Trying New Things - Johan Montero

Hi my name is Johan, I’m in 9th grade going to 10th and this summer I decided to get a job at Project Grows. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it was not this. The first week it was bad, it was hot and I wasn’t sure if I could keep going in this heat. We mostly did weeds the whole first week then we did more stuff like we went hiking to a waterfall. It was so nice. It was my first time ever hiking. It was the best.

Then we learned how to do a bunch of stuff like putting tarps on the field and being able to identify the weeds and plants. You also get to lead other people, like JMU - James Madison University. They were here to help us and it was a lot of fun. You also get to be with the campers and volunteers. They are a lot of help especially when weeding fields. Then when we were harvesting it was a whole process because some plants don’t like water because after they’re pulled they can start to rot. So we have to wipe them off to clean them and we have to wash and sanitize before and after for safety.

We also go to another farm and help out there, it’s called Waynesboro Education Farm. We sometimes cook over there like chop vegetables up and put them on the Blackstone and they're mostly really good except for deer liver. I do not recommend it. It was bad but at least I tried it.