3-7-2020, Sprout Nola, Community Service

3-7-2020, Sprout Nola, Community Service

Hours: 1.33

Cumulative: 26.28

Word Count: 351+

The Garden of Plenty: Community Service - Sprout NOLA

I managed to kill two birds with one stone.  I heard about the garden since volunteering for the kids’ cooking class at the Goldring Center for Culinary Service.  The kids received a tour of the garden while I was preparing the kitchen.  

Sprout Nola offers community service opportunities and free, fresh produce.  First, G instructed the volunteers to plant baby cucumbers.  They had become saplings and were ready to test their wings into bigger space.  G. demonstrated how to wiggle the hardened dirt to help the roots relax and expand.  They were planted out in spaces with half foot in between.  Then, I was assigned to prune the oregano.  They oregano grew on a lower bed and they had sprouted like weeds.  I pulled the woody stems.  The young stalks were easier to pull.  Then I trimmed the stalks.  Then, H and I unloaded the compost using shovels.  G. instructed us to go slow since spilling the compost would lead to weeds growing outside of the raised garden bed. Inhaling the oregano reminded me of a big bowl of pho.  Then, I collected some soil samples for the environmental pharmacology class.  For my remuneration, I received free vegetables like cilantro, the essential taste of high note refreshment for tacos.  I received free dill and learned how to pull carrots.  I planted some young cucumber plants.  While collecting the vegetables, G. gave free cooking tips on the uses of rosemary, dill, and chives.  Louisiana is fortunate state to not be in a state of drought; growing one’s garden is one way of addressing food deserts.  In states where water is expensive, community gardens are not viable solutions.

Abundant Oregano - So Plentiful & Free - These will get thrown to the compost if no one claims them

  

Five Pounds of Free Produce To-Go  

Carrots, Dill, Chives, Oregano, Cilantro, Parsley

Soil Sample for Lead Testing

While working on the oregano bed, the smoke from nearby smokers was present. Cigarettes are popular and affordable in New Orleans. Physiological reactions such as burning on the eyes and the back of throat and the pounding headache resulted. Breathing was difficult; the partial pressure of internal carbon dioxide must have increased.   The high exposure to carcinogens and mutagens is unfortunate; being a student in New Orleans carries a high risk of developing type II diabetes because of constant exposure to secondhand tobacco, since the science behind glucose intolerance from tobacco exposure is substantial. The carcinogens are potent enough to disable the receptors of the GLUT4 transporters in muscle and adipose tissue. Facilitated diffusion of glucose is unable to occur and aerobic production of ATP becomes more limited.  When ATP production is limited, the proper balance of electrochemical gradient is unable to be maintained.  Unlike other transporters, the sodium-calcium exchange is expensive and costly to operate in terms of ATP.   When the pump stops,  depolarization occurs, leading to release of glutamate.  The resulting inflammation can lead to stroke.   Furthermore, just walking from mandatory  community service to home involves the risk of developing incurable autoimmune diseases that will not be cured in this century, due to lack of NIH funding .  The route includes the VA Hospital, another site of high tobacco usage.   Performing mandatory community service to complete one's education should not risk one’s health but it does when legislation is far behind in protection of commons. Clinicians and educators need to build effective partnerships with legislators for translations of current knowledge.  Clearly, the tobacco industry has been able to convince the municipal and state stakeholders that cigarettes are not that bad.   In other states, smoking is illegal in public parks and public housing. A lot of people think being exposed to secondhand smoke outdoors is not so bad because it’s outdoors; unfortunately, this is not the position of the U.S. Surgeon General; there is no such thing as a safe exposure level: No one should breathe in tobacco, not even a little. Anyone who has passed middle-school science should know that the target of secondhand smoke is NOT the smoker's airspace; the favorable target of the lit cyanide is the non-smoker's airspace due to gas diffusion. The combustion of a cigarette is equivalent to that of an open-air gas chamber, because the same chemical used for Nazi gas chambers are used in cigarettes.  There is a reason why cigarettes lead to DNA damage that leads to cancer.

No living creature should breathe in radioactive elements, not even a little. The cyanide will inhibit your cytochrome c oxidase.

Pro Tip: Bring garden gloves and scissors.  Wear a hat.  Bring reusable bags to bring home fresh produce.  

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Because of the pandemic, community service sites are shutting down.