As part of her required work for fourth grade (just saying that still seems unreal), Namine has to contribute a total of eight hours of community service. She thought it would be a good idea to help out around the grounds at Zachariah’s Acres, and they were happy to have her.
First they had us picking apples. There are paved paths along the orchard, but not along every line of trees. Namine didn’t mind off-roading to pick apples, though. She picked the ones she could reach, and we got the rest.
Namine and I were tasked with picking onions in one of the gardens. I got the ones in the back, while Namine worked on picking the front rows. Of course Namine picked the largest one right away, and it took her quite a while to dig it out.
After having some difficulty digging the onion out by hand, Namine took a break for a bit while one of the volunteers went looking for a shovel. When she came back with one, Namine resumed her attack. Her persistence finally paid off, and she held up the gigantic onion for us to see.



We also helped try to get the chickens out of some of the vegetable gardens. Namine lured them out with overripe peppers (We didn’t even know chickens liked peppers. Now we do.)

We saw the fruits (and vegetables) of everyone’s labor early in the afternoon, when it was time to sort all the picked produce. Namine helped to strip and clean the onions she’d picked, then tied them up in bunches.


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