LAWRENCE: Volunteers get down and dirty at local farm

By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
   Carmela Roberts and her daughter, Angela, are not afraid to get their hands dirty.
   That’s why they readily dug into the soil — weeds, really — at Z Food Farm’s second annual “crop mob,” along with six other volunteers Saturday morning. Crop mobs are mostly non-farmers who help a farmer with chores.
   The mother and daughter drove up to the farm stand, formerly occupied by Little Acres Farm Market, on Princeton Pike. Ms. Roberts opened the trunk on the car and pulled out some small garden tools, ready to go to work.
   ”It’s the desire to help,” said Ms. Roberts, who lives about a mile or so down the road on Princeton Pike. “I have been watching this farm market since it opened. I think ‘crop mob’ is a great thing to do. I appreciate organic farming.”
   ”I thought it was really cool,” added Angela, who attends St. Ann’s School. “It sounded like fun. I am happy to help.”
   While Ms. Roberts and her daughter hold shares in the Cherry Grove Organic Farm on Carter Road, sisters Yuan He and Yi He are more typical of crop mob participants. Their family does not belong to a “community supported agriculture” farm, such as Cherry Grove Organic Farm, and they have had little direct contact with farming.
   Yi, a senior at Montgomery High School, said she read about Z Food Farm’s crop mob in the newspaper. She researched the concept of crop mob and decided it sounded interesting. She brought her younger sister, Yuan, with her to the farm.
   Yuan, who is a sophomore at Montgomery High, said, “I thought it would be fun,” pausing to look up from the bed of carrots she was weeding. “I wanted to try out farming. I have never done it before. It has been really fun, so far. I like it. I thought it would be harder.”
   David Zaback, who is the farmer behind Z Food Farm, said he appreciated the help from the crop mobbers.
   The eight crop mob participants spent the morning pulling weeds from the carrot and potato fields on the 10 acres Mr. Zaback farms at the rear of the farm stand.
   Mr. Zaback said he was drawn to farming by his desire to have a connection to food. It is important to understand where food comes from, he said.
   ”A crop mob helps me out. Farming is a lot of hard work. It helps them (crop mob) to get a better connection to farming. It’s more fun having more people help out,” he said.
   ”Farming is the most tangible job there is. You work and you see the results in food. The rewards are tangible. At the end of the day, you can see exactly what you did,” Mr. Zaback said.