My name is Kate, and I am an Americorps member at the University of Washington serving with the Dream Project. On January 21st, I got to participate in the MLK day of service by getting outside! We worked with City Fruit to clear an apple orchard and clean the surrounding area. We removed around 15 pounds of rotten apples from under the apple trees and the surrounding area. Something that I learned is that rotten fruit needs to be cleared so it doesn’t infect the healthy tree with pests and contaminate new fruit.

I also worked on restoring and clearing a walkway. When we got there, it was very uneven and covered with a lot of fallen leaves and weeds. First, we cleared all the leaves with a rake and grabbed the ones that couldn’t be raked with our hands. Second, we used shovels and hands to uproot the weeds, also clearing any garbage that was on the path. Third, my partner and I worked together to redistribute the gravel to level out the walkway. Together we fixed a 25 by 5 foot pathway. 

It made me happy to get outside for work, and felt good to know that people would have a safer walkway to travel on. I think the work that City Fruit is doing is also great. Their work encourages people to eat local and engage with nature, harvesting from it rather than remaining separate from it. It was a great day of service.