I never knew where my life would take me. To Bucknell university or to be taking this class on how religion can connect people to issues like food insecurity. To Strength to Love farm II or to the Islamic Society of Baltimore. I am passionate about the Earth so maybe it isn’t a huge surprise that I would end learning how people tend to it. That’s how I ended up working as a student farmer, but it was a surprise how much I love farm work. Today, of course, I was not as surprised to find out how much I enjoyed helping out at Strength to Love II farm, where me and my colleagues chipped away at a project shoveling piles of stones and mats of thickly intertwined grasses. Our goal was to move this dirt off of a deeply buried sidewalk to return it to the sun and to the surface so that the farm could be accessible to those who use wheelchairs. So in exposing the old and forgotten sidewalk we were hoping to expose new people to farming and the work it takes to grow food. This work was exhausting yet rewarding. For every foot we advanced was easily half an hour of digging and scraping and hauling with all our collective might. We spent jut over 2 hours in work and then sat down to a lovely lunch and conversation with the those who working there (Shout out to Jade, Shay, Dorris and John – Sorry if I spelled any of your names wrong) we talking about the work that the farm did in the growing season sowing and harvesting and the work they wanted to be doing, foreign more connections between the community and urban farm that it surrounded.
It is important for people to know where they food comes from, so that they may appreciate it and feel deeper gratitude for every bite they eat. Farming is physically demanding work, I would hope we all know that, but it another thing to feel the work in you body. The soreness of muscles and the hunger in your stomach are both uncomfortable but one can cause you to relieve the other. I did not think to expect that.
I thought I knew what to expect when going to visit the Islamic Society of Baltimore, a religious school and Mosque (house of Islamic worship). This was a place where I got to explore the 5 pillars of Islam and how some Muslims take the one about giving back to your community to mean giving through food. Similar to the very same themes that are a driving force in both in Jewish and Christian traditions we had learned about earlier this same week Islam. Food can bring many communities together and so many religions teach us to give food to those who do not have it. At some point in all our lives we have known what hunger feels like even if we have not truly been hungry. It is a horrible and demanding sensation that our bodies want us to stop. As it is simple to stop being hungry.
