From one home to another

Day 52: The past week has been CRAZY busy and exhausting, but so great! We drove back to Lafayette on Saturday and have been working since. Each corps member is required to work at least 80 hours of independent service hours called ISPs. I set up our first one this week working at a nonprofit organic share cropping farm in Lafayette called EarthShare Gardens. We did a lot of weeding, tilling and harvesting of vegetsables with the grower there, Robert. I am really excited about this ISP because learning about organic and supporting local farming is an important thing especially in the South where nutrition isn’t the best. Robert is amazing! So entertaining and passionate about what he calls his “hobby.” He spends over 35 hours working on the farm every week and owns his own printing company as well. Seeing him get excited about the different kinds of plants and the vision he has for the what the farm can become is inspiring. The first day we worked, a few of us went back to EarthShare in the evening and helped Robert with the harvest for the day. We brought home a 3-foot wide pot and 3 1-foot wide pots of vegetables and fresh herbs to eat and share with the neighbors. We were SO excited to have fresh peppers (bell, habanera, jalapeño, banana), cucumbers, squash (yellow and patty pan), eggplant (4 different kinds!), and okra. We made yummy baked and friend vegetables for dinner last night and they were delicious. I hope we can go back and work every weekend.

The last 2 days we have been split among a few different sites because Habitat is not ready for us to work yet. I took 4 of my teammates back to Acadiana CARES to work.
Yesterday Amber and I learned how to use an electric paint sprayer to paint about 175 ft of fence. It was super fun to just hang out and chat about life AND get a bunch done. I’ve realized that sometimes working in a small group or alone is really important, especially when you’re living with 10 other people.
Today the 5 of us worked most of the day on landscaping the front of an apartment complex at Acadiana. We moved about 50 wheel barrels full of dirt and planted over 70 bushes and trees. It was pretty exhausting, especially in the Louisiana heat. We worked the last few hours inside organizing some rooms and such. I can’t imagine how tired we will be after working for Habitat for 10 hours a day next week. The worst part about working long days in the heat is coming home and being forced to do an hour of PT. By 7pm I am ready for bed in order to be able to do it all over again the next day.

This whole experience is beginning to feel like normal everyday life, which is great and outrageous at the same time. I never thought that I would get used to this lifestyle. Our floorless, makeshift Habitat house in Lafayette feels more like home than ever, and this group of 10 individuals feels like my dysfunctional and unique family. We are all so different but I can’t imagine this experience without them. We are almost 2 months into this experience and at times it feels still so new. It’s strange.

Attached are some pictures from recent. Talk to you all soon!