The Top Three

This is part two of an interview with Saturday morning volunteers at the SCAN allotment, some of which is recorded on youtube here. Part one can be read here.

 

"What are the top three things about volunteering at the allotment?"



"The best thing I like about this place is meeting the people here. I meet so many people from different countries, it’s a very cultural place. Once we had people from all continents except for Australia. They’re all really nice and friendly and we enjoy what we do."

 

"Eating the fresh, organic, healthy, gorgeous, amazing, free vegetables!"

 

"Getting outdoors on a weekend is a really lovely thing. I spend a lot of time in lecture halls and in the library and things like that. And just getting out into the fresh air and into nature is actually quite rare I think at university, so that’s really nice."

 

"Learning about how they’re grown : it’s nice to know that it’s not too difficult to be in control of the type of food you put into your body... that you can grow it without any fancy equipment or machines. We live as a part of,  and using, so many different systems that most of us don’t see or understand - like the internet and planes that can fly and clothing and colours that we forget have beginnings (in nature). It’s demystifying."

 

"It’s a nice way to spend a Saturday morning. You can talk to friends and Jon and you’re doing something useful for the community that you’re living in. And it doesn’t cost anything – it costs your time but if it’s well spent, it’s well spent!"

 

"The vegetables and the fruit – we can see things grow from the ground and that’s very interesting and exciting. When you see the trees grow up or some plants grow you feel very happy." 
 

 

"And the [third] thing : I can improve my English because my English is very poor - I can talk with each other and I think it’s very useful."

 

"The people, that’s one thing. Meeting a very diverse group of people that I might not meet just on my course or through friends from my house or something. And I’ve got to shout out for Jon in particular because he’s just so friendly and so welcoming. He always makes everyone feel like they’re playing a very important role and makes everyone want to come back- that’s why everyone’s here. So I’ve got to give a lot of credit to him."

 

 

Jon supports student volunteers at the allotment every week : contact him on jon.pickering@ncl.ac.uk if you would like to take part.