The Last Supper

This morning we woke up early to stop at On The Rise Bakery for a second time. We wanted to pick up some baked goods for the lovely staff at EarthWorks. For the first half of the day we continued our conversation with the staff about urban farming and diversity. Ryan, one of the student leaders, commented that, “diversity makes the garden beautiful.” Patrick, the head gardener at EarthWorks, was quick to respond and said that, “diversity makes the garden more resilient.” Speaking more on the issues of food scarcity, he also mentioned “I’m not saying everyone should return to being hunter-gathers, I’m just saying we should question the things that are defined. What is true progress? Needing more things is the sickness of modernity.” To go off of his point, Julia brought up this quote from Gandhi: “The world has enough for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed.” She continued to say that “This experience has inspired me to be more sustainable in my own life by giving me the tools and education to garden for myself.” After our conversations, we purchased some EarthWorks gear for ourselves to bring back to campus. 

Due to the weather conditions, there was a smaller number in of people in the cafeteria than normal. Those who were there seemed to be pretty positive about the city and their experiences. 

Following lunch, we were able to work in the greenhouse. Here, we worked on sifting soil, planting seeds, general cleaning, and helping them prepare for the upcoming growing season. Earlier in the week, Julia mentioned that she wanted to start her own garden and Wendy, an EarthWork’s employee, took note of that. Today Wendy gifted Julia with a succulent, with the intent of it being the first edition to her new garden. In our final moments at EarthWorks, we said our goodbyes to the staff we had grown with over the past week and took some group pictures. 

After saying our goodbyes, we returned to the Retreat Center to get ready for a sunset prayer at an Islamic Mosque. On our way there, we discussed some thoughts we had about the religion and appropriate behaviors to practice. The community was hospitable and welcoming. A few members gave us an overview of Islam and answered any questions we had. We went to a five minute community prayer service inside the Mosque. Afterwards, the staff unexpectedly provided us with a home cooked meal and engaged in personal conversations with us. They made it easy to see the parallels and connections between Islam and Catholicism. 

In our final reflection, we compared statistics from the Detroit area to those of our hometowns. This brought up conversations of people being put in situations beyond their control. We also discussed the issue of white privilege and examples we saw throughout the week, ending our final night together by thanking each other for all that we brought to the weekend.