Adelante Padres

A nice day on the farm

Saturday was devoted to starting the building of the produce washing station at La Esperanza Farm.  The washing station is an area that will be used to wash and dry produce and storage bins after it has been harvested to ensure that it is clean and ready to be sold at the farmer's market or to La Esperanza Distributors.  Karin (an Americorps volunteer at Adelante Mujeres) has wanted to set up this washing station for a while and so it was nice to finally see a tangible result.

We recruited our dads to help in the design and building of the washing station: four washing tables (each with ½ of a 55 gallon drum as a sink), four drying tables, and a handwashing sink in the covered area of the farm’s bodega.  We thought a fitting title for the washing station would be the “Adelante Padres” lavadero.  The four of us, plus Anne (Adelante Agricultura Program Coordinator) and Sharon (Adelante Mujeres volunteer) spent the day cutting wood, laying down gravel, and putting together 2 washing tables and 1 drying table.  We still need to tackle the rest of the tables and plumbing- but that's another day's adventure.

Unloading the 2 x 4s

Laying down gravel

Russ (Karin's dad) and Hiroshi (my dad) working on cutting the 55 gallon barrel

Karin, Sharon, and Anne figuring out how to get the water out of the second barrel

Hiroshi and washing table

Completed washing table

Karin and Hiroshi working on first drying table

Drying table in progress

Completed drying table

Our finished products for the day