The World's Common Tater

My life at the farm has escalated quickly. A timeline with some news at the end.

November 2021 – I was doing a month-long volunteer thing where we went to various places and did various tasks. One cold November morning we met at MTR to help them clear out weeds and dirt to build some flower beds and a sidewalk. While we were there I asked the employee with us about volunteering. She told me they always need volunteers and I could apply on the website. I did that.

January 2022 – I had my first shift in the barn. I was clueless. I didn’t know how to do anything. Most of my shifts were cold, snowy, and rainy so I got a taste of the hardest days at the barn. They promised it would get better.

January – May 2022 – I worked Fridays and Saturdays to start. I loved Fridays. Saturday made me question if I was right for the place. The barn lead on Friday moved to Tuesday. I got a text one day asking if I could help on a Tuesday. I said yes, realized I liked it as much as Friday, and added a third day to my schedule.

June 2022 – An email was sent asking for someone to volunteer to be a facilities volunteer on Monday mornings. I volunteered. They accepted. I dropped my Saturday and started working Mondays dragging arenas, filling water troughs, and other farm tasks.

September 2022 – The Tuesday barn lead moved again due to work schedules. Two of us who worked with her on Tuesdays were asked to take her place as co-barn leads. I would now be in charge of the barn work once a week.

October 2022 – I was just offered and accepted a job as a part-time facilities assistant position at the farm. I will be doing a lot of what I do on Mondays plus mowing, plowing snow, other maintenance work, etc. but getting paid for it. I have no idea what this means for my volunteer shifts.

So, almost a year after first arriving at MTR as a volunteer with another group I will be joining the staff.