November


November has been full of fun volunteering experiences! Earlier this month, a few classmates and I volunteered with SOUL NOLA (Sustaining Our Urban Landscape) by planting 99 trees in Mid City. These trees were completely free for those who requested them, and not only do they look great, but they aid in flood prevention. A few months ago in August, there was flash flooding throughout Mid City, parts of the French Quarter, and the CBD. At the time, they blamed it on the pumps not working...but it's still unclear if the pumps are working 100% now. Anyways, I didn't know that there are many natural ways to aid in flood prevention, which includes planting more trees, incorporating permeable pavements, and having rain gardens. After planting a bounty of trees throughout Mid City, we celebrated with jambalaya and po-boys at Parkway Tavern!

In addition to volunteering with SOUL, I volunteered at Edible Schoolyard's Family Food Night at Green Charter school in Freret. This was an amazing experience that involved both gardening activities as well as cooking together. The outside garden had some fun activities which included the fabulous smoothie bike, bug hunting, bouquet making using flowers from the garden, pumpkin carving, and seed planting. I was able to make a smoothie by peddling on the bike and it was surprisingly delicious. We used mint and sweet potatoes which were harvested from the garden at Green Charter! In the kitchen, we cooked up a storm which included rice pilaf with greens from the garden, chicken on sugar cane skewers, and sweet potato cookies!

In regards to the program, November marked the end of med pharm and molecular/cellular pharm (YAY). We have one more block left in principles of pharm before winter break and it's hard to believe how fast time has flown!

 The wonderful garden at Green Charter complete with green beans, carrots, mint, and more!

The smoothie bike
Planting magnolias in Mid City 

Total November Volunteer Hours: 7.5 hours
Cumulative: 28 hours

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