This past Saturday four current Earth Lodgers, including myself, woke up nice and early to do volunteer work at William Byrd farm in downtown Richmond. I knew the day was going to be a great day….
I drove us downtown and almost immediately we were laughing and joking around, not because someone made a joke but because we had already gotten lost after five minutes of driving. We ended up driving thru a random neighborhood, taking directions from a phone that was showing us we needed to be on the BIG road, not the SMALL road. At the same time I we rummage around for change while I pull up to the wrong toll and have to go in reverse. At last the wild Pheeb’s came to the rescue and found 70 cents for the correct toll. I couldn’t believe our adventure had started before getting to the farm.
It did not take much longer for us to figure out how to get to the farm. Once there we were introduced to this young, friendly, country man. This gentleman’s name was Matthew and he was going to show us what to do on the farm and spend the day with us.
Getting to see your progress as you work and what you have accomplished is wonderful. I have spent years doing volunteer work and one thing I’ve learned is when you are with friends and working hard it is remarkable how good you will feel and how much you can get done. Even though we were a smaller group than before, we got down to business and made Matthew pleased.
While we were working and enjoying being outdoors, we came across many bugs. I saw two spiders I had never seen before, a black widow and wolf spider. Of course, we Earth loving people didn’t get scared, except for maybe Kelly who is terrified of the mascot. Instead we tried to save every bug we saw, even the worms, so they would not be hurt while we were working.
By the end of our time at the farm we had spent hours joking and telling stories. We had made new friends with Matthew, who was quite the comedian; and Gaston and Delilah, the Black widow and wolf spider. Yes, we named the spiders before we sent them free on the side of the road, probably not the best place now that I think about it. We did all of this while being hard at work.
Matthew asked us if we were doing the volunteer work for enjoyment or to fulfill an obligation and we explained both. When he asked if we would be coming back to join him with working on the magnificent farm once more we all said simultaneously, YES!