Pauma Valley

Driving to the second field trip proved to be as troublesome as the first. Not only did we get lost, yet again, but we had to stop and ask for directions. There's a whole new level of getting lost with a perfectly functioning TomTom in your possession, but in our defense we didn't use the thing until it was already too late—and even then, we had some difficulties with the address. Winding up the path on a mountain didn’t seem fitting when we were going to a farm, so we turned back around… and that’s when we saw it.

Outside, a couple of our fellow classmates seemed as confused as we were. A quick “Is this the right place?” was answered by mirrored shrugs and incomprehensible grunts. As a group, we wandered into the premises until we stumbled on a lecture that was seemingly waiting for us. With perfectly empty seats at the front, Cameron and I settled down for the lecture. After reading the articles assigned, I was surprised to hear that organic food was the most rapidly growing segment of American food industry. I had never really paused to think about it, but the lecture enlightened me even further. Before the flood of information came, I’d never stopped to think about what I put in my body, or the process behind it—nor did I ever ponder the hardships of farming. Movies always make it look so easy: feed the animals, water the plants, harvest and you’re done. Boy was I wrong.
After the lecture, we drifted away from the screen and presentation area to explore the actual farm. Now I hadn’t arrived at the farm hungry, but I left that lecture with the impending feeling that my insides would devour themselves if I didn’t immediately offer it another sacrifice. Thankfully, our guide was kind enough to lead the group to edibles, where everyone pretty much attacked what they could. With a mob around the fresh food, I wandered off towards the fences and tools off to the corners of the farm.



The stretch of land large, at least to a city girl like me, and we wandered fairly far into the farm—well, I did. I followed a stretch of fence that I found to be beautiful, regardless of the worn feel of the wood. Blocking off an opening behind me was a brilliantly yellow strip of caution tape, which was a great contrast to the wood and pavement behind it. Beyond the thin blockade, cars whizzed by with curious passengers that couldn’t help but gawk at the group of students scourging the farm behind me.


The further away I stayed from the group, the more my hunger died, which I was horribly grateful for, but even so by the end of the day I was still craving for food. Cameron and I both wanted a quick fix, just some fast food to quench our hungers, so we hit the road in search of a good stop..
... but before we left, he absolutely insisted on lingering behind while our classmates sank into their cars and gradually slipped away to take the perfect picture. We stood in the looming cold of night while he angled his camera, adjusted his tripod and went through a quirky interaction with his tool of the trade. I won't go into detail, but it got creepy after a while.