfire at a beach on the Mississippi River. Even though our host, Macon, lives on the river side of the levee, his house did not flood. We really appreciate his invitation to visit his house, because we had a blast!
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